Longtime Chief Guide Jenny Fenig helps women lead bigger and live fuller. Whether she's coaching executives, facilitating transformational experiences, or leading adventure retreats around the world, her work is grounded in this truth: The more alive you feel, the bigger impact you'll make.

“Just existing is not living.” That's what a client said to me recently after completing her post-layoff job search. While initially shocked when she was let go, she had come to realize she hadn't been happy in her role for quite some time. When new leadership came in, things changed — and not for the better. She was being left out of key meetings. Her strategic counsel and decades of expertise weren't being valued. She tried making it work by pushing harder and letting her personal life fade into the background. She exhibited the signs of burnout.

I hear some version of this story a lot.

According to the Lean In and McKinsey & Company’s 2025 Women in the Workplace report, women in leadership have long experienced more burnout than other employees, and their burnout is currently higher than ever. Six in 10 senior-level women report frequently feeling burned out, compared to only half of men at their level and about 4 in 10 employees overall. Senior-level women are also more likely than other employees to think their gender will make it harder for them to advance and are particularly concerned about their job security. 

Women are not struggling because they haven't achieved enough, they are struggling because the passage of time has started asking questions that achievement cannot answer. And somewhere beneath the busyness and the act of having it all together, a striking number of them feel quietly, persistently disconnected from their own lives.

Here's what I want you to consider: Burnout at this level isn't primarily a workload problem, it's an abandonment issue. You aren't running on empty because you lack discipline or time management skills. You’re running on empty because you stopped listening to your own vital signs. This is way beyond better boundaries. This is about finding your way back to you. Here is a map to get started.

1. Remember your mission

Many high-achieving women have lost touch with their mission — not because they don't have one, but because decades of over-functioning has buried it. You forgot what you came here for, and this is exhausting. Before you release what's draining you, you have to reorient to what you are actually doing with your one life and why.

Your sense of mission and your nervous system are inseparable. When you're disconnected from your mission, your body feels unsafe — and you hold back. You go through the motions. You live one foot in and one foot out. You just exist. But when you reconnect to your mission, everything sharpens. You have rocket fuel. Your focus goes to a whole new level. You have the energy to navigate the hard moments and the capacity to feel joy.

To get clear here, take a few minutes and ask yourself these questions. Don’t overthink your responses. Simply write and see what you find.

  • What lights you up and/or breaks your heart that you must address through your work?
  • What transformation are you here to activate in others, and why does it matter to you personally?
  • What legacy do you want to leave behind?

2. Honor your journey

We are so trained to move forward — to solve, to achieve, to perform — that we rarely stop to take stock of where we’ve been. What I know to be true: Your life has been quite a ride. The valleys that almost broke you? Formative. The peaks with the greatest views? Wow. Give yourself credit for how far you have come and how you have always figured things out. Were you always comfortable on your journey? Of course not. Growth happens outside of your comfort zone.

But many leaders are conditioned to view discomfort as a warning sign — a problem to be managed, minimized, or bypassed as quickly as possible. The next time you feel uncomfortable at work, ask yourself this question: What is this discomfort trying to teach me?

If you really want to go deep here, take out a piece of paper and plot out the peaks and valleys of your amazing career and life journey from childhood until now. Look at those pivot point moments when you remembered what you are made of. Recognize when discomfort was a doorway to growth. Notice the patterns that have emerged over time. Let it all be evidence. Let it fuel what comes next.

3. Check your alignment

When something in your life feels off — a relationship that drains you, work that you’ve outgrown, a tricky team dynamic, a health situation you’ve been avoiding — that friction is not a problem to be ashamed of. It is a signal trying to get your attention, pointing toward what needs to shift to get you into alignment. Action without alignment leads to burnout.

When you’re aligned, you move intentionally from a place of integrity. You feel better. Obstacles still emerge, but you have a stronger sense about what is worth your time and what is a distraction.

Remember the client I mentioned earlier? After she landed her new role, here's what she told me: Her health is a priority again. Her personal life is back on track. She feels like herself again. She was out of alignment in her old job and she didn't see it until she was forced to stop. The honest inventory she had been too busy to take became the map that led her back to herself.

That inventory is available to you right now. Look at these five areas — work, home, health, wealth, relationships — and ask yourself what truly fuels you in each. These are your priorities. Consistently investing energy in your aligned priorities helps you lead a vibrant, values-driven life.

What do you need to let go of to honor these priorities? This is a mission-critical step. You can’t hold everything. Clear the way and only carry what’s yours to carry. This is the key to feeling most alive in your work and in the world. The more alive you feel, the bigger impact you’ll make.