People get self-actualization wrong, and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid bears much of the blame. By placing self-actualization as a discrete, separate section at the top of the hierarchy, the rest of the pyramid—everything from food and shelter to financial security, loving relationships, community, and self-confidence—is subordinated. The work, efforts, and activities that comprise and define our daily lives—succeeding in our careers to provide the money we exchange for physical shelter and daily necessities; finding a partner to love, support, and build a life and a family together; serving one’s community—become mere prerequisites on the path to self-actualization, boxes to check before we embark on the real quest for meaning, purpose, and contentment. What all too many of us (myself among them) take far too long to realize, though, is that self-actualization isn’t something we pursue after we’ve addressed every lower section of needs in the hierarchy. It’s not a distinct facet of life we work toward after we have liberated ourselves from life’s baser needs. Self-actualization is found, rather, in the satisfaction of those needs themselves. Self-actualization permeates all levels of the pyramid, rather than sitting atop them. It suffuses all that we do as we climb toward the summit. We self-actualize—we find meaning, develop purpose, express creativity, experience life’s fullness—while we perform life’s routine, daily activities, not after we get them out of the way. We self-actualize when we work hard at our jobs and take pride in both the processes and the fruits of our labor. We self-actualize when we provide shelter for our families, a pantry full of food, a hearty meal, a warm bed. We self-actualize when we save funds for future days and watch as yesterday’s financial sacrifices pay tomorrow’s dividends, compounding across the years. We self-actualize when we serve our communities, express kindness to strangers with no expectation of gain for ourselves in return, make new friends, invest our time and our energy in stronger relationships. We self-actualize when we labor in the gym, like what we see in the mirror, and hold ourselves with more confidence. When we view the great bulk of the pyramid, comprising the vast majority of how we spend our time and efforts in this life, as separate from self-actualization, we inevitably set ourselves up for disappointment. Rather than finding meaning, purpose, and joy in life’s daily efforts and activities, we view them as mere obstacles to check off, surmount, or even avoid. We think of self-actualization as something that “comes later,” or is reserved for after work-hours, or requires an elaborate, “Eat Pray Love” trek across the globe. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, treating it that way is a recipe for failure and disappointment. Find meaning in your work, purpose in life’s routine tasks, joy in your relationships. Do it today and do it all days, regardless of what the day’s most pressing needs on the hierarchy are. That’s where you’ll find the self-actualization you’ve been seeking.