When you work with social impact it is exceptionally important to understand how to lead your life without running into a burn-out along the way or neglecting important aspects of your life beyond the crucial work you are doing.

Our Fellows who have had the opportunity to work with Yvonne on Life Designing walked away with a sense of clarity which elements of their lives needed more attention and how to playfully test out what changes will have the biggest effect on their well-being and ability to do the work they want to do to create a better world.

It was 2017, and I was in a period of transition and or transformation.

The Amani-SIM program was throwing so many new tools, things, processes, people. A little overwhelmed I was wondering how to get this right, how do I mix the right recipe and not mess thing up.

Then we had the session with Yvonne and I was like Bam.

The methodology was simple and easy to adapt. The Life Design Concept was just that: Life Design, I just wonder why it doesn’t cross our minds straight away.

I had the opportunity to create the things I wanted to fit me and work for me, not the other way around.

Yvonne is so cheerful, she makes the process rather chilled. I got to tone down the dial, and tone them up as I felt necessary to achieve my own state of equilibrium. It was like music and I was the DJ.

Yvonne gradually brought us to the realization that the power to reshape or reshuffle lay with us and we did not need permission to change. With that I also came to a place of acceptance. Accepting that what today is, is just enough, just right and just for me. Accepting that tomorrow it could be completely different and still be right.

Through it all, Yvonne was reassuring and supportive.

Truly a remarkable experience.

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)

Nicht nur die Lebensfrohe, Lebensbejahende, empathische Art von Yvonne hat diese Reise der letzten sechs Wochen geprägt, sondern die Nachhaltigkeit meiner Erfahrungen über meine eigenen Saboteure. Klingt negativ ist aber durchaus positiv.  

Ich habe Wege gefunden, mich in der Dynamik meines Alltags zu erden und darüberhinaus kenne ich nun auch meine Saboteure! Diese Saboteure können das Leben, sei es beruflich oder privat, ganz schön aufmischen und der Nachklang ist meist unerwünscht und unnütz.

Aber nun fühle ich mich gewappnet und es gelingt mir die Situationen besser zu verstehen, auch besser zu steuern und vor allem ins Positive zu drehen; nicht in Fehlern und Vergangenem verharren, sondern auch hier mit Mut und Kraft nach vorne schauen, neue Wege gehen oder einfach die eigene Reise genießen.

(Positive Intelligence Training – 6-Weeks Groupcoaching )

My prime objective to attend the Course Life Designing was to have the opportunity to interact with other people, as I was looking for ways to expand my relationship group after my 2 year-divorce, and find ways to broaden my emotional and intellectual horizons.

The outcome exceeded my expectations: not only could I build up a true bond with my colleagues due to the open atmosphere created by our Instructor Yvonne during the classes -would rather say meetings -,  but also enlarge my views on the possibilities to expand my personal and professional perspectives, due to the valuable course topics which made us think out of the box, reflect and act to get out of our “dysfunctional thoughts” in order to build more “inspirational thoughts” and act more positively towards any life challenge.

So, take this very chance and give yourself this opportunity to experience a new way to design your life – regardless of your age.

(Training MaturiJobs)

Participating in the workshop “Life Designing” with Yvonne was the final nudge I needed to initiate what I truly wanted for my professional life.

Besides liberating myself from the rigid frameworks and judgments that society imposes on you I learned that I can do and I can be whatever I want to be and that there is no general right or wrong way how to do things – there are only my personal and subjective preferences how I want my life to be.

During the sessions we did exercises that helped me to become aware how much I had become disconnected from my own purpose and it was great to imagine and sketch the changes that were already inside me and which I only needed to put into action.

I learned how to test drive all possibilities and that failing or making a mistake is not a problem. Even better, the faster I “fail” the faster I will get feedback about how to move forward.

After the Life Designing sessions and the empathic conversations with Yvonne, I was finally able to do the life changes I wanted and today I feel light and happy with my choices. Thank you so much, Yvonne.  

(Workshop Sense-Lab)

I do not even know how to thank Yvonne for the help in 2017!

I started the process of coaching very lost and with thousands of points to improve. I had low self-esteem and lost much of my profession and personal life.

But as a good listener and excellent professional, Yvonne helped me along this path of self-knowledge – first we need to find to ourselves and then we need to act for our goal.

With fun and personalised exercises, she has lit my way and I keep doing the activities until today – especially when I feel anxious! Thank you, Yvonne!

(1×1 Coaching Sessions)

At Sense-Lab we work with innovative ways to address our most pressing social and environmental issues. […] Creating real change is neither easy nor quick and a lot of tradeoffs are involved.

For this reason, we started a partnership with Yvonne a couple of years ago, to work the personal aspects of a life with more purpose and meaning.

The inner journey is as important as the external aspects of creating change.

Few people understand this as well as Yvonne.

She merges innovative techniques, anchored in Life Designing and other approaches, with deep empathy and a well-developed capacity to dialogue and understand people.

Her work makes people realize what really matters to them in life, what the tradeoffs of each choice are, and how you can ideate and experiment new paths.

If any aspect of your life is off balance or if you are searching for a way to seek a different future for you, this might be the place to start.

Yvonne assisted me in reflecting on and creating an action plan to tackle some of my ‘limiting beliefs’, career & ‘life balance’ concerns.  She is approachable, a wonderful listener and offers one practical advice and tools to work through your challenges. 

I really enjoyed the sessions and having the opportunity to connect with Yvonne.

Another great aspect is that she is part of the Amani Institute Network and understands the social sector very well.

Yvonne has a true gift for the work she is doing in Life Designing.

(1×1 Coaching Sessions)

Do you know this point when you’re ready to give up everything you dreamt about?

When the burden seems too big, the money doesn’t come in and nothing seems to make sense?

It was at this point that Yvonne showed up and gave me the strength I needed to keep moving.

I radically changed my career path, although I am not sure I ever had one because I changed jobs so many times,  and decided in 2014 to become a social entrepreneur with focus on education and employability of young people, the challenges are huge and sometimes overwhelming.

The meetings with Yvonne helped me to realise to what extend I had neglected my personal life, how much I had become one with my work and how this had drained my energy completely.

Above all, she helped me realise that it’s ok if I can’t handle everything or handle everything on my own, and that I need to actively look for positive energy and diversion in activities that I love and which give me the strength for my daily battles.

She helped me to lift this enormous weight off my shoulders.

I am so grateful to you, Yvonne, continue with this wonderful work and support more and more people along this wonderful journey called life by helping us to stay in balance, making adjustments and keep going.

(1×1 Coaching Sessions) 

At MaturiJobs we serve people over 50 years old that are willing to find new personal and professional possibilities to leverage this phase of life. Some of them are facing huge barriers to find occupation and generate revenue while others are struggling with family problems or health issues.

Bringing to them the methodology, reflections and tools of Life Designing has shown that they can feel empowered to do whatever they want, especially through the great facilitation skills of Yvonne who has a special talent to work with people and deal with many different life situations.

She can deliver the message and teach the methodology wonderfully so everyone feels in a safe environment to share difficulties, needs, and dreams, what also creates a great sense of community and belonging.

After more than 5 courses and many talks we, from MaturiJobs, are sure our public benefits a lot from this partnership.

The results have been amazing and we will surely be continuing this way!

Thanks a lot for your effort, partnership, sweetness and professionalism, Yvonne!

I was working as an economic adviser to a politician in the European Parliament in Brussels. I enjoyed the fast-pace high intensity tasks I was doing, but at the same time I had been emotionally burned out for a while and more often than not dreaded going to the office. I had wanted to see a change long ago. I had the rough idea to work with women, to work for women’s causes, to actively engage in women’s networks, but didn’t really know how to or what to do exactly. Then Yvonne came to speak at an event in the European Parliament and I resonated so much with her story. I got in touch with her and eventually enrolled into the course shortly thereafter. 

 Starting from week 1 of the course, I was required to systematically work on the areas of my life that I wasn’t satisfied with and write down how I actually wanted to see my life. For the first time ever, I heard about “limiting beliefs” and how to “reframe” them. I saw that the exercises did not only have an impact on my professional, but also on my private life. The Facebook Group and active exchange with Yvonne encouraged me to go deeper and seeing that the other participants had very similar issues motivated me to reach for more. 

 In the months to come, I resigned from my job, traveled to South-East-Asia, studied Yoga Philosophy, Meditation, Reiki and actively participated in women’s circles. During this time, I always kept in touch with Yvonne. We started doing several 1 to 1 coaching sessions via Skype, in which she asked me to write down my ideas and put them into order. We worked on my possible future clients, options for short- and long-term, my limiting beliefs, my strengths and weaknesses and how to work with them. 

 Today, I live in Berlin and successfully host workshops and retreats for women, with a focus on transformational healing with the help of yoga, meditation, breath work, dance and feminine embodiment work. On a daily basis I am grateful for the changes during this past year – this journey has been so rewarding!

The tools that I was given in the course can be used on a daily basis and for all areas of life, even after officially finishing the course. Thank you so much, Yvonne!

(Life Designing Online Course and 1×1 Coaching Sessions)

I met the lovely Yvonne through another group course where by she introduced positive intelligence techniques to us.

I really enjoyed Yvonne’s positivity, understanding and sound knowledge of this technique and knew that she  was someone that I wanted to learn & grow more from so I signed up to a 1:1 positive intelligence coaching programme with her.

I loved delving into the world of PQ and seeing how I could apply it to different aspects of my life, both personally and professionally.

The daily exercises were easy to incorporate into my life and Yvonne worked closely with me encouraging me all of the way to keep up with the exercises to see the impacts.

I didn’t really know what difference they would make at the time, however they have really come into play recently as I have been working through a big decision and I have found the PQ exercises and Yvonne’s guidance allowed me to move through the decision with so much calm and clarity, more than usual.

Yvonne is also really intuitive and insightful, and picked up a lot about what was going on for me through my words, reminding me often when my ‘controller’ Saboteur was setting in and gently guiding me back to a sage state.

I would highly recommend both Yvonne and the PQ work as an extremely supportive tool if you are navigating any personal or professional decisions or tough moments in life.

I feel blessed to have now worked with Yvonne and been introduced to this incredible PQ tool. 

(6-weeks Positive Intelligence Training combined with 1×1 Coaching Calls)

Understanding the true meaning of Life Designing helped me to realize the importance of taking breaks, slowing down and balancing my mind and body.

I’m a very active person and learning about Life Designing helped me to reorganize my daily routine with more awareness for including also time for myself.

( Voz – Creative Leadership course; Polifonia)

Wie oft hadern wir mit unseren Entscheidungen. Wie oft wägen wir ab, erstellen Pro- und Contra-Listen, befragen Freunde, Familien, Bekannte? Und nach zahlreichen Stunden der Überlegungen, stehen wir wieder am Anfang und können uns einfach nicht entscheiden, welche der zahlreichen Optionen der richtige Weg für uns ist.

So fühlte ich mich vor wenigen Monaten. Nach wochenlangen Runden im eigenen Gedankenkarussell war ich einfach erschöpft. Körper und Geist meldeten Alarm. Dann kam der durch Covid-19 verordnete Lock-Down und ich war noch stärker mit meinen Gedanken konfrontiert.  Zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort bekam ich eine Empfehlung für das Coaching mit Yvonne. In einer lockeren, unverbindlichen Stunde besprachen wir zunächst meine aktuellen Herausforderungen. Da ich bis dato eher skeptisch gegenüber Coaching-Sessions war, wunderte es mich umso mehr, dass mein Bauch und mein Kopf dem Coaching sofort zustimmten. Eine Entscheidung, die ich nie bereuen werde.

Zunächst mussten wir tief tauchen – in meine Wertekonflikte, in meine Überzeugungen, um dann meine ganz eigenen Visionen zu definieren. Mithilfe zahlreicher Tools, unter anderem dem phänomenale Vision Board, konnten wir meine Ziele und die Wege dort hin gemeinsam erkunden. Mithilfe dieser Erkenntnisse kann ich nun meine Wünsche und Ziele besser, standfester und überzeugter nach außen tragen. Dabei habe ich alte Glaubenssätze auf den Kopf gestellt, meinen Wünschen freien Lauf gelassen und vor allem gelernt, negative Denkmuster, die mir ständig Steine in den Weg legten, zu durchbrechen. Yvonne setzt im richtigen Moment die richtigen Tools ein, lockt dich aus deiner Komfortzone heraus, stellt auch mal ungemütliche, aber wichtige Fragen und überträgt dabei ihren unschlagbaren Optimismus auf ihre Schüler. Objektiv, professionell und authentisch beleuchtet Yvonne die Probleme und hilft, sehr viel mehr Klarheit zu erlangen. Die erlernten Tools nutze ich noch heute im privaten und beruflichen Alltag. Schnell sehe ich somit viele neue Lösungsansätze, die mir helfen viele Herausforderungen zu souverän zu meistern. Und das beste dabei: Familie und Freunde profitieren mindestens genauso viel vom Erlernten, weil ich die Werkzeuge selbst erprobt habe und nun mit Begeisterung teile.

Fest steht: Ich für mich habe meine Entscheidung getroffen und werde diese konsequent, basierend auf meinen inneren Werten, mit Freude und voller Energie weiterverfolgen. 

Ich kann Yvonne uneingeschränkt weiterempfehlen und wünsche Ihr alles Gute für Ihre weitere Karriere als Life-Coach.

Und nicht vergessen: Erfolge feiern!

(Individuelles Coaching)

The participation in the course “Life Designing” has been fundamental to gain the confidence I needed for making the necessary changes in my life.

The methodology is great and the exercises really facilitate the reflections and the finding of new possibilities.

The group support was another important element to succeed in this process.

But what was most important in my opinion, was the competence and the confidence with which Yvonne led us through the process showing that she’s the living proof for change and transformation.   

This is creating credibility and motivation that also we are capable of changing our story by exploring our potential for fulfilment and happiness. Thank you Yvonne, for showing up in my life. Lot’s of love and success for you.

(Training MaturiJobs) 

The Life Designing course with Yvonne is a worthwhile experience, helpful both on professional and personal life!

I had started designing my life with models and trainings as “7 habits” and “the happiness project” a few years ago; it was helpful at first yet I felt stuck after a while.

Yvonne is very experienced and passionate, she really solved my challenges on life planning and helped me move to another level!

Really recommend a training with Yvonne, no matter if you are a beginner or have experience with life designing.

You won’t regret!

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)

The training in “Life Designing” with Yvonne helped me to identify my potential and reflect about my dreams and goals in life. To reach them, I need to proactively overcome limitations by turning my limiting beliefs into inspiring beliefs. 

This process was skilfully facilitated by Yvonne who encouraged and motivated us to change our mindset and design our life through action and changes in our behaviour.

My goal is now to replicate and disseminate this methodology for students from private Universities in Sao Paulo and to thrive thanks to the changes in my own behaviour.

(Training MaturiJobs)    

I had the honor and pleasure to attend a Life Designing workshop in 2018.

I decided to make a career transition and I really enjoyed how Yvonne expanded the discussion beyond the professional side but also into the personal, relational, familiar and spiritual area.

I have always believed that we are not a professional position, but a set of services for the world.

The big challenge is to understand how to combine all your passions and interests, and to reduce barriers in your life and your work and make flow happen easier.

I recommend Yvonne for those who are in a career transition, who are questioning life purpose and who want to have fun and a good laugh.

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)

I participated in Yvonne’s Life Design session at AMANI, in a moment when I was feeling lost and anxious about my professional choices.

Not only Yvonne helped me realise that 95% of people face the same dilemma, but also understand that figuring things out is a life long process.

The session made me aware of my Life Essentials and pushed me to design a life that is more coherent.

Yvonne’s laughter and personality made this challenging life moment a lot more joyful – and for that I’m incredibly grateful.

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)

Yvonne is a complete natural at conducting these workshops and individual sessions. 

She has a deep empathy and compassion for people at crossroads in their lives and those looking to making smaller but nonetheless significant work/life changes, having been through some major transitions in her own life. 

The workshop was professionally conducted but felt intimate at the same time. 

The workbook was well-presented and easy to follow, and has remained an invaluable aid even months after the course.

The main takeaways for me were that I do not have to separate my life and work desires and that they are in fact inseparable. 

It made me really clarify and be honest about my desires and to believe that I could achieve them.  Brainstorming and exchanging ideas with others also made me question my assumptions and beliefs and it was interesting to have a window into the desires and preferences of others. 

A very powerful takeaway for me was that I have power to make changes, even if they are small ones, towards a life and work I can enjoy and be proud of.  

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)

I really appreciated the opportunity to take the principles for design thinking and apply them towards our own lives.  

I feel like when you work in purpose-driven careers, it is easy to dedicate all of your time, effort and energy towards the mission of your job.  

Life Designing with Yvonne helped us to reflect on where we are at the moment and to consider what we want our futures to look like.  

Through her skills and personality, Yvonne generated a really positive environment in the workshop where we were encouraged to be creative and imagine the optimum futures we aspire towards and to consider the practical steps towards achieving our goals.  

It was so nice to be part of a community where our individual needs were given centre stage.

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)

I am happy to have engaged in the online version of Yvonne’s Life Designing training in my career transition phase. 

It helped me look at my challenges differently and adopt a more holistic approach to finding next steps.

I’m definitely going to revisit these tools to see future decisions more clearly as well.

(Life Designing Online Training)

I teamed up with Yvonne for my “Fertility Mindset Mastery Course”, to bring her excellent coaching skills to my course participants.

Besides her professional competence and experience, Yvonne has a gift to approach sensitive topics, like fertility and motherhood, with incredible sensibility, empathy, and extensive knowledge.

Es war von Anfang an für mich klar, dass ich das 6-wöchige PQ Training mit Yvonne machen wollte.

Der Kurs kam zu einer Zeit in mein Leben, in der ich mich etwas verloren fühlte. Ich hatte zwar bereits verschiedene Achtsamkeits-Tools an der Hand, hatte aber Probleme sie dann anzuwenden, wenn ich sie am meisten gebraucht hätte – z.B. bei viel Stress.

Ich hatte bereits einen online Kurs bei Yvonne absolviert sowie individuelle Coaching Sessions mit ihr gehabt. Deshalb wusste ich, dass ich mit ihr an meiner Seite wieder mehr Struktur und gleichzeitig Ruhe in meinen Alltag bringen kann. Das PQ Training war dabei eine super Begleitung – kurze Momente des Fokus über den Tag verteilt konnte ich in jeden noch so stressigen (Berufs-)Alltag einbauen.

Meinen Judge und die Saboteure kennenzulernen hatte eine enorme Auswirkung – nicht nur auf meinen Job – sondern auch auf meine Partnerschaft. Die wöchentlichen Coaching Calls waren sehr hilfreich, um mich auch mit anderen Teilnehmenden auszutauschen, hatten wir doch meist ähnliche Sorgen und Highlights.

Yvonne begleitet mich seit gut drei Jahren als Mentorin und erinnert mich immer wieder daran, meine Erfolge zu feiern. Ich kann das PQ Training mit Yvonne und ihre Arbeit von ganzem Herzen empfehlen.

(Positive Intelligence Training – 6-Weeks Groupcoaching 🇩🇪)

The workshop Life Designing helped me change my perspective on life.

Understanding that it’s ok to change plans and that the most important thing is to know who do I want to be, as I have different paths or options how to get there.

Yvonne’s skills pushes the participants to find new alternatives and teaches the methodology in an authentic way.

I’m thankful because Yvonne is the reason I started to learn about Life Design and want to share it with others now.

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)

I approached Yvonne at a time where I was feeling lost and overwhelmed with life in general.

I was definitely a life planner who always operated with a clear goal in sight. I reached a milestone that I had spent 10 years working towards and instead of feeling excited, I felt uncertain of what I was meant to be pursuing next. 

Suddenly everything that seemed important to me felt insignificant. All I knew is that I needed a change but had no idea where to start or what direction to go in. 

This (online) course allowed me to dig deeper and analyse areas which I never gave thought to before. I was excited to start each new module knowing that it would enable me to step back and reflect. Suddenly the only boundary was my imagination and I was exploring options that I never thought possible.

This is an ongoing journey but I now have all the tools that I need to change my thought process from a Life Planner to a Life Designer. That spark inside me was reignited and I am seeing the new opportunities in each new day. 

I would highly recommend this course to anyone no matter what your personal situation. 

(Life Designing Online Course – Group Coaching) 

Life designing is such a powerful, transformative methodology that every person in the planet should somehow have access to it (governments should make laws regarding that importance) and Yvonne made me realize its real meaning through her amazing facilitations skills.

I highly recommend Life Design to anyone that is tired of being stuck and wants a life improvement right now and for good.

Gabriela, a former student of Yvonne’s Life Designing training recommended this Online Course to me. I already knew Design Thinking but not the methodology applied to our life. I hoped that Life Designing could help me better organize my life and my career. And I discovered this methodology was exactly what I was looking for: something to help me create a balanced life with new impulses.

Through Life Designing I could identify my strengths and weaknesses and as a consequence create new opportunities.

Being able to design my life in a structured and dynamic way makes perfect sense to me, as well as building my life around my needs.

It was interesting to discover that my work is already aligned with what really matters to me, and with the help of Life Designing I can now adjust what is still needed. Learning to become a “Life Designer” brought more clarity and balance to my life journey.

Thank you very much, Yvonne, to teach us with such expertise this path of self-discovery.     

 I’m now ready for my future and prepared for solving my challenges!

(Life Designing Online School; E-Course Participant)

I did two Life Designing sessions with Yvonne and I loved it!

Tools are very useful in helping to make decisions.

I have a hard time making choices, I’m very anxious and I always try to embrace everything so I do not have to choose.

Yvonne’s tools helped me a lot with this, making it clear what is most important to me at any moment and what I should prioritize!

Super recommend it!

(Postgraduate training in Social Innovation Management, Amani Institute)