Periodic eudaimonia audit: are you actually flourishing?
Periodically evaluate your life against the conditions Aristotle thought were necessary for genuine flourishing — not just your feelings about it.
Why it works
Eudaimonia is an assessment of a life, not a momentary feeling — which is why Aristotle thought you couldn’t evaluate a life until it was near complete. But the conditions he identified — genuine friends, meaningful activity, character development, some basic material sufficiency, civic engagement — are assessable at any point. The audit forces an honest reckoning with structural conditions, not just affect.
How to do it
- Score your life honestly (1–5) on each of Aristotle’s conditions: genuine close friendships, meaningful work expressing real capacities, active character development, basic material security, participation in something larger than yourself.
- Identify the condition with the lowest score.
- Name one concrete action that would improve that condition in the next 30 days.
- Repeat the audit in three months and track whether the action made a measurable difference.
Evidence
The PERMA model in positive psychology independently identifies similar components to Aristotle’s eudaimonia: engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, positive emotion. Life satisfaction research consistently shows that structural life conditions matter more than momentary affect for long-run wellbeing. (observational)
The PERMA model is a contemporary operationalisation, not a direct study of Aristotle’s eudaimonia. The alignment is substantial but not exact; Aristotle’s list emphasises virtue and civic life more than PERMA.
Sources
- Seligman (2011), Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being — PERMA model
Common mistake
Completing the audit intellectually — scoring the categories without making a real commitment to the weakest one. The point of the audit is action, not self-knowledge.
Practice this with IX Coach
7 days free, then $40/month (~$1.30/day).
More practices for Aristotelian Eudaimonia: Flourishing Through Virtue
- Finding the virtuous mean in a specific situation
Identify the excess and deficiency extremes in a situation and practise hitting the mean — the appropriate response — deliberately.
- Developing phronesis: practical wisdom through reflection
After a significant decision, reflect on what a practically wise person would have done — and update your judgment for next time.
- Cultivating friendships of virtue over pleasure or utility
Invest most deeply in friendships where mutual character development — not just enjoyment or usefulness — is the bond.
- Identifying and protecting your core meaningful activity
Identify the activities that express your best capacities, and structure your day so they get your best hours, not your scraps.
- Building character through deliberate repetition
Choose one character quality you want to embody and perform one specific act of it daily until it no longer requires effort.
- Protecting time for theoria: contemplative reflection
Reserve regular time for thinking that has no practical output — reflection, philosophical reading, or enquiry into things you won’t act on.
Related concepts
- Stoicism, as a Set of Practices
The six exercises that turn the philosophy into a daily discipline
- Epicurean Philosophy: Practical Happiness
Epicurus on desire, pleasure, and the good life — and what it actually looks like in practice
- Philosophy as a Way of Life
Hadot’s reading of ancient spiritual exercises as a modern daily practice