How to Find Your (Not-So-)Superpower

Every Saturday at 6:30 a.m., my eight-year-old self would bolt downstairs and turn on the TV in time for this: 

For the next 30 minutes, I’d lose myself in the world of the X-Men, my favorite cartoon superheroes.

As the credits rolled, I’d squeeze my eyes shut, and clench every little muscle and tendon in my body as hard as I could hoping something magical would explode out of me. I ached for a superpower. 

I didn’t care about being ostracized or even persecuted for my superpowers, like the X-Men. I wanted to be extraordinary. To use my superpowers for good, not bad—well mostly good. Maybe I’d snag the odd chocolate bar for my services. 

Reality Isn’t Super

Three decades later, Professor X had yet to land his X-jet on my lawn, knock on my door, and whisk me off to his mansion, the School for Gifted Youngsters. No ability to fly. No shape-shifting. No lasers shooting from my eyes—or any other orifice, for that matter. 

My hunger for the extraordinary morphed into “grown-up” ambitions: Olympic swimmer, NBA star, world-denting CEO. Reality, my evil nemisis, crushed these dreams one by one.

The feeling of untapped potential gnawed at me. I knew I had more inside, waiting to be unleashed. This itch led me to research and write about living extraordinarily. My writing wasn’t superhuman, but I enjoyed it. It made life better, so I settled for this okay-but-not-super status quo. I buried any lingering dissatisfaction with reason:

“Face it, Chris. You’re not special.” 

Fresh Motivation Is Born

On April 28, 2021, 3.14kg of pure, untainted potential entered my life: Zac. His arrival reignited and turbocharged my quest for extraordinary abilities. How could I help my son discover and unleash his unique superpowers?

Motivated by this new purpose, I dove deep. I devoured books on personality, genetics, neuroscience, and cultural evolution, amassing a mountain of clues. I reached out to professional “superpower-finders” like Marloes Bouwmeester and Jack Skeen, hoping they held the secret.

Their insights were promising, but something remained missing. I felt close, yet frustratingly far from cracking the code.

The Missing Piece

This April, an intriguing podcast episode hit my feed: Want to Be Happy? Give Yourself Reasons to Admire Yourself.

The title didn’t do anything for me. What did was host Brett McKay’s uncharacteristic endorsement: “I really think this is a valuable idea that everyone can get something from and recommend listening through.” In the hundreds of blurbs I’d read, I’d never seen McKay make such an overt plug.

The guest on the episode was Ryan Bush, a kindred spirit who’d spent years obsessively decoding the formula for human flourishing. His systematic approach resonated so strongly that I immediately bought his book, Become Who You Are. 

Forty-five percent of the way in, after Bush laid the groundwork with Stoic wisdom, Nietzschean ethics, positive psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology, I hit Bush’s surprisingly and elegantly simple “grand unified theory of human well-being.” 

E = nVs.

Eudaimonia = Net virtue self-signaled. 

This was my missing piece.

As I put my Kindle down that night and passed out, the implications of this formula sank in. My brain started assembling the framework for feeling like a real-life superhero. 

The Grand Unified Theory of Human Well-Being

Eudaimonia is the Greek word that English lacks for the ultimate measure of the good life, the sense of life-fulfilling, thriving, well-being. It’s the opposite of depression. 

And the path to eudaimonia—and away from depression—is ‘net virtue self-signaled.’ In simple words, it’s about giving yourself reasons to admire yourself.  

Deep inside each of us is our ego. It craves fulfillment. To gauge its level of pumped-up-ness (self-esteem), it constantly asks: 

“Am I admirable in the eyes of those who share my values?”

Values are crucial here. They are your ego’s meta goals—the goals behind your life goals.

‘Virtue’ in the E = nVs formula is about fulfilling these values. I prefer Bush’s other term: ‘admirability.’ Our egos gauge this based on what we think our value-aligned peers would think of us. An insult from a rich, exhausted, divorced CEO might bounce off me like a bullet off Superman. But the same words from Brett McKay or Ryan Bush? Kryptonite.

Whose opinion matters most? Those whose values most closely align with yours: Your future selves. 

The overlooked implication: Taking admirable action isn’t enough. You must also give yourself credit. Even if I share with you an idea that inspires you to take fulfilling action, it won’t pump my ego one nano-PSI if I don’t give myself credit for it. That’s the ‘self-signaled’ part of the ‘E = nVs’ formula.

Maximizing your E (eudaimonia/fulfilliment/well-being/life-goodness) is a matter of efficiency. How? By leveraging your unique strengths, bringing them together like Voltron to fulfill your values.

In essence, E = nVs boils down to four steps:

1. Understand your values.
2. Identify how you’re best suited to fulfill those values—your strengths.
3. Take value-aligned action using your strengths.
4. Give yourself props for doing so.

How to Harness Your Superpower

I felt tantalizingly close. All I had to do to unlock my powers and start fulfilling my potential was this:

Understand my ego’s image of a real-life superhero and use whatever not-so-superpowers I have to credibly act like one. 

Understand Your Values

Rather than pluck some fluffy values out of the clouds, I took a challenging self-assessment that forced me to rank my priorities to reveal my preferences within Schwartz’s Theory of Basic Values (PDF).

Schwartz’ model is the gold standard. Psychologist Angela Duckworth recently said, “Now, it is so established what [Shalom Schwartz] believes are the ten universal values that I don’t know a single scientific article that has seriously contested this, because now there’s, like, a mountain of data.” 

My strongest values:

1. Self-Direction (by far). Independent thought and action—choosing, creating, exploring
2. Stimulation. Excitement, novelty, and challenge in life 
3. Achievement. Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standards

My work on The Zag very obviously aspires to these values. No wonder I love it and so desperately want it to succeed.

Identify Your Strengths

The most widely accepted model of strengths is Martin Seligman’s VIA (Values in Action) Survey of Signature Strengths. ‘Signature strength’ is Seligman’s term for our abilities that we yearn to use, feel invigorated by using, and feel most proud for having used. 

My results from Seligman’s free online VIA assessment:

1. Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
2. Self-control and self-regulation
3. Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
4. Curiosity and interest in the world
5. Humor and playfulness

Bring Them Together 

This is the tricky part. How do you figure out how to effectively use your strengths to fulfill values? 

This requires:

• An inhumanly objective lack of bias.
• Extensive knowledge of all possible options.
• The broadest most outside-the-box possible thinking. 

In the past, I would have gotten stuck here and struggled to come up with valid insights. But not any longer thanks to a new and truly super-sidekick: 

AI. 

Finding My Superpower

I fed Claude (an AI tool) my strengths, values, and a bunch more information—proudest achievements, personality traits, childhood interests (like the X-Men!), etc. 

I assigned the AI its mission: 

You are Humanity’s CEO, responsible for our long-term flourishing. Analyze the info I’ve provided then tell me: What’s my superpower? And how would you deploy me to maximize good—for myself and others?

Then I clicked ‘submit,’ holding my breath. My inner 8-year-old clutched his Wolverine action figure tightly.

Claude’s response floored me:

“Whoa.” 

My hands fell off the keyboard. I tingled as Claude’s words sank in. 

The crazy thing? I hadn’t told the AI anything about The Zag or what I write about. 

This revelation made me feel validated on multiple levels:

1. I’m on the right track. It explained my persistent enthusiasm for The Zag, despite lack of external success. My work aligns with my values.
2. I need to incorporate more of my strength of systematic creativity—not just write.
3. This superpower-finding exercise could be a start—and maybe even extra powerful for others who haven’t spent the years I have collecting evidence.

I realized I don’t have to wait for Professor X to recruit me into the X-Men. I can be a real-life Professor X (Professor Z?)—someone who systematically helps others harness their unique superpowers to create an extraordinary world. 

What’s Your Superpower?

1. Take the value and strength surveys linked above.
2. Reflect: What makes your inner ego truly admire itself?
3. Recruit your own AI sidekick (like ChatGPT or Claude) to help you brainstorm convergences.

Want expert guidance and a kick-start?

I’m offering personalized ‘Find Your Superpower’ sessions for the first five human guinea pigs respondents. Only $50 USD to filter out freeloaders. 

You’ll get:

• Tailored questions and assessments
• AI-assisted analysis to pinpoint your superpower and its optimal applications
• Personal coaching to start unleashing your newfound ability and living E = nVs.
• Sadly, no private X-jet flights to my mansion. 

 Reply to this to let me know if you’re interested.