Good morning,

How are you doing? I had a tiny tech glitch this morning, so this issue is a few minutes late. Hopefully that gave you extra time to get some coffee or tea. 🍵

Here’s what I have for you today:

• One big thing. What WWII cranes, doctors, and psychologists have in common. 🏗️

• You have to check this out. The sneaky dangers of “someday”, plus the Unsubscribe Sunstack. ⌚

• Tools and tech. A better way to read this newsletter. 📰

Are you ready to jump in? 🦘

1️⃣ ONE BIG THING

North of neutral: part two

In 1945, Germany was in tatters. It was time to rebuild.

The allied powers and international institutions provided reconstruction loans in the years after the war. Still, building materials and labor remained in short supply.

In the town of Baden-Württemberg, the German Hans Liebherr sensed an opportunity.

As a boy, he wanted to be a confectioner, but his stepfather pulled him into the construction business. He passed the master builder's examination and took over managing his parents' business in 1938.

Liebherr knew German reconstruction would require more than the financial support of the American Marshall Plan and other international loans—it would require new construction strategies and tools. He zeroed in on the challenges of high-rise construction.

In the first half of the century, constructing tall buildings involved rudimentary cranes, winches, and pulleys and a huge amount of manual labor. Liebherr set to work and designed the world’s first mobile tower crane. He registered his invention with the German Patent Office in 1949 under the name TK 10.

Liebherr's crane changed international construction. The cranes you see today are variations on his original design. Liebherr’s TK 10 crane was mobile and could be moved from site to site. It had the first horizontal jib, allowing the crane to hoist heavy building materials and distribute them horizontally.

There was one truly remarkable feature: the climbing mechanism. If you are going to build a 25-story building, you don’t want to erect a 30-story crane on day one. It would be almost impossible to stabilize. You also don't want to swap out your crane whenever you need a taller one.

Liebherr’s crane could build itself upwards. It used hydraulics to lift itself up and the horizontal jib to slide in a new modular section of the crane’s main tower. The crane used the growing building to stabilize itself as it grew.

Here is what this looks like with modern construction cranes (amazing!):

Psychology takes a step back.

While Liebherr’s TK 10 propelled the construction industry forward following WWII, the field of psychology took a different turn.

In the first half of the century, psychologists were involved in diagnosing and curing mental illness. Still, they also spent considerable time improving normal lives. A major area of inquiry was into identifying and nurturing high-talent individuals (geniuses).

When soldiers around the world returned home after WWII, psychologists focused their work on helping people recover from the psychic wounds of war. This narrowing of focus made complete sense at the time. However, perhaps unintentionally, it stuck.

For the next 45 years, the psychology profession operated from a disease model, helping people with mental illness improve, to get people back to a neutral baseline.

Climbing north of neutral—part 1.

In last week’s newsletter, I contrasted a typical meeting with a financial advisor with the annual check-up you probably have with your doctor.

Financial advisors first conduct a diagnostic step to understand your current financial position. If you have debt, the advisor will provide strategies and tools to get you back to a neutral baseline.

From there, they shift into a forward planning phase. This is often a discussion about values and goals. How soon would you like to retire? What is your tolerance for risk? What do you want to be able to do as you age?

This is where a financial advisor helps you move from a neutral position to a net-positive position over time. They provide market-tested advice and teach you the tools you'll need to get to this position well "north of neutral", from investment vehicles and diversification strategies to the ongoing habits you'll need to achieve these goals.

I contrasted this approach with your annual physical, which only includes a diagnostic step. If there is anything wrong with you, your doctor and modern medicine are there to cure what ails you, to get you back to a neutral baseline.

The medical profession is not built for forward planning. Doctors do not have the time, skills, or financial incentives to help you move "north of neutral," to get aggressive about preventing future illnesses or optimizing your body to get the most out of your final decade of life. They work from a disease model without a supplemental wellness model layered on top.

As I discussed last week, Dr. Peter Attia is trying to change this with what he has called Medicine 3.0 in his book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.

If you missed last week’s newsletter, it would be worth reading it for a deeper dive.

From physical health to mental health.

Since WWII, the psychology profession has also operated from a disease model.

Like in the medical field, this has been an achievement worth celebrating. Over the past century, psychology transitioned from smoke and mirrors to a true "science of mental health." The first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was published in 1952, categorizing 106 mental disorders. This categorization was not perfect (and perhaps never will be), given that homosexuality was listed as a mental health disorder in the DSM until May 1974.

Today, psychologists can treat or cure many mental health disorders. But the profession, by and large, aims to get people back to a baseline level of psychological health, back to neutral.

That began to change in 1998, when the American Psychological Association elected the University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin Seligman as its President. He chose to base his APA presidency on a new mental health framework he called positive psychology.

Seligman’s drive to push psychology to do more than treat mental illness parallels Peter Attia’s work to have the medical field do more than cure you when you are sick.

Seligman defines positive psychology as the scientific study of what makes life worth living.

Philosophers dating back to the Ancient Greeks have debated the elements of "the good life" and how to achieve them, as have Eastern spiritual practices.

Abraham Maslow first coined the term “positive psychology” in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. He proposed that psychology's preoccupation with disorder and dysfunction did not accurately understand human potential. Click here for a deeper history.

At the start of this century, Seligman and the early pioneers of positive psychology (including Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Chris Peterson, Daniel Gilbert, and others) wanted to overcome the limitations of the disease model of psychology, which includes:

• Focusing on outside causes of mental illness and neglecting the role of human choice and responsibility in mental health.

• Neglecting the majority of the population. As Seligman says, “Psychology forgot about making relatively untroubled people happier, more fulfilled, and more productive.”

• Failing to develop positive interventions that would help mentally healthy people become happier.

If you'd like to hear Seligman discuss positive psychology more, this 23-minute Ted Ed talk is a good place to start.

Like Peter Attia’s Medicine 3.0 framework, Seligman and others created a new science-based “north of neutral” paradigm for human flourishing.

Here’s how Seligman describes it:

As I discussed last week in relation to the finance and physical health domains, moving “north of neutral” requires teaching people strategies and tools to improve their lives—to increase their experiences of positive emotions, make these more durable, and bolster meaning and purpose in life. These are not skills most people are aware of or are taught.

What positive psychology is not.

Importantly, as Christopher Peterson emphasized in this article, “Positive psychology is psychology—psychology is science—and science requires checking theories against evidence. Accordingly, positive psychology is not to be confused with untested self-help, footless affirmation, or secular religion- no matter how good these may make us feel. Positive psychology is neither a recycled version of the power of positive thinking nor a sequel to the secret.”

Happiness vs. life satisfaction vs. well-being.

There is no shortage of writing out there about happiness. It's become a cottage industry. But what is happiness? Is that the same as well-being?

Let’s review three terms that often get used interchangeably.

• Happiness is what you feel in the moment—joy, delight, or peace sparked by something you love. It’s emotional and often fleeting, like a good laugh or a sunny walk. Researchers call this the affective side of well-being.

• Life satisfaction is more of a zoomed-out view. It’s your answer to “How’s life going overall?” It reflects how you judge your life as a whole, based on what matters most to you. It’s cognitive and more stable over time.

• Well-being is the big umbrella that holds both. It includes happiness and life satisfaction, but also covers mental, social, and psychological health. Think of it as the full picture of flourishing. Some frameworks, like Seligman’s PERMA model, add things like meaning, accomplishment, and strong relationships.

Positive psychology is concerned with overall well-being. It aims to help people move "north of neutral", creating strategies and tools you can use to flourish in life.

A climbing mechanism for your life.

When you combine the evidence-based strategies and tools proposed by Peter Attia (and others) for your physical health with the scientifically tested strategies and tools developed by Martin Seligman and others in the positive psychology field, you have the backbone of your own "climbing mechanism."

Hans Liebherr’s cranes elevated buildings around the world to new heights. Their design contained the tools needed to continually grow, a mechanism to keep climbing up. The crane and the building grew synergistically.

In your financial life, and with your physical and mental health, you are not born with an intuitive understanding of how these can support your optimal life. And for the most part, these strategies and tools are not taught in school.

However, extensive research over the past 30 years has given us tools to construct an evidence-based “climbing mechanism” for life.

With Second Act Creator, I aim to give you the strategies and tools to move north of neutral in your own life.

What is your well-being score?

If you would like to start with the diagnostic part of this, I’ve added one of the most respected (and research-validated) questionnaires to measure your current well-being below—the PERMA Profiler. This is based on Seligman’s PERMA framework for flourishing in life.

Scroll to the bottom to learn more. You can take the test online or do it on your own.

Thank you for reading today!

See you next Sunday,

Kevin

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PERMA Profiler: Well-Being Self-Assessment

The PERMA Profiler is a research-backed questionnaire created by Julie Butler and Margaret Kern based on Dr. Martin Seligman's well-being model at the University of Pennsylvania. The original research paper validating this tool is available here.

To take this online (and track your scores over time), visit the UPenn’s Authentic Happiness Questionnaire Center, and scroll down to the PERMA test in the “Flourishing Questionnaires” section. Creating an account is required.

Directions:
Please read each of the following questions and then select the point on the 0-10 scale that you feel best describes you.

Questions

1. In general, to what extent do you lead a purposeful and meaningful life?
   0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

2. How much of the time do you feel you are making progress towards accomplishing your goals?
   0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

3. How often do you become absorbed in what you are doing?
   0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

4. In general, how would you say your health is?
   0 - Terrible 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Excellent

5. In general, how often do you feel joyful?
   0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

6. To what extent do you receive help and support from others when you need it?
   0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

7. In general, how often do you feel anxious?
   0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

8. How often do you achieve the important goals you have set for yourself?
   0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

9. In general, to what extent do you feel that what you do in your life is valuable and worthwhile?
   0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

10. In general, how often do you feel positive?
    0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

11. In general, to what extent do you feel excited and interested in things?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

12. How lonely do you feel in your daily life?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

13. How satisfied are you with your current physical health?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

14. In general, how often do you feel angry?
    0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

15. To what extent have you been feeling loved?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

16. How often are you able to handle your responsibilities?
    0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

17. To what extent do you generally feel you have a sense of direction in your life?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

18. Compared to others of your same age and sex, how is your health?
    0 - Terrible 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Excellent

19. How satisfied are you with your personal relationships?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

20. In general, how often do you feel sad?
    0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

21. How often do you lose track of time while doing something you enjoy?
    0 - Never 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Always

22. In general, to what extent do you feel contented?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

23. Taking all things together, how happy would you say you are?
    0 - Not At All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Completely

Scoring Method

1. Add up your ratings for all 23 questions.

2. Divide the total by 23.

3. This gives you a mean well-being score (between 0 and 10).

How to Interpret Your Score