The PERMA model: a gentle check on how well you're really doing

The PERMA model describes wellbeing in five parts: Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning and Accomplishment. Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, set it out in his 2011 book Flourish. PiViva's PERMA check uses ten short statements, each rated from 0 to 10, and shows each of the five parts separately, so that a healthy overall score can't hide an area that needs a little care.

Why can you feel fine and still not be flourishing?

There's a particular kind of week that many of us know well. Nothing is actually wrong, and if someone asked whether you were unhappy you'd probably say no.

And yet you can't remember the last time you were really absorbed in something, your weeks are full without feeling especially meaningful, and it's been a while since you finished something you were genuinely proud of. "Are you happy?" doesn't quite capture that, and you might well answer yes while still feeling that something is missing.

That feeling deserves attention, and the good news is that it can usually be traced to one or two areas of life that have been left to fend for themselves for a while. PERMA is a way of finding out which ones.

What is the PERMA model, and where did it come from?

Martin Seligman is a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the founders of positive psychology. His earlier model of wellbeing was built around happiness, but over time he came to feel that happiness was too thin a target on its own. People pursue engagement and meaning even when neither makes them feel particularly good in the moment, and he felt a model of wellbeing had to make room for that.

So in Flourish, published in 2011, he set out PERMA. Positive emotion is how you actually feel from day to day. Engagement is how often you're absorbed in something. Relationships is whether you have people you can rely on. Meaning is whether you feel part of something bigger than yourself. And Accomplishment is whether you feel you're getting somewhere.

In 2016 two researchers, Julie Butler and Margaret Kern, built a validated questionnaire around the model, called the PERMA-Profiler, which researchers now use to measure it.

How does the PERMA Model work in PiViva?

You rate ten short statements, each from 0 to 10, and PiViva shows you a score for each of the five parts.

The five are measured separately on purpose. A score can look perfectly healthy overall and still hide a 2 in one area, and in many ways that 2 is the most useful thing the check can show you. Most people find they already have a fair idea which of their five is low, and have simply been avoiding looking at it for a while.

Engagement and Meaning tend to be the first to suffer during a busy period. Neither is ever urgent, and neither makes much fuss when it's being neglected, so they can slip a long way before you notice.

What if one part is much lower than the rest?

Then that's the one to give some gentle attention to, on its own, for a while. There's no need to fix everything at once, and choosing a single area and giving it a few weeks of care is usually enough to feel a real difference, which is far more manageable than trying to overhaul your whole life by the weekend.

Relationships often responds most quickly for the effort you put in, so it can be a lovely place to start. You might call someone you've been meaning to call, or finally arrange the thing you keep postponing.

If Meaning is low, Values Clarification and Ikigai can help you look at what really matters to you. If Accomplishment is low, Goal Setting and the Weekly Success Planner can give you something worthwhile to finish. And if Positive emotion is low, the Gratitude Worksheet is a small daily way to start. Coming back to PERMA every few months will show you what's moved, and it's often encouraging to see how much a little steady attention can change in the space of a single season.

PERMA is a tool for reflection. If you've been struggling with your mood for more than a couple of weeks, please do talk to your GP, who can make sure you get the right support.