I was chatting with a friend recently about a weekly meeting my wife TK and I have. We call this meeting our Passion Planner. My friend looked at me and said, “Cyril… I know you plan a lot of things. But a Passion Planner? Really?”
And yes — really. Because over the years, I’ve realised something powerful: we spend enormous effort organising our work… but very little effort consciously designing our life.
In this video, I want to share how I’ve adapted Work Smarter: Live Better principles into my personal life.
For 20 years, I’ve worked with leaders around the world — coaching them, challenging their work habits, helping them create more impact with less stress. And after a few years of running Work Smarter Live Better, I started hearing the same question over and over: “Cyril… how do I apply these principles to my personal life?”
It surprised me at first, because I was doing the same thing, planning my business life with precision… and barely planning my personal life at all. Slowly, year by year, I started adapting the principles. TK and I tested things, refined things, kept what worked, and tossed what didn’t. And while we are far from perfect — these practices have made a huge difference in how we live, how we connect, and how we make decisions together.
For us, it all comes down to three rhythms: A yearly planning, a quarterly focus, and a weekly check-in.
(this is TK and I doing our yearly planning at the start of the year in a lovely restaurant in
Athens)
1. Yearly Planning — Designing the Big Picture
If you’ve followed Work Smarter Live Better for a while, you’ve heard me talk about our “dinner with a pen and paper.” Every January, TK and I sit down together and review:
- The year that just passed
- The year we want to create
Then we ask: “If we imagine ourselves at the end of the year… what would a great year look like?” From there we start discussing: our relationship, family, health, finance, travel, personal goals, what we want to learn, what we want to experience and so on.
It’s one of my favourite rituals — simple, honest, intentional.
2. Quarterly Focus — Choosing What Really Matters
I am a great believer in the power of quarterly planning. Every quarter, TK and I do a “Compass Plan.” We choose our big rocks — both business and personal.
These conversations are always interesting:
- What matters most this quarter?
- What must we do moving forward?
- How can we support each other?
It’s a chance to reset, refocus, and realign.
3. Weekly Check-In — The Passion Planner
And then comes our weekly ritual — the one that made my friend laugh. Every Monday, before lunch, we sit at the table in our lounge and have a 30–45 minute “Passion Planner” conversation. We talk about:
- Our relationship
- How we’re progressing on our big rocks
- What we need to do next week and anything that needs attention
- Calendar sync
- Things happening with the kids
- Life admin
It’s not rigid. It’s not overly structured. But it’s consistent, grounding, and incredibly valuable.
It helps us stay connected, stay intentional, and keep designing the life we want — together.
There’s a principle behind all of this. Life happens either by default… or by design.
And I’d much rather choose the second.
So, my question for you is this: Do you have a process for designing your life?
Or is life simply unfolding around you without any intentional structure?
This is this week’s Work Smarter: Live Better tip.
You have a lovely day.
A bientôt,
Cyril
