Final answer:
Before a person can focus on esteem and personal achievement needs according to Maslow, they must have their need for love and belonging satisfied. This falls in Maslow's hierarchy of needs where physiological and safety needs form the base, followed by the psychological needs for love, belonging, and esteem, then eventual self-actualization.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Maslow, the need that must be met before a person can work on their esteem/personal achievement needs is the need for love and belonging. This is represented within Maslow's hierarchy of needs, where basic physiological and safety needs form the foundation that must be satisfied before one can focus on psychological needs such as belongingness and love, followed by esteem. Esteem needs encompass self-respect, self-esteem, and the respect of others; they are about the individual's desire for strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence, and freedom.
The need to be loved and to belong, which includes friendships, trust, acceptance, receiving and giving affection, and love, must be fulfilled after physiological and safety needs are met and before esteem needs. Only once these have been satisfied can individuals progress toward the penultimate goal of self-actualization, and ultimately, some models include self-transcendence at the very top of the pyramid.
In other words, Maslow believed in a certain order in which these human needs must be addressed; starting from the more primitive physical requirements, ascending to the psychological, and culminating in the fulfillment of one's full potential.