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Five years in a room about race, the family myth I went digging into, and why comfort isn't the same as joy. There's a phrase I use about colour all the time: once you see it, you can't un-see it. And while this is super true, and reflected back to us daily by our students and clients - actually the most world-shifting version of that in my life wasn't about colour psychology, it was about the colour of my skin. Today's episode, Joy First decision #8 - is about the decision I made to commit to a lifetime of understanding and doing my part to stand up against racism and systems of oppression.... and to understanding my place in them as a white woman. This commitment came in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, when a friend invited me into Dr. Lynne Maureen Hurdle's programme, On the Matter of Race. I stayed in that room, every other week (with some seasonal breaks), for over five years. And it fundamentally shifted how I see the world now. In this episode I share about the white bubble I grew up in, and never questioned, about the "good white person checklist" I walked into 'the work' looking ofr, the the family myth about Cherokee ancestry I went digging into (and the far more complicated truth I found), and why when it comes to people being oppressed and marginalized, there is no neutral. This work may feel heavy, but it isn't the opposite of joy. In fact, it's one of the deepest sources of joy I've found in my life - as it's broken me open, and clarified my own mission and purpose in ways that make it matter1000x more. I'm not an expert or a teacher, I will always be a student... but if you're curious please join me in this exploration. In this episode: • Why niceness and politeness can keep us complicit, and the difference between niceness and kindness • "Am I unsafe, or just uncomfortable?" (the question that changes everything) • Holding complexity: how we can be both harmed and part of the harm • Why facing this work unlocks joy rather than draining it Resources mentioned: • On the Matter of Race with Dr. Lynne Maureen Hurdle: https://theconflictcloser.com/matter-of-race • Nice White Ladies by Jessie Daniels: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57007984-nice-white-ladies • Xander Golden's Thread: https://www.threads.com/share/BAYmpoeP1k/ • The "Dealing With Whiteness" series on my previous podcast, Joy, Colour, Impact & Dogs: on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/joy-colour-impact-dogs/id1697112722 on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5EsgLUsJrJWebrNrxNPHG1 If this episode stirred something in you, share it with someone you'd like to invite into the work. See you next time for Joy First Decision #9. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kids, roots, and the joy first choices that don't seem to add up on paper. I'm recording this one from my bed, surrounded by the dog, the laundry and my daughter's panda, because (as usual) I'm navigating chaos: the floors are being replaced and there's nowhere quiet left in the house. Which, as usual, seems exactly right for exploring Joy First Decision #7: the decision to stop chasing freedom, put down roots... and have kids. In the last episode I was gleefully drifting around Europe, taking selfies with my Frenchie in front of the Eiffel Tower and in Venice. This is the episode where I start making the opposite sort of choices: ones with roots, responsibilities and very sore nipples. I'm getting into all of it: why being a kid mom (or a dog mom) never seems to add up on paper, and how the joy stacks up anyway. What it was like to be one of the only women in my world who chose kids (when my friends and peers mostly chose pets instead). The horror and the richness held together, including the birth trauma we're not supposed to mention and the fear I carried my whole life: that motherhood would become my entire personality. In this episode: • Why the "should I have kids" maths never adds up (and why that doesn't matter) • How I guarded against motherhood swallowing me, and how it changed me anyway • The surprising way motherhood deepened the way basic human decency has radicalized me • The club I got an instant free pass to that I wasn't expecting • The one thing that makes it all possible for me to cling to my sanity while navigating through survival mode If this resonates, follow the show and leave a review (thank you so much 🙏). See you next time for Joy First Decision number eight. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I lost my dog. I rented out the house. I tackled a mountain of adulting to finally live the freedom I'd built. And it all started with one small tweak to my calendar. I will never forget standing in a tiny grocery store in Lake Como, Italy... holding a lemon almost as big as my hand with the leaves still on, and realizing this wasn't a holiday. It was my actual life. I would I have posted those lemons on instagram, but what you wouldn't fave seen there, is what it actually took to finally be standing there. I'd built a business I could run from anywhere (a six-figure online membership and consulting business, run entirely over Zoom). I had been running it from my tiny terrace house in London. I could be anywhere, but instead I sat at my kitchen table, day after day... sometimes splashing out to the coffee shop down the road. What was the point of having autonomy if I was too scared to use it? In this episode (Joy First Decision #6) I tell the whole story of how my husband and I came to live in Lake Como, Italy, Morzine, France, and Mallorca, Spain after losing my heart dog Olivia, becoming reluctant landlords; moving into a spare room in someone else's house, and then actually hitting the road for the digital nomad life. All while running the business, working with clients, writing a book, and getting paid to speak on stages. In this episode: • Why you can build total freedom and still never use it • That the biggest joy so often sits on the far side of the discomfort you're avoiding • How the whole thing started with one small choice: a single change to my calendar If this resonated, follow the show and leave a review. I will see you next time for Joy First Decision #7. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This joy first decision is jumping the queue in the top ten because it’s happening right now, and it’s massive. As you may know, in this season I’ve been sharing the top ten joy first decisions of my life in a nice orderly chronological countdown, and then yesterday happened and had to through out the plan and have this conversation instead.  So, totally out of order, this is joy first decision #5, arriving early and slightly out of breath, with my friend Nicole Begley. Not that many weeks ago I asked Nicole for ten minutes to hear me out on idea sort of related to our annual launch of the Commercial Pet Photography Academy - and I asked her to listen and not say no before she let me finish. We have both spent nearly two years streamlining our businesses, cutting and refining programmes, and getting really good at saying no. Well, long story short, it’s about 8 weeks later and here we are. Yesterday we launched a new brand, a new program, have merged significant revenue streams from our separate businesses into a shared one, and retired a launch we had a great time running for five or so years.  This thing we’ve created is called the Creative Freedom Rebellion. Today we’re exploring how you tell the difference between being flaky and moving into more alignment (something I refused to let myself do 2 yrs ago which made big, big problems for my biz).  We also share the 4 things we’ve found our most successful clients have in common (even though their versions of freedom, joy and financial success were all quite different).  And we talk about why neither of us wanted to build another room built on polite niceness where the house rule is that ‘we don't talk about that here’. There is also a clip from the call we ran yesterday, including a really moving moment from one of our clients that I have not stopped thinking about.   Watch the full replay from yesterday: https://www.nicolebegleyedu.com/rebellion Apply for the Creative Freedom Rebellion: https://www.nicolebegleyedu.com/rebel Nicole's podcast: https://www.freedomfocusformula.com/blog If this one lands, we would love to hear from you. xx -Nic & Nicole Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the dream I had fought for became the dread I couldn't escape... and decision I dreaded unlocked the joy I'd been looking for all along. I finally opened the shop I'd wanted for a decade: A photography studio and pet boutique two minutes from my front door, in beautiful Southwest London. I signed a ten-year lease and invested £40,000 pounds in the business (most of which was spent on renovating the derelict space), and I named it 'Little & Large' after my Great Dane and French bulldog. It truly was a dream come true. But not even two years in, I was clear that this investment, this beautiful dream was actually a big mistake. In this episode (Joy First Decisions #3 and #4) I tell the whole story: the VAT I never understood, the freedom I lost, the guilt of realizing I'd built my own cage, and the decision I dreaded most which turned out to be the joy first decision in disguise. It's the one that led to Whyfinding®, to the work I actually love, to the next business which grew to six figures in eight months. If you've ever hung onto something too long because quitting felt like failure, this one's for you. In this episode: • How to tell whether a decision is rooted in joy or fear • Why joy doesn't always look shiny (and often asks for discomfort first) • What closing the shop made possible that I never could never have foreseen Go deeper on Substack: joyfirstworld.substack.com If this resonated, follow the show and leave a review - thank you! See you next time for Joy First Decision #5 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At 28 I had two businesses, an engagement ring, and a box of save the dates I could not bring myself to send. My fiancé was a genuinely nice guy. We had a solid 8/10 life: there was no, drama, no red flags, and we were comfortable... which I guess is what made it so hard to explain why I was leaving. Welcome to #2 number in our series on the Top 10 joy first decisions I've made. It's the story of why I called-off an engagement, packed-up and moved from Seattle to a L.A. and wrote a very important list of 200 things. It's also the story of what happened five months later at a wedding in a Bavarian-themed town... where a handsome guy handed me his business card. In this episode: - The question I kept asking myself (and why the answer sits inside the question) - What I discovered about my relationship that made me end it - The list of 200, and the worthiness work that it kicked-off - The hives, the joint pain, and the parts of this decision that were truly brutal - What made me deciding I was willing to be alone forever - How I met the man of my dreams (complete with sexy British accent) Go deeper on Substack: joyfirstworld.substack.com xx -Nic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At sixteen I had it all figured out. I was going to be a veterinarian: I'd get to work with animals, I'd make a decent living, and I'd never have to be the broke, starving artist everyone warned me about. Then my boss at the vet clinic looked at some photographs I'd taken at the clinic and asked me one question that blew the whole plan out of the water. This is the first in a 10-part series where I walk back through the biggest joy first decisions of my life, the ones that felt a little (or a lot) reckless at the time, and look at how they actually turned out. This one is about choosing passion and creativity over the responsible plan, dropping out of art school the same day I brought home a Great Dane puppy, and building a career in a risky field that didn't really exist yet. In this episode: - Why the "starving artist" fear runs so much deeper than money - The moment I realized what I wanted and what I'd planned were two different things - How a tiny, tightly niched photography business taught me everything about branding - The joy lesson under it all: joy is not an indulgence, it's information Come and go deeper on Substack at Joy First World, https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/ and take the Joy First Audit to find your current joy pulse... and maybe get a nudge in the next right direction for more joy in your life. And if this one lands, for you I'd love a review. Help us help new listeners find us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today was too hot to work. Schools shut, there were heat warnings and travel bans in London, and my garden office turned into a sauna. So instead of the day I had planned, I let the day become something else, and somewhere between a slow coffee with my father-in-law, a grocery shop where my brain refused to cooperate, a garden picnic, and water fight with the kids, and a barefoot evening watering the plants, I realised the whole day had been one big joy first experiment. This one is recorded late, off the cuff, and a bit un-edited (you get to see exactly how last-minute this show sometimes is). But showing you all of it felt like the honest thing and very in the spirit of what this season is all about: what joy actually looks like in the messy middle. Not the pretty, pre-planned, beautifully spacious version we put on a pedestal. In this episode: Why joy first living is a series of small choices (not one grand cinematic gesture)The "judgey clipboard lady" in your head, and what changes when she takes the day offWhy entrepreneurs never seem to get the free passes everyone else does How to keep a commitment without letting time-scarcity turn you into a jerkIntegrating joy into the chores and the to-do list, rather than treating it as separate Take the Joy FIrst Audit Substack: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/t/joy-first-audit If this show gives you something, a review on Apple Podcasts helps more people find it. And come and find me on YouTube, where these episodes go up as videos too: https://www.youtube.com/@JoyFirstWorld/videos Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first joy experiment: why ease is a better engine than discipline, and how to choose it. I wanted a cut flower garden for three years and did absolutely nothing about it, until I asked myself the question I've been putting to my clients for over a decade: what would be easy? ( £80 and 2 pre-treated wood 'build-your-own' kits later, I had one.) This is the first of the Season 4 joy experiments, and it's a big one: choosing ease and joy on purpose, and why that's a better engine than discipline. In this episode: • The two questions that change the energy you bring to just about everything, and why that energy is so important. • The dog-training science behind my dislike of the word discipline, drawn from years working with Victoria Stilwell • The honest caveat about joy vs comfort • Why frameworks make better scaffolding than gospel, and the human design insight (with Jazze Jervis) that reorganised how I work • Real "what would be easy" decisions, from the flat-pack flower beds to where values complicate convenience LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE: WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/FZgvz4V7VfsHow and why I ditched discipline: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZMyoCCsyN-/Forbes article | Comfort & Joy: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelldebevoise/2026/06/09/comfort-and-joy-are-not-what-you-think/Find your colour personality type (the quiz): https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quizGo deeper with us on Substack @joyfirstworld: https://joyfirstworld.substack.comFree Summer Alignment Sessions on alignment: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/summerOur Joy First Founders' Circle community: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/jffcJazze's free 'Find your Human Design' tool: https://www.jazzejervis.com.au/generate-your-chart-nic  If this resonated, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more people find their way to a bit more joy. With love, xx Nic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I have spent my career using colour as a precision instrument...For brands, for commercial photography, for building the kind of visual identity that makes people trust and buy. But somewhere along the way, I forgot to use it for myself. This is the first of our joy experiment episodes dedicated to colour, and it is a bit of a confession. Because even as a colour psychology expert, I got so caught up in life lifing, that I stopped consistently putting colour to work as an intentional joy practice on the day-to-day... Something I purposefully set out to rectify this year. In this episode I walk you through how that is changing: from the rainbow placemats pulled out of a cupboard, to the home renovation I have been putting off for five years, to getting my own colours done properly and discovering I am a Seaside even though my entire personality is Fireside. And the moment I realized doing in-person colour analysis for others, in Lancashire, is one of the most joyful things I have added back into my work. What we cover: — Why colour is one of the most underused joy tools we have (even though it is free and accessible right now) — The specific ways I am using colour for joy this year — The fear that stops most of us being brave with colour in our homes, and what I think it is really about — What happened when a colour expert finally got her own colours done — Why I started offering in-person colour consultations in Lancashire — What colour harmony actually feels like when you find it for yourself If you want to find your own colour and personality type, take the quiz: https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quiz And if you want to go deeper with your personal colours, including the AI tool I built to help you bridge what looks good on you with what you actually love, that is inside the Joy First Substack at https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/ - Available to founding members. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the most ordinary moment in your week turned out to be a joy ritual in disguise? In this episode, I'm sharing what I've been learning as I move deeper into my own 'Joy First experiments', and why the most surprising discoveries have had almost nothing to do with that big 'jump up and down' version of joy. Today we're talking about the science behind visual progress loops and how your mundane chores can genuinely light up your brain. We revisit the 10 Joy Codes and look at how a single ordinary activity can stack multiple codes at once. And I want to challenge the version of joy that most of us have been sold: the everything-is-amazing version that, if we're honest, isn't most of life. Sometimes joy is just medicine. Sometimes it's the thing that keeps you going, not the thing that goes in your feed. Key moments: • The neuroscience of why my most hated chore has become a major joy ritual for me because it feels so good • Why I started doubling down on when anxiety was at its peak • How the Joy Codes show up inside the smallest, most mundane activities • Why this season of the podcast is shifting toward real-time joy experiments, in the messy middle, with all the imperfections intact The Joy Codes Episode: https://joyfirstworld.com/blogs/joy-first-podcast/finding-your-joy-codes Take the Joy First Audit: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/t/joy-first-audit Discover your Colour type: https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quiz The best glitter pens: https://calmoverchaos.co.uk/products/constellation-glitter-pens Arm Knitting in Lancashire: https://chunkyarmknit.com/ Painting Workshops UK: https://www.brushandtipple.co.uk/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever hit a milestone you'd been working towards for years, only to sit in the silence afterwards and think, is this it? This is the finale episode of the Joy First Audit series: where we've been exploring the 6 categories of the Joy First audit, and today we're onto Category 6: Purpose. Meaning, growth, impact, & legacy. The thread that holds everything else together. In this episode I share my own pattern of "what now, what next" moments (which, as it turns out, have arrived almost like clockwork every four years) and explore why these moments aren't a sign you've lost your way. They're often a sign you've outgrown the version of yourself that built the thing you've already built. In this episode: Why the "what now" moment is almost always an important milestoneThe Harvard Study finding that proves the power of purpose for living long, healthy lifeWhat dog ownership and ikigai have in common (and what it tells us about how even the small stuff counts)Why most entrepreneurs start with fear-fuelled drive and eventually have to reckon with something else entirelyThe pain or pleasure question that unlocks more Whyfinding® sessions than any other Whether you scored 15/15 or felt every question land in a tender place, this episode is an invitation to start noticing what you're already chasing when it comes to being in service, and finding meaning in your life, business and storytelling. Get access to the audit on our substack: https://substack.com/@joyfirstworld Unlock the full AI-guided version with a paid subscription. Learn more about Whyfinding® sessions: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/branding Access the Whyfinding® co-pilot with Citrus: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/citrus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No matter what colours you choose, your environment is not neutral. The colours on your walls, the quality of your light, whether your bedroom feels like a sanctuary or a storage unit, these things are doing something to you, all the time. This episode, we're exploring Category 5 of the Joy First Audit: Environment. I scored reasonably high on this one (as I guess you'd probably expect) but then.... we found a leak in our downstairs closet, so all the floors have come up, and we've been living with industrial-sized dehumidifiers and fans running at full volume for weeks. We've just been told they will have to remain another two weeks. Once again, perfect timing to be having this conversation. In this episode, I'm exploring what happens to your sense of self when your environment is in chaos, some quick fixes to create more of the feelings you want in your spaces, and why 'aesthetic' isn't just superficial. KEY TAKEAWAYS • The five environmental factors that most consistently affect mood and nervous system regulation (according to research) • Why the colour of your walls, your light quality, and even the clutter level in your space matter more than we give them credit for • The 'What should I pick' dilemma, and the one question to answer first to get what you want in the spaces you get to choose • What the Joy First Audit's 'Environment' category is really asking, and how to use your score as a starting point for adding more joy to your spaces TAKE THE AUDIT Take the full Joy First Audit on Substack: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/p/the-joy-first-audit EXPLORE MORE: Take the Colour Personality Quiz: https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quiz Learn about Colour Joy (free when you become a founding member on Substack): https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/p/getting-started-with-colour-joy-1 CTA If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who you know will love it too 🧡 This is how together, we'll spark the #joyfirstrevolution Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm recording this episode from my bed, at 6:30pm, surrounded by laundry, with a partially sedated dog, and with maybe 15 minutes before my kids come home. I cannot think of a more perfect setting for a conversation about joy. Because joy usually isn't the Instagram version. Sometimes it's survival. Sometimes it's taking 20 minutes out to nip to the garden centre to get covered in manure to make a place for happy plants before the dentist appointment and the school run, and attempting to figure out dinner for everyone in a kitchen with no floors and industrial fans and dehumidifiers making you mysteriously nauseous. Sometimes it's putting the kids' clothes away with love and intention, instead of racing through it. This is the Joy category of the Joy First Audit: welcome to the real face of joy in the messy middle. Key things we get into:The four versions of joy (and why most of us only count one of them)What the big battleground that feels really present this weekMy score: what it means and what it doesn'tWhy the gap between "laughter and play" joy and "survival" joy mattersSome BIG BIG news I've been dying to share with you: a milestone that feels very connected to everything this season has been about Links: Take the Joy First Audit: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/p/the-joy-first-audit The 'Joy Codes' episode: https://joyfirstworld.com/blogs/joy-first-podcast/finding-your-joy-codes Find us on Substack: joyfirstworld.substack.com https://substack.com/@joyfirstworld Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoyFirstWorld/videos Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know the longest-running happiness study in history (Harvard) found that the number one predictor of a long, healthy, joyful life wasn't money or success, it was the quality of your relationships? So why does connection feel like the first thing we sacrifice when life gets full? In this episode of the Joy First Audit series, I'm sharing my score for Category 3: Connection... and even though I came in at 14/15, there's a lot more going on beneath the surface. We go into: • The difference between not being alone and actually feeling seen • What's happening in marriages and intimate relationships as we enter our forties (and why so many women are quietly renegotiating everything) • Real vs superficial friendships: and how I've been looking locally to find something that feels nourishing • The people-pleasing and guilt thread that runs through almost every connection question in the audit • Why self-connection is the bank account that funds all the rest This one gets honest about perimenopause, neurodivergence, the IDGAF era, and what it actually takes to feel genuinely connected when your nervous system is running on empty. If you want to take the Joy First Audit for yourself, you can find it on our Substack @joyfirstworld. Free members get the analog version. Paid members get access to a custom AI co-pilot that walks you through the audit and helps you take your next steps. Next week: The Joy Audit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.