Have you ‘hoovered’ your house lately? Perhaps somebody just told you to ‘google it’. These are both commonly used phrases that people sometimes forget are actually brand names or trademarked. I find it very impressive to see brands that have been so successful that people use them in daily conversations, aka generic trademarks. Here are some more common phrases, though perhaps not so common that you use them daily, please comment if you have any more or if I have made any mistakes!

• Heroin – Diacetylmorphine
• Play-Doh – Modeling compound
• Hula Hoop – Either a toy hoop or a packet of crisps
• Pogo stick – Bouncing stick
• AstroTurf – Artificial grass
• Ebay – One of many auction websites
• Escalator – A moving staircase
• Tupperware – Plastic box
• Jacuzzi – Hot tub
• Champagne – Sparkling wine
• Plaster/Band-aid – Adhesive bandage
• Sellotape – Clear adhesive tape
• Dominos – A tile based game or a pizza provider
• Kleenex – Facial tissue

There are many more, but I shall stop there to give you all a chance to say some! I hope you find this seemingly simple post to be very interesting… I sure have found it interesting to write.

Shane

I am not a psychologist, so this post may not be 100% accurate, but obviously many of you are interested in it as my post about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been Success Circuit’s most visited post since I wrote it! As you know I started Success Circuit with the ambition of inspiring and motivating you. But I soon realised that there are many meanings of both words. So today I would like to jump head first into a Psychologist’s brain and explain what learned motives mean, there are many types of motives as you can see from Maslow’s Hierarchy but there are too many to be explained in one post. If you would like me to make a series from this then let me know.

One of the many meanings, and the one that we will be using today, of the word motive is “Specific need, desire, or want, such as hunger, thirst, or achievement, that energizes and directs goal-oriented behaviour”.

We are not born with all of our motives intact, even motives such as hunger and thirst are partly learned. Throughout our childhood, and even into adulthood, it is possible to learn new motives.I shall not go in to much detail about all of the motives as only a few relate to what we teach at Success Circuit.

Aggression

Our first motive is Aggression, behaviour that is intended to harm others. It is not aggression if you harm somebody accidently. When babies are born they are not aggressive so they must learn it from somewhere. I have seen people blame many different things so here is a list to show them.

• Parents
• Visitors
• Media
• Music
• School

I do not believe that any one factor is the reason, it is a collaboration of them all. The aggression is developed as we grow, for example, through sports such as Rugby and Boxing.

Achievement

This is a very important motive. If you are a regular reader of Success Circuit then chances are you have a desire to excel. Some people try to excel in everything they do, some just try to do their best at one activity or task.

It is unknown where this motive is first learned because everybody is affected by it is different ways. I believe it is this motive that defines the word Entrepreneur. Achievement is closely linked to work orientation (the desire to work well), mastery and competitiveness (comparing one’s skills to another’s). Here are another couple of motives that are useful to know.

Power motive – The need to be influential and recognised.

Affiliation motive – The need to be socially involved with people.

As you have probably noticed, this is not my strong point. But it is one I, and many of the readers here, am interested in. So if you know more about it than I do please email me at Shane@shanehudson.net and either let me know how I am improve this post or perhaps even write a guest post!

I hope this has got you thinking about how it is useful to know about motives. Please comment with your thoughts,

Shane

I have seen many people mentioning that they have ran out of ideas, that all ideas have been used up. Is this true? I do not think it is. Many of us (especially people around my age) often forget how new the world of computing and the internet really is. So today I am going to give you a little history lesson.

The Wheel

This simple invention is thought to have been created in Ancient Mesopotamia during the 5th Millennium BC. That was a long time ago! Early wheels were just wooden disks with a hole for the axle. Even though they were created that long ago, it was not until circa 3500 BC that the Wheel was being used for travel. This large void in time is thought to have been because of there were no roads and that there were very few wheelwright’s skilled enough.

The wheel evolved during c. 2000 BC by using spokes which allowed for lighter and swifter transportation. The next change was by the Celtics who added an iron rim around the wheel. This design was used until the 1870’s CE when wire wheels and tires were invented.

Modern Technology

It would be an impossible task to summarise the last century in one post, so I would just like to link you to a very good website instead.

Timelines of Invention and Technology

Have you decided on the answer to the question yet? Personally, I believe that ideas and inventions will never stop being there… you just have to be able to see them. It seems that usually the only way to see these ideas are by developing new technologies. Remember the wheel could not be used until the roads were made? Well this proves that the ideas might already be there, but to use them to their full potential you need to remake them to use new technologies. The wheel took thousands of years to develop the technologies it needed, the modern technology is advancing more rapidly every year.

Hopefully this has inspired you to keep looking for the next thing to do, especially if you are starting to get a little depressed like I know many people are. Do not let yourself feel like this, keep improving yourself and that of those around you!

Thank you,

Shane

Why do our needs matter? They matter because they define our ‘well-being’, if we have any problems such as depression then it will effect our performance ability in life and business. Now, you may be thinking “Why has this got anything to do with me” or “I am fine” but I believe it is important you understand our needs and well-being.

During the 20th centaury there was an American psychologist called Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) who dedicated much of his life to studying the needs of people. Rather than focusing on the mentally ill, which most psychologists before him did, he focused his study on realising how people had a positive mental health. This resulted in “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” which shows each step to well-being.

Stage 1 – Physiological

The first step to well-being is having the basic literal needs of survival. These are self-explanatory and include: Breathing, Homeostasis, Water, Sleep, Sex (personally I believe this should be on the third stage, but I am not a psychologist.), Food and Excretion. I really hope that as many people as possible, including those in the third world countries, are much higher than this stage of the hierarchy.

Stage 2 – Safety

Being safe is the next stage, and is one that has many different meanings. Firstly, for well-being it is vital that you personally feel safe. Some people suffer with paranoia, this means that they are probably “stuck” in this stage as they feel that their lives may be in danger. Another meaning of safety is to be financially stable which, especially during this dreaded recession, is a big problem for many people. Lastly, it is very important to be healthy and safe from disease because those that have health problems often are not able to advance to the next stage of well-being. It seems to me that a good definition of safety is “having your life under control”.

Stage 3 – Love and Belonging

I believe that this is the stage that most people have problems passing. In business, and this is true for general life as well, without the support of family and friends then it will be extremely hard to be successful. Everyone needs support, without it you will feel like you are on your own which will severely disrupt your work and may even lead to depression. I have found that many people feel better if someone talks to them, even strangers on the internet. Sometimes the best advice is from those that do not know you, as they have no judgement about you. Many people feel lonely, so even just a little support can go a very long way. I have always found that helping other people also helps me at the same time, as it gives a sense of achievement for being supportive.

Stage 4 – Esteem

I had to do some research for this one, the reason for this is that I have only ever heard the word used as “Self-Esteem”. It is actually quite surprising that this word is more often used to describe one’s “Self Esteem” as it should be used for others as well. Examples of this include respecting yourself and those around you. You must be respectful if you wish to be respected. It also includes confidence in yourself and others, as with respect it is vital to be confident in other people’s abilities. Lastly, it is important to be aware of your own achievements and the achievements of others, just complimenting them for what they have done will make you feel better about yourself.

Stage 5 – Self Actualisation

If you honestly are this far, then well done! Now you need to think about yourself. The first part of this is one that modern culture seems to be excessive about, aesthetics. It is very important that you feel good about what you look like. I do not mean what other people think about how you look, but how you feel about yourself. I personally am not into fashion, I just wear what is comfortable and I always make sure that my appearance is justified, for example today I wore a jumper because it was snowing but I would not wear one in the summer even if that was what everyone else was doing! Next, you must be aware of facts about yourself and not be ignorant of them or deny that they exist. Also it is very important that you lack prejudice, which means you must not pre-judge people before you get to know them. Remember, one’s appearance does not define one’s person.

Just so that you know, many people have said that this hierarchy is wrong and it is impossible rank any of the needs in an order. I am not trained in psychology but for this purpose I believe it is safe enough to use this theory as a guide for well-being.

Now you are familiar with the 5 stages of the Hierarchy of Needs, do you understand why I am telling you? Probably not. As I have already explained, the Hierarchy of Needs is a fairly solid foundation for building your well-being. Many of you will not understand what well-being has to do with how well you work. Basically, if you feel good about yourself then it will spread to the people you work with and everything you do will be of higher quality. This includes blogging, life and business.

I submitted this post as a guest post to ProBlogger.net and JohnChow.com, they both said that it was not focussed enough on their niche. That is fine, however I believe that the Hierarchy of Needs is very important to keep in the back of your mind as no matter what you are doing, your well-being affects it.

Thank you for reading this article, please share your thoughts!
Shane Hudson

Further Reading: As of 05/05/09 you can now find more  on this subject at A Psychologist’s Concept Of Learned Motives have fun!