Karina Schneider: Thriving After Burnout with Personal Agility System

Karina Schneider was an experienced Human Resources professional working in a large, global organization and living in Zurich with her young family. After her parental leave, she went back to work, into a new job, excited to make an impact. Roughly 10 months later, in the height of the pandemic, she burned out. During her time off, she discovered the Personal Agility System and, working with her PAS coach, she was able to find energy to meet the challenges of work and motherhood.

Portrait Karina SchneiderWhile it seemed at the time like it came out of nowhere – that I suddenly was physically & mentally unable to go to work from one day to the next – I now see the trail of clues that led to this struggle. Surviving the first COVID-19 lockdown with my husband and I working more than full time, with a 1-year-old at home, with no help, was just the last push before I finally crashed.

Desired Outcome

“Very early on in my recovery process, I knew my life needed a massive re-design. Clearly, whatever worked for me in the past wasn’t going to take me forward anymore. I realized I needed to live a more coherent life – it wasn’t one thing to fix. My days should be to be reflective of what really mattered to me. Everything I do personally and professionally ought to be aligned to my values. I wanted to be able to confidently walk away from the wrong opportunities without feeling guilty or ungrateful. I was carrying around too many responsibilities that were truly not mine to carry — I wanted to let go! All of this, ultimately, meant I would have enough energy to fuel a rich, purposeful life. Not only were all of this defining my desired outcome – but they are also central to my burnout recovery.”

Actual Result

“The most tangible result I’ve experienced is feeling significantly less stressed and overwhelmed, as compared to before. As I write this, I do not know what the next 6 months will look like for me. Burnout has placed many things in question that my family and I are still figuring out together. However, I am most at peace and my life is the richest it’s been today after a very very long time. While still in recovery, I have gained clarity about my goals (and already achieved some of them), I am able to volunteer to causes that are dear to me, I have forged deep relationships with others, and I have energy to entertain an active toddler. I can now make well-guided decisions and focus my actions because I have a functioning compass that helps me navigate the upcoming weeks, months and years.”

Path to Success

“The Personal Agility System keeps me honest and kind to myself everyday. The Celebrate and Choose event every Sunday evening has given me back self-compassion and empowerment. I look at my Priorities Map for the week and I can immediately determine if I’m living in coherence or not. The most important contribution of PAS is where it all starts: answering the question “What really matters?” Everything else flows from there. My experience of stress and overwhelm has dramatically reduced because, no matter how many things need to get done, I get my peace of mind knowing 2 things: if they truly matter, (1) they will get done; and 2) there is more than enough time, space and energy that they don’t need to compete for my attention.”

Tools: PAS Priorities Map, PAS Forces Map, What really matters?, Celebrate & Choose, Kindness

Support

“One of the many supportive elements to my recovery was my coaching engagement with Adelina Stefan. I had a couple of goals in mind linked primarily to career goals. However, in one of our discussions, she introduced me to Personal Agility. I was initially hesitant to get on board. I wasn’t in the right mindset and Adelina was great at acknowledging that. As soon as I was ready, she committed! She walked me through it, encouraged me to try it out, and celebrated with me. I was hooked as soon as I got through week 1!”

What else

“I also had a therapist who helped me to re-frame my recovery: it’s about gaining back what I had lost. Engaging in activities that I used to enjoy, but no longer had the time for, was essential to my recovery. It allowed me to get to know myself again and to get re-acquainted with my values. As I like getting things down to the concrete, tangible and actionable, PAS is able to provide that framework for me to guide my choices everyday.”

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