UIP- Episode 20: The Rebirth Begins
===
[00:00:00] This is unapologetically in Power, the podcast for ambitious women who are done performing and ready to lead from their unapologetic truth. I am Jennifer Damaskos and here. We don't play small in this space. We dismantle burnout, reclaim your energy and activate the unapologetic leader you are always meant to be, so you can lead, earn, and live from your unapologetic self.
Over the last several [00:01:00] episodes, we've pulled back the curtain on what fuels burnout and fragmentation, the identity shadows that quietly shape your decisions. The power leaks that drain your energy and authority, the strategic boundaries that protect your capacity, the integration work that makes it sustainable.
And finally, the masks that keep you performing instead of leading authentically. But here's the truth. Most high achievers, miss awareness alone doesn't create transformation. Taking off the mask is just the beginning, the real work, is stepping into the identity of the woman you're becoming.
Because you don't build the next chapter of your life by endlessly fixing the old one. You build it by creating from your future unapologetically. When I finally admitted how many [00:02:00] masks I'd been carrying first and corporate, then again in entrepreneurship, I realized something almost harder than seeing the masks themselves.
I didn't fully know who I was without them. The perfect professional woman mask had earned me promotions. The always available mask, kept clients comfortable. The never too much mask made me palatable in rooms where my full self felt too big. So when I finally started taking them off, I felt raw.
Exposed, like I wasn't sure if there was enough left of me without the performance. But then something extraordinary happened. The silence where performance used to live became space. Space for a new identity to take root. Not the girl [00:03:00] who worked in the dark, not the professional who dimed her voice to be accepted.
But the woman who could lead, decide, and build from her whole unapologetic self, and here's what rebirth actually looked like for me. At first, the void. I had to sit in the discomfort of not people pleasing of letting the mask fall and resisting the urge to pick it back up. Then came experimentation saying what I really thought in a meeting, setting one boundary and actually holding it, noticing that people respected me more when I was direct, not less.
Then came integration my decisions started reflecting my future self's [00:04:00] values instead of my present fears. My leadership voice grew sharper, cleaner, bolder. Finally, embodiment. Authenticity wasn't something I had to remember to do anymore. It became automatic clients and collaborators responded to that clarity.
My energy compounded because I wasn't negotiating with myself every day. This was my rebirth from performing professional to authentic leader, from fixing old patterns, to creating from new identity. This isn't just a story, it's science. Backed by some research. Harvard Business Review 2023 says, leaders who intentionally step into a [00:05:00] new future oriented identities are three times more likely to sustain change than those who only fix behaviors.
Stanford research on identity shifts says leaders who integrate old patterns into a new self-concept instead of suppressing them, reduce burnout, recurrence by 63% and strengthen resilience by 40%. McKinsey in 2023 says Women who consciously shed outdated identities are 2.8 times more likely to grow their businesses beyond six figures.
Not because strategy alone, but because identity drives entirely different decisions. Carol Dweck's mindset work says Future self-identity work increases [00:06:00] innovation by 44% and expands decision making flexibility by 31%. The science is clear. Transformation doesn't stick when it's just behavior. It becomes sustainable when it's identity.
So some business examples. Here's the difference I see every day. Fragmented identity leadership looks like negotiating with your shadows in every client conversation. Setting boundaries, then breaking them When guilt creeps in, swapping one mask for another, depending on the room you're in. Running your business by managing old patterns instead of leading from a new identity rebirth.
Identity leadership looks like making decisions through the lens of your future self. [00:07:00] Boundaries that hold naturally, not because you force them, but because they're simply who you are. Now, shadows integrated as allies, not enemies showing up visibly and unapologetically because you no longer need masks for protection.
And the result, instead of trying to hold together the old story, you step fully into writing a new one. So here's your reflection for today. Step one, retire the old masks. Write down the top two to three masks you've worn. Thank them. You got me here, but you're no longer needed where I'm going.
Step two. Visualize your future self. See her in three to five years. How does she enter a room? How does she handle [00:08:00] challenges? What no longer even makes it onto her calendar? Then step three, choose one decision this week, make a single decision as. Maybe it's a pricing conversation. Maybe it's a boundary.
Maybe it's a visibility opportunity. Ask what would she choose? Then do it. Step four, anchor it. Write. I am no longer building from who I was. I am creating from who I am becoming. And this is exactly where module three of Rise Rebirth begins. This isn't about patching the old you or trying to endlessly fix the cracks.
It's about birthing the identity of your next level leadership, your [00:09:00] business, your life. Inside module three will create your identity blueprint, clarity on who you're becoming and how she leads. Future self decision anchors. Tools to make decisions from your future self every single day. Conditioning release practices, letting go of stories and patterns that don't fit anymore.
Unapologetic visibility strategy, showing up from authenticity, not performance. Future-based business design, designing systems around who you're becoming, not who you've been, because the only sustainable way forward isn't to keep fixing, it's to be reborn. So let me ask you, where are you still trying to patch the old you instead of stepping into the new you?
[00:10:00] How much energy are you spending negotiating with your past instead of creating from your future? The masks got you here, but they cannot take you where you're going. You rebirth begins the moment you choose it. This is unapologetically in Power. I'm Jennifer Damaskos, and your next Level identity isn't waiting for permission.
It's waiting for your decision.
