An Integrated Motivation Theory: Researching the motivation psychology of the Greats

The realization of the importance of the self-actualization motivation in creating lasting changes, along with many other vital insights revealed on this website, came about through a series of research projects undertaken over the last six years.

Even though I've been a life coach for my entire career, in 2003 I began to research indepth what are the proven, verifiable, and truly objective principles behind remarkable lives - especially those that made the leap from good to great.

Sorry to say, but personal opinions about the 'keys to success', formulated from subjective experiences, from anecdotes, half-superstitions and vague ideas are all too common today. Much of it is 'hit-and-miss'. As a life coach needing to help others apply the most effective systems for personal development, it has been a challenge to cut through all this clutter. Therefore I set myself the task of properly researching the means to deep-seated personal change:

What is Self-Actualization: The Uniquely Human Motivation Drive

self-actualization n. 1. Knowledge of one's true, inner self. Fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one's character or personality.

2. Self-actualization is a term originally introduced by the organismic theorist, Kurt Goldstein, for the motive to realize all of one's potentialities.

3. In Abraham Maslow's theory of personality, self-actualization is the final level of psychological development that can be achieved when all basic and meta needs are fulfilled and the "actualization" of the full personal potential takes place.

Self-actualization is the expression of human qualities of independence, autonomy, a tendency to form deep friendships, a "philosophical" sense of humor, tendency to resist outside pressures, and a general transcendence of the environment, rather than a simple "coping" with it. (Read Now)