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Shamelessly Ambitious I Helping Ambitious Women Prevent Burnout + Create Nervous System First Success in Business, Motherhood, & Life
Shamelessly Ambitious is an honest, grounding, and vulnerable podcast for ambitious, emotionally intelligent women who are done proving themselves, tired of living in constant high-functioning burnout, and craving a life and business that actually feel good.
Hosted by Ash McDonald—therapist, nervous-system-first business mentor, and speaker this show blends clinical expertise with lived experience to deliver nervous system tools, embodied strategies, and radical permission so you can expand your capacity, root into emotional steadiness, and build sustainable success that supports your whole life.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stretched too thin, caught in productivity guilt, or stuck running on stress, this podcast meets you where you are—with therapeutic insights, embodied practices, and heartfelt stories that create real shifts. Whether you’re navigating motherhood, entrepreneurship, or the messy middle of redefining success, each episode helps you slow down, regulate, and return to a felt sense of safety in your body.
With over a decade of experience at the intersection of therapy and leadership, Ash pulls back the curtain on what really works—offering grounded guidance you can apply in real life.
What you’ll hear:
- Honest conversations about burnout recovery, nervous system regulation, and redefining success
- Somatic tools, meditations, and practices that build inner safety and capacity
- Stories of motherhood, mom-life, ambition, and the courage to create a life and business that feel rich and real
If you’re asking the following questions, you’re in the right place:
- How do I stop tying my worth to productivity?
- How do I know if I’m experiencing high-functioning burnout and what do I do about it?
- How do I balance motherhood and leadership without losing myself?
- How do I calm my body when I feel overwhelmed or overstimulated?
This is the podcast for when you’re ready to reclaim peace, expand what you can hold, and create success that doesn’t cost you yourself. Tune in and take the next step toward a regulated, rooted, and deeply fulfilling life.
Shamelessly Ambitious I Helping Ambitious Women Prevent Burnout + Create Nervous System First Success in Business, Motherhood, & Life
135. How Falling Victim To Societal Standards Caused My Breaking Point & Selfish Era
Gahh, I am so excited to be back. In this episode, I get real about falling victim to societal standards and letting them dictate my personal and business decisions rather than living above the standard. 2023 was a really beautiful yet hard year in some ways. I found myself on the edge of burnout and having multiple identity crises, but it all led me to now. Last year taught me the importance of prioritizing myself and my wellness in order for business to flow with ease, thus entering my selfish era at the beginning of 2024...
THE JUICY HIGHLIGHTS:
• The beginning of the road of burnout in 2022
• Questioning societal standards & dimmed creativity in 2023
• Turning everything in my business off thanks to sustainable & residual income
• Letting go of my team and becoming a solopreneur overnight 😳
• My glow-up "selfish" era turned "more than enough" era
• Raising the standards for everything in my life
• The epic comeback sale (details below) ⬇️
THE EPISODE BREAKDOWN:
[3:02] Turning it all off...
[5:30] Never being available for discontentment
[7:00] Being grossed out by the online business industry
[8:40] Victim to perfectionism & looking outside of myself
[10:40] Raising the standard for women
[11:55] What exactly I "turned off" in my business
[14:45] Some big stuff came to light that broke my trust with a team member
[18:38] Deciding what kind of expenses I want
[19:33] My creativity is tied to how good I feel
[22:10] Getting extremely lost in the sauce
[23:45] My "more than enough" era
[26:30] What's next for Ash McDonald??? The comeback sale, next mastermind, and my tremendously epic membership 😮💨
COMEBACK SALE OFFERS
The Retired Bundle ⏤ Valued at $688, this bundle is just $87 for the month of May!
Business Breakthroughs ⏤ Use code: BREAKTHROUGH for $50 off
Mentorship Intensives ⏤ Use code: ASH25 for 25% off
MORE ABOUT ASH
I am the definition of duality — I swear like a sailor and break rules like it’s my job, but I also hold incredible space for my clients and work my ass off to help them achieve the success they’re after. But I'm also here for the non-preneur woman, too. My background in counseling gives me a unique perspective on what it means to show up, serve, & create connection for those who feel like they've never belonged before.
LIVE OFFERINGS
• 1:1 Mentorship
FREE & LOW TICKET OFFERS
• The Passive Program Suite
CONNECT FURTHER
• The Instagram community sees all the real time updates
• The website has all the current news