I promised on my last podcast episode to talk more about routines and what I call “Survival” and “Maintenance” level habits or tasks.

Let’s talk about those as our year progresses and we look to add in or even subtract habits to our schedule and routines, making sure that the ones we have support us. And, I would hope that if we can look at our survival and maintenance routines in a more objective way, we can design routines and habits that support the fundamentals efficiently and consistently, so we can get on with whatever else it is we want to accomplish today, this week and this year!

A class participant last year asked me to help them stay motivated to complete their daily survival and maintenance habits and routines, and this is for them, too. Survival and maintenance tasks aren’t optional, so the the question isn’t IF we complete them, but HOW.

I am going to dip into psychology with you here. I have a BS in Management, and a double minor in Psychology and music performance. I often think in terms of psychology, how our brains and minds work, and why people do what they do!

As we talk about survival and maintenance level tasks, though, let’s start with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This is a theory in developmental psychology. If you want to know more, you can google it. There is a lot of information out there! Go to a library, or take an Intro to Psych course! That is where I started!

The hierarchy of needs is represented as a pyramid, with 5 levels. Physiological needs are the very bottom, then safety needs, then love and belonging, then esteem and then self actualization.

The theory is, we all start motivated to first meet physical needs as in air, food, clothing, shelter and sleep. The reason the theory is represented in a pyramid form is that the physical or physiological needs are the foundation of all other needs.

We have to start at the bottom, and make sure that physical needs are met, as in the things we need to do to survive until tomorrow morning. And, we need to ensure those survival needs are met consistently, before we can move up the pyramid.

I say “met consistently” because, for example in terms of food – first we need to eat food to survive. And then we need to make sure we can eat again, to continue to survive. And that moves us up the pyramid into Safety needs.

In real life, that looks like eating breakfast and also packing a lunch for later, and having a plan for dinner. And having the means to buy and store more food when we use up what we have, to continue to meet those survival needs.

Since you have the technology and time to read this article and listen to the podcast, I am going to assume you have your physical needs for survival met. And if not, go take care of those! Because… and here is a really important part of understanding the Hierarchy of Needs – we can’t succeed at the next level until we’ve taken care of the level below.

In real life, as you know, I work on our local Board of Education. And in education, we understand that a student who is hungry or freezing is going to have a hard time learning. A student who doesn’t feel safe or who is homeless is going to have a hard time learning. So, almost every school district has free and reduced meals available to students if they don’t necessarily have the means at home to eat. No judgement, just planning ahead. Acknowledging that their physiological needs must be met for our students to succeed.

We, too, as adults, cannot expect to achieve Esteem and Self-Actualization if we are consistently hungry, cold, unsafe, etc. That is the theory, the hierarchy. And that is where we need to start with our routines as well.

Whew, that was a very long winded Lead Up.

But we need to start with survival when it comes to our routines as well.

Globally, we need to wake up (sleep and shelter are level 1), eat breakfast (level 1), get dressed (level 1), take a shower (level 2 for health). Then we need to look at safety needs, in terms of going to work to ensure personal security, continued physiological needs being met, continuing to have a safe and healthy place to live, etc.

We have higher aspirations most days as well! The need for belonging and love and community, the need to be respected and to excel, the need ultimately do and be what we desire to become. But it’s difficult if not impossible for us to get to that pinnacle, to that top level if we haven’t done the other things first.

Which is why I talk so often about Routines and Habits.

We know we must meet our physiological needs. Must. And at least daily, if not more than once a day. So the question isn’t if, but how? And how to do that really well? As easy, as quickly, as efficiently, as well as possible. We identify the needs, decide how to meet them, take time-wasting decision making out the mix, and meet them every day. To survive. And also to do so consistently, so we can move up the hierarchy to safety.

Our physiological needs are met most days. We have clothes (level 1). And we need to make sure they’re clean (level 2). So we can feel good and feel good about ourselves (levels 3 and 4).

Because we can’t move up the pyramid if those first things have not been met, if we are naked and starving. It’s really hard to write a novel or create a great work of art or whatever it is that you are meant to do to be actualized if your survival needs aren’t met.

Now maintenance is less often, but it is eternal. And maintenance is what comes next when it comes to habits and routines once we ensure our survival. Maintenance ensures we CONTINUE to survive consistently. The systems we need to continue to flourish.

Maintenance is next level, it is asking how do we do survival better? How do we do more than just survive? How do we actually maintain. Consistently meeting and maintaining survival habits takes us to the Maintenance level where the need of personal safety and taking care of our homes and taking care of our health.

And, once we have firmed up those two first levels, we can move up the pyramid. And unfortunately, we can’t always move up the pyramid WITHOUT doing the survival and maintenance tasks. At least not for long.

Let’s good at maintenance, then, too, and that is DEFINITELY where habits and routines come in! So maintenance around our survival habits are doing laundry, taking our supplements and medications, cooking and grocery shopping, keeping ourselves and our environment clean and healthy.

I propose that these steps are also not optional if we desire to move to the next levels of the pyramid. Let’s get good at those things, and then we can move on to progress in love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization! And it all starts with habits and routines, survival and maintenance.