A good life can still be lived more intentionally.
As life gets fuller, our attention naturally goes to what is immediate, leaving less room to consider what matters most. And work, family, health, relationships, community, wealth and ourselves all compete for our time and energy.
Life by Design creates the space to look at your life as a whole. To see what is working, where you may have drifted, and what deserves your attention.
Because a life that matters deserves to be lived with intention.
The Pillars
Five domains. One life.
Life is not lived in separate parts. Each domain shapes and is shaped by the others.
Me
Your relationship with yourself. Your physical and mental wellbeing, energy, growth, interests, and how you experience life.
Family
Your closest relationships. How you love, connect, communicate, and contribute to the people who matter most.
Community
Friendship, belonging, and connection beyond your family. The people and places you’re part of and the contribution you make to them.
Work
What you do with your time, energy, and ability. Your effort, contribution, growth, and the role it plays in your life.
Wealth
Your relationship with resources and the choices it enables. The opportunities, security, and freedom to live the life you design.
Outcomes
What becomes possible
Clarity and alignment
Get clear on what matters across all five domains, and bring your life into greater alignment with it. Not a fixed plan for the future, but a clearer sense of what matters now and the ability to keep adapting as life ebbs and flows.
Capacity and perspective
Build the physical, mental and emotional capacity to live well. Greater awareness of your health, energy, time and attention, alongside the perspective to respond more consciously to life rather than simply being carried by it.
Connection and contribution
Deepen the relationships and communities that matter. Be part of a group where you are seen, heard, supported and challenged, while exploring how your life and experience can contribute more to others and the world around you.
The Process
How it works
- 1
Discover where you are
Explore your life across the five domains. Notice what’s working, what’s not, and where your attention has drifted.
- 2
Get clear on what matters
Clarify what matters to you now. Not an idealised version of life, but one grounded in your values, priorities and reality.
- 3
Design how you will live
Turn that clarity into intention. Decide where your time and energy are going, and the practises that support that direction.
- 4
Put it into practise
Life will interrupt your plans. Your group and guide help you stay connected to what matters through rhythm, reflection and perspective.
- 5
Review, learn and evolve
Step back regularly. Notice what’s changed, what you’ve learned, and what matters now, then adjust accordingly.
Step One
You start with people, not a program.
You join a small group of people at a similar place in life, each bringing different experiences, perspectives and questions. You move through Life by Design together.
Over time, you get to know each other beyond the surface. You listen, share, reflect, support and challenge each other, creating a space for conversations that rarely happen in everyday life.
A group where you can be seen, heard, supported and challenged, and where different perspectives help you see your own life more clearly.
Step Two
See your life as an integrated whole.
The Pillars Discovery gives you the space to step back and explore your life across the five domains and the pillars within them.
You begin to see what is working, what matters most, where your attention is going and where something may be asking for more of you. Not a scorecard or a verdict, but a clearer picture of your life as it is today.
Perspective on where you are, clarity on what matters, and a place from which to begin.
Step Three
Turn clarity into practise.
Once you can see what matters, you begin translating that clarity into the way you live.
You choose a small number of practises that bring your time, energy and attention into greater alignment with what matters to you. Then you put them into practise, learn what works and adjust as life changes.
Small, intentional practises that become part of how you live.
Step Four
A rhythm that keeps you connected.
Life by Design moves in a simple fortnightly rhythm. One fortnight you meet with your group. The next, you meet one-to-one with your guide.
The group brings connection, shared experience and perspectives beyond your own. Your guide creates the space to make it personal, explore what is emerging and bring the work back to your life.
Then you live it. Reflect on it. And return.
Group. Guide. Life. A rhythm of reflection, perspective and practise.
Step Five
What changes in you reaches beyond you.
Living with greater clarity and intention changes more than your own experience of life. It shapes how you show up in your relationships, your work, your family and your community.
As you become more aligned with what matters, you have greater capacity to be present, to connect and to contribute. Life by Design begins with your life and naturally extends to the people around you.
Live well. Connect deeply. Contribute meaningfully.
Data & Impact
Live well, live longer, and have the data to show for it
Your physical capacity shapes how fully you can live your life. Energy, sleep, movement, stress and recovery all influence your day-to-day experience, and your long-term health.
Through the Garmin wearable and The Pillars Data, you gain access to data that helps you see what’s happening beneath the surface. We bring this into the programme alongside how you feel, how you are living, and what matters to you.
The numbers are not the goal. They are a second lens, helping you make clearer choices about your health, vitality and longevity.
Better information. Greater awareness. A longer, healthier life in which to live what matters.
Discover Impact ReportingVoices
From people in the program
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Who is Life by Design for?
Life by Design is for men who are carrying a lot. Work, family, relationships, health, finances, friendships and the many competing demands of a full life.
They may be married, separated, single, fathers or not. They may be building businesses, leading organisations or navigating a change in direction. Age and circumstance matter less than a willingness to look closely at how they are living and what they are creating.
It is for men interested in meaning, living with greater intention, and increasingly considering not only what they are committed to in life, but what they can contribute through it.
What kind of men will be in my group?
Men with different experiences and perspectives, but a shared willingness to engage.
Curiosity, openness, consistency and the capacity to listen matter. So does a willingness to be challenged, support other men and contribute to the quality of the group.
The value of Life by Design comes partly from what each man brings into the space and what they contribute to the experience of the other nine men.
Why is Life by Design currently for men only?
There is something valuable about creating a space where men can speak openly with other men about the whole of life: relationships, fatherhood, friendship, work, money, health, ageing, identity, meaning and the transitions that come with each stage.
Our initial Life by Design groups are for men and are guided by Mike, reflecting both his experience and his preference for working in this space.
As Life by Design grows, we intend to offer women's groups guided by women, as well as mixed groups.
How is Life by Design different from EO, YPO and other peer groups?
EO, YPO and similar communities can provide extraordinary peer relationships and forums, often with entrepreneurship and leadership as an important point of connection.
Life by Design begins with the whole person. Work is one of five interconnected domains alongside Me, Family, Community and Wealth.
There is also an important structural difference. Each group of 10 men has a dedicated Pillars Guide who facilitates the group and also meets individually with every participant on the alternate fortnight. The same Guide therefore understands both the conversations happening within the group and what is happening in each man's life.
Life by Design can sit comfortably alongside an existing EO, YPO or other peer-group experience.
Is Life by Design a premium programme?
Yes. Life by Design is intentionally small, highly guided and personal.
Groups are limited to 10 men. The programme combines facilitated group sessions, individual Guide sessions, the Pillars Discovery and methodology, ongoing practises, health and longevity insights, and a carefully curated cohort.
The investment also reflects something less tangible but equally important: the quality of the room, the continuity of the Guide and the depth of the experience over seven months.
What does Life by Design cost?
Indicative pricing is approximately $500 per month for the seven-month programme.
This includes your fortnightly facilitated group sessions, individual Guide sessions on the alternate fortnight, the Pillars Discovery, programme resources and access to the broader Life by Design methodology.
Final pricing and inclusions are confirmed before joining a cohort.
How are groups formed?
We are deliberate about who joins each group.
Before joining, each participant has a conversation with us about where they are in life, what they are looking for, their willingness to engage consistently and what they can bring to the group.
Cohesion matters. We look for men who can contribute, listen, support, challenge and commit to the work and to one another.
As Life by Design grows, we will increasingly curate complementary cohorts based on life stage, experience, perspective and group dynamics.
What is the time commitment?
Life by Design follows a simple alternating fortnightly rhythm.
One fortnight, you meet with your group for 90 minutes to two hours. Groups are generally held early in the morning, with both face-to-face and online options available.
The alternate fortnight is a 45 to 60-minute online session with your Guide.
Between sessions, the work moves into everyday life through the practises and commitments you choose to make.
What does my Guide do?
Your Guide is the thread running through the programme.
They facilitate your group and meet with you individually on the alternate fortnight, giving them a perspective on both your experience within the group and your life beyond it.
Guide sessions create space to reflect, recognise patterns, challenge assumptions, explore what is emerging and bring your attention back to what matters.
The Guide holds the process. The group expands the perspective. You bring it into your life.
How do longevity, health data and wearables fit into Life by Design?
Lifespan, healthspan, optimisation and wearable data are becoming an increasingly useful part of understanding how we live.
The Pillars has previously explored this work alongside high-performance practitioners, including work involving WHOOP and an AFL conditioning coach. Chris also brings his PhD research and data expertise to how we interpret and develop this part of the programme.
We are currently exploring Garmin as a way of making information around sleep, recovery, movement, stress and physical capacity more useful and relevant.
Wearable integration is optional and will continue to evolve. The data provides another lens through which to understand your life, alongside how you feel, how you live and what matters to you.
What happens after the seven months?
The seven months are the beginning, not the end.
Life continues to change. Relationships evolve, work changes, children grow, priorities shift, health changes and new questions emerge. The value of regularly stepping back, reflecting and looking at your life as a whole continues with it.
At the end of the initial programme, men have the opportunity to continue with their group and Guide, with the rhythm and focus evolving alongside the group.
We know the value of that continuity. Mike has been part of the same men's group for more than 20 years, and groups within The Pillars ecosystem have already been meeting for five years or more.
Life by Design is designed to become an ongoing practise, not something you complete.
Join a Cohort
Interested in Life by Design?
We’re forming our next groups now. Leave your details below and we’ll be in touch for a conversation.