Abraham Maslow’s Insight: Choose Growth Over Comfort for Personal Development
Abraham Maslow’s Insight: Choose Growth Over Comfort for Personal Development
Alani VargasSun, April 26, 2026 at 7:45 AM UTC
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If you’ve ever heard of the psychological theory of the “hierarchy of needs,” then you’ve heard of Abraham Maslow’s work. In addition to being a psychologist, he was also a philosopher who popularized the self-actualization theory of psychology, which argues that the “primary goal of psychotherapy should be the integration of the self,” per Britannica.
Born on April 1, 1908, in Brooklyn, NY, Maslow was the oldest of seven children and came from a first-generation Jewish immigrant family from Kyiv (now the capital of Ukraine, but at the time it was a part of the Russian Empire), per the School of Philosophy and Economic Science. And in the vein of his main research and work on the self and hierarchy of needs, our quote of the day includes his thoughts on growth and the choices we have to make to either level up or stay “safe.”
As Positive Psychology reported, Maslow was “one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century.” His work advanced the field of humanistic psychology, which is a movement that believes humans are unique individuals and “should be recognized and treated as such” by mental health professionals, according to Britannica. This is where his hierarchy of needs theory comes in, where he argued that each human has this order in which needs need to be satisfied. This includes basic physiological needs (food, water, shelter, etc.), then safety needs (security, resources), followed by love needs, esteem needs and then self-actualization at the top.
Maslow studied psychology at the University of Wisconsin, then studied Gestalt psychology at the New School for Social Research in New York City. He became the head of the psychology department at Brandeis University in 1951 and stayed there until he retired in 1969. He died on June 8, 1970, and his work still influences psychology to this day.
Today’s quote is in line with the majority of his teachings and research and, again, talks about what we need to do to grow. Hint: it’s the opposite of staying in our comfort zone.
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Quote of the Day by Abraham Maslow
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"In any given moment, we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety."
This is the most popular version of this quote, though the quote is also often written as, “You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.” This is what you can find in Brian Tracy’s 2009 book, How the Best Leaders Lead: Proven Secrets to Getting the Most Out of Yourself and Others, at the beginning of the chapter, “Leaders Know Themselves.”
As the different variations might have hinted at, this quote is attributed to Maslow, but there isn’t a direct quote in his writing that is this exact sentence. However, it is a good summation of what he reported on in his work and ultimately what he believed.
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Deeper Meaning of Abraham Maslow’s Quote—Growth vs. Staying Safe
As this truncated quote says, based on Maslow’s work, there are often two options: grow and take a leap of faith, or stay in your comfort zone.
It’s really easy to continue to live in your comfort zone, because it’s familiar and it does feel safe. But just because something is a safe choice doesn’t mean it’s a good choice; as many would argue (Maslow included, probably), going with your “safe” option actually might hinder you from reaching your full potential.
Just because something is safe doesn’t inherently mean it’s bad or a choice that will hinder you going forward. For example, a safety college is still a good place to attend if it’s the best financial choice, or it’s the best college you got into. But if that “safe” choice is stopping your progress or holding you back, then it is, such as sticking with a toxic partner or staying at home to help your parents out—and letting life pass you by—when that’s not your job.
Essentially, to evolve and gain success in life, you have to do the hard things. You have to take risks, and you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. If you don’t, you’ll never reach your full potential.
Specifically in his 1961 book, Toward a Psychology of Being, Maslow writes about this exact concept: that you can either go forward and grow, or stay where you are, where it’s “safe.”
“Every human being has both sets of forces within him. One set clings to safety and defensiveness out of fear, tending to regress backward, hanging on to the past, afraid to grow away from the primitive communication with the mother’s uterus and breast, afraid to take chances, afraid to jeopardize what he already has, afraid of independence, freedom and separateness. The other set of forces impels him forward toward wholeness of Self and uniqueness of Self, toward full functioning of all his capacities, toward confidence in the face of the external world at the same time that he can accept his deepest, real, unconscious Self.”
His hierarchy of needs theory puts self-actualization at the top, making it the thing humans are aiming for; it’s the point in development where someone can understand themselves the best and reach their full potential. As Britannica reported, it’s something one can reach after meeting all their other needs. And Maslow writes in this book that a very small percentage of people actually reach full self-actualization. Why? Because of what this quote states: people are okay staying in their safety zones rather than taking those leaps to grow.
Related: Quote of the Day: Psychologist B.F. Skinner on Perseverance, Reframing and Never Giving Up
More Quotes from Abraham Maslow -
“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”
“To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.”
“It isn't normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement.”
“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be”
“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”
“If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.”
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This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Life section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
