The Best Well-being Frameworks Explained: PERMA, SPIRE, Flow, Māori Wisdom & More

What does it mean to live well? Across psychology, indigenous wisdom, leadership research, and well-being science, dozens of frameworks attempt to answer that question. In this episode, Brad Hook (https://bradleyhook.com) explores the world’s most influential models — what they mean, why they matter, and how they can help us understand our own lives more clearly.

You’ll learn the core ideas behind:

• PERMA

• SPIRE

• Te Whare Tapa Whā

• Ryff’s Psychological Well-being

• Gallup’s Five Elements

• Maslow’s Hierarchy

• Flow and Peak States

• McKinsey’s Holistic Model

• The Eight Dimensions of Well-being

• Life by Design

• The Resilience Institute’s Spiral

• The Dimensions of Performance & Centropy

Rather than giving rigid steps or checklists, this episode shows how the principles behind these models can orient your daily choices, habits, and leadership.

Each model offers a different angle: meaning (PERMA), balance (Te Whare Tapa Whā), autonomy (Ryff), relationships (Gallup), or flow (Csikszentmihalyi).

Choose the one that resonates with your season of life and use it as a mirror for reflection.

Most models agree: flourishing is multi-dimensional.

Awareness is the first application.

Rather than trying to improve all domains, make one shift:

• deepen a relationship

• improve sleep

• reconnect with meaning

• create one regenerative habit

• add recovery between stress cycles