12x Director LIFESTYLE Areas

Here are the 12 areas we will work on:

Work and career:
Why we turn up to work, and how we perform each day.
Leadership skills:
How you lead yourself and others.
Use of time: How we allocate time between work and home.
Family: The health of your family relationships.
Fun, adventure, and enjoyment:
Regular fun, adventure, and genuine enjoyment.
Partner/marriage relationship:
Quality and safety within your marriage.
Financial health:
Stability for your family, profit margin, and confidence with money.
Health and fitness:
Energy, strength, sleep, and physical capacity.
Mental and emotional health: Emotional load, resilience, and mental steadiness.
Inner space or faith: Real peace based on the beliefs you’ve chosen.
Social life and friendships: Depth and ease of friendships.
Influences and daily inputs: What influences you every day?

Questions To Ask Ourselves

1. Work and career

Your work shapes your identity, energy, and authority.
Directors feel lost when work no longer fits strengths or values.
These questions lead to honesty about fear, avoidance, and stagnation.
They help you decide what to build, fix, or finally let go.

Does my role still fit my strengths?
What work drains me most consistently?
Where am I indispensable by design or accident?
What success metric actually matters to me?
Am I building or just maintaining?
What work am I doing out of fear?
What would progress look like this year?
Where am I underperforming but avoiding it?
How aligned is my work with my values?
What am I tolerating that needs fixing?
If I stepped back, what would fail?
What does success cost me right now?

2. Leadership skills

Leadership gaps quietly tax culture, trust, and performance.

Directors often know the issue but delay the conversation.

These questions surface patterns you already sense.

They sharpen clarity, courage, and the example you set daily.

What hard conversation am I delaying?
Where do people rely on me too much?
What behaviour do I allow that weakens culture?
How calm am I under pressure?
Do people bring me problems or hide them?
What decision did I recently overcomplicate?
How clearly do I communicate expectations?
Where do I avoid accountability?
What leadership weakness do I already know?
How do I react when challenged?
Who am I developing as leaders?
What example do I set daily?

3. Use of time

Time exposes priorities more honestly than strategy ever will.

These questions reveal leaks, guilt, and false urgency.

They help you get control of your week and attention.

What consistently takes my time without real return?
Where does my calendar contradict what I say are my priorities?
What work do I keep because letting go feels risky/guilty?
How much time is putting out fires, instead of building?
What would break if I worked five fewer hours weekly?
Which meetings/relationships exist only because of habit?
How often does work hurt my family time?
What time do I protect least and why?
Where am I confusing busy-ness with results?
What deserves my best hours each day?
Am I in charge of my time, or are others?
What would change if I redesigned my week?

4. Family

Family cops the hidden cost of leadership decisions.

Directors can be present physically but ‘elsewhere’ emotionally.

These questions confront avoidance, stress spillover, prioritising.

Family relationships are so important that no success can replace them.

How present am I when I am home?
What does my family sacrifice for my leadership (and is it worth it?)?
What tension/issues do I avoid addressing at home?
What will my kids say at my funeral about how I interacted with them?
When did I last apologise at home?
What does my family need more of from me?
What does my family need less of from me?
How often does work stress leak into family life?
What would my children say I value most?
How safe is my family to be honest with me?
What family moments am I missing repeatedly?
If my kids copied my family-life habits, would it work out for them?

5. Fun, adventure, and enjoyment

Directors postpone fun while a boring life creeps in gradually.

These questions challenge guilt and false seriousness.

You will do what you prioritise… so let’s prioritise some fun.

When did I last feel genuine excitement/adventure?
How far am I from burnout? (and how would I know?)
What fun have I postponed for more than 12 months?
Where do I attach guilt to enjoyment, and why?
How many times do I deeply laugh during a normal week?
What adventure would energise me right now?
What did I enjoy before responsibility grew?
Do I view myself as someone who deserves to have fun?
How often do I live like my responsibilities matter more than enjoying life?
What friendships do I have that are the most fun?
Who do I enjoy spending time with most?
What would change in my calendar if fun-times were planned?

6. Partner and marriage relationship

Leadership habits follow you home whether you intend it or not.

Directors often underestimate unseen pressure their partner carries.

We’ve gotta face our frustration, resentment and emotional distance.

Is your work lifestyle more important than keeping your relationship working? I doubt it.

How has leadership changed our relationship?
What pressure does my partner quietly carry?
How often do we talk without problem solving?
What resentment might be forming unnoticed?
How emotionally available am I at home?
Do I listen or defend first?
What appreciation do I assume is understood?
How safe is conflict in our relationship?
When did we last feel like a team?
What would my partner change if honest?
How often do I choose work over connection?
What does my partner need this season?

7. Financial health

Money problems make life stupidly hard.

Directors often walk a razor-think line on profitability/cashflow.

We’ve got to reduce our fear-driven decisions in life and work.

How clear is my personal financial picture?
What money stress do I normalise?
Where does cashflow uncertainty affect decisions?
How separate are business and personal finances?
What financial risk keeps me awake?
Do I know my true personal burn rate?
What lifestyle creep has quietly happened?
How much margin do I really have?
What would financial stability change emotionally?
How often do I avoid looking at numbers?
What is my relationship with debt?
What does enough actually look like?

8. Health and fitness

Your physical health changes how you think and lead.

Leaders often treat health as optional until performance drops.

Health and leadership capacity are closely linked (in the long term).

Is my current lifestyle sustainable physically?
How is my sleep affecting decisions?
What warning signs do I ignore?
How often do I move each week?
What health issues am I postponing?
How does stress show up in my body?
What habits support energy versus drain it?
Am I fuelling performance or survival?
What would better health unlock for me?
How often do I feel physically strong?
What story do I tell myself about health?
What would consistency look like here?

9. Mental and emotional health

Directors often carry silent load alone… and it can break us.

We’ve gotta find the areas of overwhelm, loops, and missing support.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

What emotion do I suppress most?
How often do I feel overwhelmed?
Who do I talk to honestly?
What anxiety do I label as normal?
How do I recover after intense weeks?
What mental load do I carry silently?
How patient am I under stress?
What thoughts loop repeatedly?
Where do I lack emotional support?
What coping strategies actually help?
How do I respond to failure internally?
What would emotional steadiness change?

10. Inner Space or Faith

Directors need something to fall back on in tough times.

When you choose your beliefs and values, you choose where you’re headed.

It’s like a compass for all other decisions.

What grounds me when pressure rises?
What faith/beliefs would help me live my best life?
How do I respond when control is limited?
What values guide my hardest decisions?
How often do I reflect intentionally?
What restores perspective for me?
Where do I feel spiritually disconnected?
How do I process guilt or regret?
What belief sustains me long term?
How do I practice stillness?
What do I rely on too heavily?
What gives me peace consistently?

11. Social life and friendships

As directors, we often isolate ourselves. It’s accidental.

It could even be inevitable, if we don’t plan social things into life.

All work and no play makes us a dull friend, yeah?

Who do I spend time with regularly?
Who challenges me outside work?
When did I last invest in friendship?
What friendships have faded and why?
Do I isolate under pressure?
Who knows my non work self?
How easy is it to relax socially?
What community am I part of?
Where do I feel most myself?
What friendships energise me?
How intentional am I socially?
What connection do I miss?

12. Influences and daily inputs

What you take in – it shapes how you think and feel.

So let’s take stock of what we are seeing, hearing etc.

Who are we spending the most time with… and is their influence what we actually want in our life?

What do I consume daily without question?
How does my phone shape my mood?
What information increases anxiety?
How noisy is my mental environment?
What media do I need less of?
Who influences my thinking most?
What inputs improve clarity?
How often am I mentally overstimulated?
What habits start and end my day?
What boundaries protect my focus?
How curated is my environment?
What would I remove immediately?