The research behind APSP, tier by tier
Most life-design books blur proven findings, useful models and the author’s own choices. The research behind APSP is sorted into three tiers instead, and every idea in Vman and the 21 frameworks carries its tier.
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Tier 1: established findings
These carry substantial published evidence. Most are associations from observational research, the strongest kind available for most life outcomes: they show what reliably travels together, not that one cause produces one result. The when-then finding is the exception: it comes mainly from experiments.
| Finding | What the research reports | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Relationships and long life | Close relationships predicted long, happy lives better than social class, IQ or genes in a study begun in 1938. A review of 148 studies (308,849 people) found a 50% greater likelihood of survival with stronger social relationships. | Harvard Study of Adult Development (Harvard Gazette, 2017); Holt-Lunstad et al., PLoS Medicine, 2010 |
| Strength and mortality | Among 139,691 adults in 17 countries, every 5 kg of lower grip strength was associated with a 16% higher risk of death from any cause. | Leong et al., The Lancet, 2015 |
| Purpose and mental health | Across 89 studies (more than 66,000 people), a stronger sense of purpose was associated with lower depression and anxiety. | Boreham & Schutte, Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2023 |
| Bids for connection | Couples still married six years later had turned toward each other’s bids for attention 86% of the time; couples who divorced, 33%. | Gottman & DeClaire, The Relationship Cure, 2001, reporting the lab’s own newlywed research (Gottman Institute summary). A popular book by the researchers, not an independent review. |
| Habits take weeks | In a 12-week study, the 39 participants whose data fitted the model took a median of 66 days to reach automaticity; estimates ranged from 18 to 254 days, the upper end projected beyond the study period. | Lally et al., European Journal of Social Psychology, 2010 |
| When-then plans | Across 94 studies, plans written as “when X, then I will Y” were reached markedly more often than goals alone. | Gollwitzer & Sheeran, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2006 |
Tier 2: models
These explain a lot and have some support, but they are lenses, not settled mechanics. The psychoid, Jung’s term for where mind and matter meet, is used to stop you splitting life into boxes; it is not a verified physical structure. The shadow, Jung’s word for disowned parts of the personality, is clinically useful in several traditions but cannot be observed directly. Two of the 21 frameworks rest partly on Tier 2 mechanisms: the Biological Optimization Protocol and the Craving Override Protocol.
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Read the first chapter free →Tier 3: design choices
These are APSP’s own architecture, judged by whether they work for you: the 70/30 equilibrium, the 14-minute daily anchor, the five-corner geometry and the quarterly audit rhythm. Eighteen of the 21 frameworks are Tier 3 design heuristics, and two more pair a Tier 2 mechanism with a Tier 3 protocol. That is why every framework ends with a verification step: you test it on your own life rather than take it on authority.
How to use this page
If a claim matters to a decision, follow it to its source. Start with the free life assessment to get a baseline, then rescore in ninety days: the change in your own score is the most relevant evidence you will have.
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Read the first chapter free.
Free by email: the opening sections, the full Five Domain Diagnostic and Chapter One. No card. Unsubscribe at any time.