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Published on:

4th Aug 2026

Learning to Trust Your Inner Yes: Why Success Without Alignment Leaves You Feeling Empty | Chelsea Szabo

Why do high achievers still feel unfulfilled after reaching their goals?

Amy sits down with executive coach and founder of Personal Energy First, Chelsea Szabo, to explore why professional success does not always create the fulfillment people expect. Chelsea explains how external expectations, learned definitions of success, and constant achievement can disconnect people from the internal signals that reveal what genuinely feels aligned.

Together they unpack how body awareness can help you recognize a true yes or no, why fear can sometimes be mistaken for intuition, and how small daily decisions can rebuild trust in yourself. The conversation moves through personal energy, burnout, workplace pressure, higher-self leadership, and the difference between pursuing a goal because it is meaningful and pursuing it because you have been conditioned to believe it should matter.

By the end, what emerges is a grounded reminder: when success feels empty, the answer may not be another goal. It may be learning how to recognize what your body, energy, and inner wisdom have been telling you all along.

Moments That Create Momentum:

1. The Success That Leaves You Feeling Empty – Explore why external achievement can still leave you disconnected when it isn't aligned with what truly matters to you.

2. Learning the Language of Your Body – Discover how recognizing your body's natural "yes" and "no" signals can lead to more confident, aligned decisions.

3. When Fear Sounds Like Wisdom – Understand how to distinguish protective patterns from the deeper guidance that supports personal growth.

4. Alignment Happens One Decision at a Time – See why meaningful change often begins with the smallest choices to honor your needs throughout the day.

5. The Most Inspiring Thing You Can Do Is Be Yourself – Hear why authentic presence often creates a greater impact than striving to impress or perform.

About the Guest:

Chelsea Szabo is an executive coach, speaker, and founder of Personal Energy First. Drawing on more than 15 years of corporate coaching and training experience, she helps high achievers and leaders manage stress, reconnect with their personal energy, and lead with greater clarity, purpose, and resilience. Chelsea is also a certified Energy Leadership Index™ master practitioner, Reiki Master, ThetaHealing® practitioner, and breathwork guide.

https://www.personalenergyfirst.com/

About Amy:

Amy Lynn Durham, known by her clients as the Corporate Mystic, is the founder of the Executive Coaching Firm, Create Magic At Work®, where they help leaders build workplaces rooted in creativity, collaboration, and fulfillment. A former corporate executive turned Executive Coach, Amy blends practical leadership strategies with spiritual intelligence to unlock human potential at work.

She’s a certified Executive Coach through UC Berkeley & the International Coaching Federation (ICF) In addition, Amy holds coaching certifications in Spiritual Intelligence (SQ21), the Edgewalker Profile, and the Archetypes of Change . In addition to being the host of the Create Magic At Work® podcast, Amy is the author of Create Magic At Work®, Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal and the founder of Magic Thread Media™. Through her work, she inspires intentional leadership for thriving workplaces and lives where “magic” becomes reality.

Connect with Amy:

https://createmagicatwork.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/create-magic-at-work

https://www.facebook.com/112951637095427

https://www.instagram.com/createmagicatwork

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnEm4h3fUgaq8qgvZpz6dGg

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Mentioned in this episode:

This show was brought to you in part by the Magic Thread Media Network. To learn more visit: https://magicthreadmedia.com/

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About the Podcast

Create Magic At Work®
Spiritual Intelligence, Conscious Leadership, and the Future of Work
Create Magic At Work® is a leadership podcast exploring spiritual intelligence, conscious leadership, and the future of work. Through conversations with visionary leaders, coaches, authors, and entrepreneurs, the show examines how leaders can navigate uncertainty, cultivate self awareness, and create workplaces that are both high performing and deeply human.

Many episodes explore themes such as transformational leadership, intuition in decision making, organizational change, and the inner work required to lead well. The show also introduces frameworks rooted in spiritual intelligence, including SQ21, the Archetypes of Change, and the Edgewalker philosophy. These perspectives help listeners understand how people respond to transformation and support leaders in walking the edge into quantum leadership, where business decisions ripple outward for the greater good.

Listeners of Create Magic At Work® are leaders who want to edgewalk rather than sleepwalk through their work and life. They want to bring their full selves into the spaces they inhabit, including their spirituality from a faith neutral lens. Many are founders, coaches, and professionals seeking deeper meaning in their work and lives.

If you care about leadership that blends strategy, spiritual intelligence, and the courage to walk the edge during times of change, you're in the right place.

About your host

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Amy Lynn Durham

Amy Lynn Durham is the founder of the executive coaching firm Create Magic At Work® and Magic Thread Media™, a curated boutique podcast network of conscious voices. She is an executive coach and leadership advisor who works with senior leaders and organizations navigating complex change.

A former corporate executive turned executive coach, Amy blends grounded business experience with a deeper exploration of spiritual intelligence and quantum leadership. Her work helps leaders expand beyond traditional leadership models to consider the ripple effects of their decisions on people, culture, and the future.

Amy believes magic at work is not a metaphor. It emerges when leaders go beyond emotional intelligence and cultivate spiritual intelligence, learning to lead from their higher selves rather than from their ego. Through her work, she helps leaders develop the awareness and presence needed to make wise, compassionate decisions even when under pressure while maintaining inner peace.

She is the host of the globally recognized Create Magic At Work® podcast, where she interviews visionary leaders, authors, and change makers exploring spiritual intelligence, conscious leadership, and the future of work. The show often features what Amy calls “voices from the edge” — leaders and thinkers who challenge conventional ideas about leadership and human potential.

Amy is also the author of Create Magic At Work® and Creating Career Magic: A Daily Prompt Journal, and is a sought-after speaker and podcast guest known for bridging modern business challenges with spiritual intelligence, relational wisdom, and practical leadership insight.

Across all of her work, Amy’s mission is to help leaders make wise, compassionate decisions even under stress while envisioning workplaces where people and performance thrive together.

UC Berkeley Certified Executive Coach • ICF Certified Coach • Certified Spiritual Intelligence Coach (SQ21) • Archetypes of Change Facilitator • Edgewalker Facilitator