Why Motivation Doesn’t Work Part 2

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

5. Growth Needs – Self Actualization
4. Esteem Needs – Self Esteem, Recognition, Status
3. Social Needs – Sense of Belonging, Love – Approval
2. Safety Needs – Security, Protection – Safety
1. Physiological Needs – Hunger, Thirst

Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who studied healthy, successful, extraordinary people – he called them self-actualized. He looked for what they had in common and developed a theory of human behavior. The result was the hierarchy of needs, which you see above. 

It was during my training at Coach U (1995-1998) that I developed and honed some of my concepts about Unmet Needs. My previous experience with motivational training taught me that if you had a negative belief, all you had to do was change it to a positive belief. However, this proved to be unsustainable, which was very unsettling for me.

Through this work, I discovered the missing link. It was the connection between the Unmet Need and the emotions and negative beliefs. You need to identify the Unmet Need that the emotions and negative beliefs relate to. Clear that Unmet Need, negative emotion and negative beliefs all at the same time.

Maslow’s concept is that until you meet the lower needs, you cannot express your values. Your Unmet Needs will dominate and run you until they are identified and satisfied. No matter how close you get to success and to the next level of growth, you’ll bump up against those Unmet Needs and they’ll catapult you back to where you started.

Unmet Needs create negative emotions. It is virtually impossible to feel confident and positive about an area where you have an Unmet Need. These Unmet Needs and negative emotions subconsciously and unconsciously run at the core of many financial advisors, who often become stuck at levels two or three.

Level two is our safety needs. If you have an unmet need for safety, you will have negative emotions about safety and security. You’re going to be anxious. You’re going to be thinking, “I don’t have enough time,” or “I don’t have enough money.” What kind of an advisor will that make you? Are you going to be 100% present with your clients? No, you are going to be distracted.

If you have an Unmet Need for safety, writes Maslow, you will have “a fear of knowing,” since your negative thinking would have you believe the worst is going to happen. As a form of self-medicating, you keep busy, so you don’t have to face the negative reality you’ve invented in your subconscious mind.

A good example of this is delegating. I constantly hear advisors moaning and complaining about all of the paperwork on their desk. What is one of the number one things that the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) tells you to do? Delegate. Stop doing $5, $10, $15, $20 and $25/hour work. Of course, in order to delegate you need someone to delegate to. Why don’t you invest in that support for your business? Why do we get caught up in busy work and complain about it? Because we’re driven by our Unmet Need for safety.

Level three is our social needs, our sense of belonging and love. This need cannot and should not be met by your clients; it must come from you. There is all this talk about getting high net worth clients, yet advisors don’t approach them or try to solicit their business. What are your negative emotions about that? You feel anxious and fearful. What are your negative beliefs about that? That you’re not good enough, that you don’t know enough, that you don’t have enough education. Therefore, you do nothing.

“Another business coach may have worked with me through the business plan only to have the issues continue to interfere with the plan. Simon’s Clear Your Roadblocks Program allowed me to hit the nail right on the head.” – Donald Daggett, Associate Investment Advisor, CIBC Wood Gundy, Windsor, ON

This article was originally published in Curing The Unmet Needs Disease © Simon Reilly 2008