Why Worth Comes Before Wealth (The Missing Piece In High-Ticket Growth)

There comes a moment when a woman realizes something profound: there is nothing wrong with her the system she’s been trying to succeed inside of is broken.

In this episode of Beyond Common Business Secrets, Tracey Watts Cirino dives deep into The Inner Game of High-Ticket Success, exposing the outdated rules of female leadership that lead to burnout, self-sacrifice, and success that looks good on the outside but feels heavy on the inside.

You’ll learn:

• Why burnout isn’t a personal failure but a nervous system response to misalignment
• The silent conditioning that keeps women over-delivering, under-charging, and over-functioning
• Why worth must come before wealth (not after exhaustion)
• How high-ticket success becomes sustainable when leadership is embodied not forced
• The new paradigm of heart-led, soul-aligned, authority-rooted leadership
  
  
  

This conversation is for the woman who knows she’s capable of more but not more hustle, not more proving, and not more self-sacrifice.

If you’ve felt that quiet inner pull whispering, there has to be another way this episode will feel like coming home.

🎧 Listen now and step into the new era of female leadership.

Take your FREE CEO Worthiness Audit today!

Check out the CEOPowercode.com/course

Transcript

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Tracey Watts Cirino: There comes a moment in a woman's life when she realizes something important.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: There is nothing wrong with her.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: What's wrong is the system she's been trying to succeed inside of.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And for me, that moment didn't come in a dramatic breakdown.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: the way they show it in the movies, it came in a quiet, embodied knowing, right? Like, I really felt it.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: right in my heart, really just this embodied knowing. I had done the things, right? Built success, led teams, helped people.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I checked all the boxes that were supposed to mean, you've made it, you have arrived.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And yet, It felt heavy.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: it felt… unsustainable.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It felt like I was buried under it, like I was constantly holding my breath.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I wasn't burnt out because I wasn't capable. I was burned out because I was trying to lead, earn, and succeed by rules that were never designed for women like me.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So, in this episode, I want to talk about the old rules of female leadership. The ones we inherited, right? The ones that we just inherited them. The ones we never consciously agreed to. Like, I never was pulled aside at,


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Tracey Watts Cirino: At elementary school, or leadership camp, or anything.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And was asked if I agreed to these.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So, we, like, never consciously agreed to these rules.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And we're gonna dive into why I'm no longer playing by them, and if you've been feeling that quiet inner pool that says.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: There has to be another way, then, my friend, this conversation is for you. So…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Welcome back to Beyond Common Business Secrets, where we explore the inner game of success, the mindset, the leadership, and the soul-aligned decisions that build businesses that last. I'm your host, Tracy Wat-Serino, and


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Tracey Watts Cirino: As I said, I am not playing by the old rules anymore. So, you know, most women don't even realize that they've been living by rules


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Tracey Watts Cirino: that they never chose. Like, we never chose these rules.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: They were absorbed.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: They were modeled.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: These rules, like… were rewarded, They were passed down quietly, Rules like this.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: We learned that power makes women unlikable.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: That if we are decisive, direct, or confident, we're labeled as intimidating, cold.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: She's difficult.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Or, you're just called a straight-up bitch.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So, we soften. Like, we just soften. We shrink.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: We over-explain. We manage other people's comfort


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Instead of owning our own true power and authority.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Then, we learned that our value increases when we're needed.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: This over-functioning was rewarded as leadership.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Really? I've never seen it work that way for men.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And this is the one that nearly broke me. I was running around doing everything for the people I led.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Serving, fixing, compensating, instead of actually leading them.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Being indispensable became more important than being respected and being a true leader.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: In somewhere along the way, We absorb the belief


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Tracey Watts Cirino: that we must earn our seat by over-delivering, right? Like, doing more than necessary became the price of belonging. Not because it was required, but because we didn't feel safe


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Stopping.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Then, were the rules around money, right? Like, it's, like, almost like don't even got me started, but we're gonna name a few of them right now, right here and now. And if you have more, please, like, share these with me on social, share them in the comments, like, where the podcast reviews are, like, let me know, because I know that…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: There are so many more, but…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: But we're gonna get started here, okay? So, it's like, then there were the rules around money. We learned that money should come with sacrifice. That, if it feels too easy, it must not be real or sustainable, right? Like…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: You're not supposed to love your job?


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Tracey Watts Cirino: We learned that you have to prove your worth for it. Like, you have to prove your worth for the money through stress, exhaustion, or self-denial.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And we were told to be grateful for whatever we receive.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Asking for more was framed as entitlement.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So instead of negotiating from a place of self-worth.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Women learn to silence their desires. Never ask for a bigger raise. Never command more money when she's doing the job of 3 or more people.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So, this is especially true for heart-led women, and this is primarily the type of woman that I work with. So, especially for heart-led women, who were taught that you can either help people.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Or make money.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: But not both.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Really? That's, like, what I do every day, so I call BS on that one. But this is what we were, you know.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: taught.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: This is what we were taught. Impact and income were positioned as opposites, as if serving deeply meant you had to struggle.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Like… We were not taught that it is okay to Ask for the sale. To…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Command your price with authority and love in your heart, because it's absolutely worth more than that.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Right? So, it's like, as… it's just so funny that if you really, really break this sort of… break all of this down, this silent conditioning.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It… Has always been… That we have looked at it, like, serving…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: deeply meant you had to struggle, right? That's just the way it's always been, so no one says anything, no one calls it out, no one, you know, brings it out into the light. So that's what we're doing here today. And then there's the one


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Tracey Watts Cirino: this is the one that still gets glorified… like, it gets glorified far too often. So…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: that good women put everyone else first, right? Like, the self-sacrifice was just moralized. And the whole idea


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Tracey Watts Cirino: That good eater… good leaders eat last.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: This is horrible, horrible advice for female leaders.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Like, because women are already starving themselves. Emotionally, energetically, financially. They're already starving themselves.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: We were also taught that it's our job to hold everything together. Like, the emotional labor for it all, the unseen responsibility, the constant attunement.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Invisible?


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Unpaid, but absolutely expected.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And finally, maybe the most damaging rule of all.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Is that if something fails, it's your fault.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: This hyper-responsibility, disguised as accountability.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Especially in leadership circles, right? This carrying the weight that was never meant to be yours alone.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: None of this is a personal failure. None of it.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It is all conditioning. This is all conditioning. And it was not meant for you to carry the weight of any of this.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: On your shoulders. Alone.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So, the cost of the old rules…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Let's dive into this, right? Like, what's the cost? And this is, like, the true cost


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Tracey Watts Cirino: of living this way for far too long.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So, you end up with burnout that doesn't go away with vacations.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Have you ever come back from a vacation and felt like, I need a vacation from my vacation? Yeah.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Because this burnout doesn't go away just from deciding to take a vacation.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: The cost of living this way is success that looks good on the outside, but feels empty on the inside.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: money that comes with pressure instead of freedom, right? Like, you just get in this, like, hyper… it kind of feels like being on a human life-size hamster wheel, right? Like, leadership that feels heavy instead of expansive.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And the quiet grief of asking yourself, Is this really…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: all there is? Is this really what I have been working my ass off for? Like, really? Is this the way it is supposed to feel like?


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Burnout is not a personal flaw.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It's a nervous system response to living out of alignment for far too long.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: The moment it became unsustainable for me.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: There… there was just, like, this moment…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: where I just knew. Like, right? I just cannot… Keep doing it this way.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Done.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And it was not because I couldn't handle it.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: But because I didn't want… a bigger business…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And to continue growing if it required a smaller version of myself.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: where I had to dim my light, Not speak up.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: just so everyone else could feel comfortable. So, for me, it was, like, really clear that


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I'm done, no more need for a bigger business. If… Me being me…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: requires me to be smaller, a smaller version of me, because that was not working for me anymore. So, I realized I wasn't meant to contort, right? I wasn't meant to contort myself to succeed,


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Tracey Watts Cirino: by these standards. I wasn't meant to lead like a man.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And I certainly wasn't meant to prove my worth through depletion and over… like, over-serving.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So this was the moment that everything changed. Like, everything changed. And here's, like, the new para… here's the new paradigm, this is… this is what I believe now.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Worth comes first.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Not after you prove yourself. You are already worth it because you are, period. Like, for people that are really spiritual, it's like, Jesus died on the cross.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: to prove to all of us, we are worthy. So, you have nothing to prove. Worth comes first, and


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Tracey Watts Cirino: My friend, you are worthy.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: You have nothing to prove.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So… It's like, not after proving yourself, not after exhausting yourself. Worth is the foundation, and it's already yours.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Wealth is meant to feel spacious, supportive, expansive, and not like a reward you earn through suffering.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Leadership is energetic. You lead by… you… I mean, you don't lead. Let me… let me rephrase that. Leadership is energetic. So you do… you do not need to lead by doing more.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Right? You lead by being clear, grounded, and self-honoring. Like, truly expressing yourself.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: With clear conviction and authority, that is the leadership energetic.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And this isn't about balance.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It's about integration, right? Integration.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Family and ambition don't compete.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: They inform each other.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: They strengthen each other.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: The new paradigm isn't about doing less.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It's about doing what's aligned Powerful and true.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: So, I'm here for the heart-led women.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Who knows she's capable of more.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: But not more hustle, not more proving, right?


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Tracey Watts Cirino: The woman I'm here to lead


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Already knows that she's capable of so much more. She's accomplished. She's intuitive. She's tired of carrying everything.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: She doesn't need fixing.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: She needs remembering.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Because this work isn't about becoming someone new, it's about coming home to who you were before you learned to doubt yourself.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And that…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: is the truth, right? It's like coming home to who you were before you learned to doubt yourself, because that, my friend, is conditioning. That's a learned behavior that we are no longer accepting, right? This is not…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: This is not… where we are going. We are leading our… ourselves way beyond this.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And that is the new paradigm. That is the direction that we are headed.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: these… this is, like, why the old rules of female leadership are broken, and what comes next is the new world, this new paradigm. So, my friend, if this episode resonated with you.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: It is because you're part of the new wave of female leaders. Women who are done shrinking, done proving, done sacrificing themselves for success.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I'm not here to teach women how to work harder.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I am so interested in working smarter.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I'm here to lead.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: In a new way.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: I'm here to lead from a place of leadership, wealth, and worth.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Rooted in truth. Embodied.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And… Powerful.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And if you feel this in your body, like, not just in your mind.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: But you feel this in your body, like, it's, like, soul-stirring for you.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Stay close.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: This is just the beginning. This is sort of the anthem of the direction that we're going, and…


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Tracey Watts Cirino: Stay close, this is just the beginning.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: As always, I hope you are having the most beyond amazing


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Tracey Watts Cirino: day, week, and I cannot wait to see you on the next one.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And if this is resonating with you, share it with another female business owner friend that will feel its impact and needs to hear this message as well. We love when you share the episodes with your friends and family, so thank you so much for doing that.


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Tracey Watts Cirino: And if you have a great story, a great, you know, a great


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Tracey Watts Cirino: insight to share, please inform us, leave us a review, wherever you are tuning into this podcast episode. Take care, and I'll see you on the next one.