Becoming an expert is not just a worthy personal objective. It is more than a path toward higher income or higher social status. Expertise, if we are to believe psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory of human motivation, is a fundamental human need. It is a motivating force of nature that is manifest in all people. Just as breathing, drinking, and eating are physiological needs for human survival, expertise and expert performance are self-actualizing emotional needs that are hardwired into the human psyche. Maslow stated it this way: "What a man can be, he must be."

Just as people need food to eat and water to drink, just as they need safety and social standing, and just as they need esteem, recognition, and status, they need expertise. Self-actualization, according to Maslow, is the most intense human need and one of the highest we experience on the hierarchy of needs.

Some people have a strong desire to excel in athletics, others in the arts, and others in academia. All, however, are motivated by a need to reach their full potential. Th is is more than a desire; it is, according to Maslow, an inherent human need.