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
138. The Balancing Act: Work, Kids, & The 'More Than Enough' Mindset
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Whew, I'm gonna have to get used to this. In today's episode we're walking together on Mission Beach in San Diego, California. 🌴 I'm sort of obsessed with this casual vibe. It feels like we're on a hot girl walk together.
Today we get personal about how I'm embodying my "more than enough" era. Tune in to find out how my kids are actually helping me get really anchored into this mentality & how their perspective is beginning to shift, too. Realizing that we have a choice every single day on how we spend our time, where we spend our money, what we're available for, && the things we allow ourselves to hear, to see, to witness, and to experience...
THE JUICY HIGHLIGHTS:
• Being content in our very small yet adorable San Diego beach house
• How I'm mbodying "more than enough" by appreciating the present & not constantly seeking more
• Teaching my children about the value of time & experiences over material possessions
• Associating work with joy & fulfillment rather than hardship & struggle
• Having autonomy over spending money while sticking to a strict budget
THE EPISODE BREAKDOWN:
[0:42] The dream of recording a podcast during a walk on Mission Beach 🥹
[1:35] Spending a certain amount of time in my business & why
[3:40] Involving my kids in my "more than enough" era & curating more quality
[5:08] Buuut that doesn't stop the continuous "wanting" from my kids everywhere we go
[7:58] Supporting my children with my new phrase while actually deeply supporting myself
[10:06] Changing the language that work is related to hardship & struggle
[11:42] How you choose to spend your money matters
[12:13] Having autonomy over spending while sticking to our strict nomad budget
[13:03] We all have choices every single day & we ought to show up for ourselves
[14:08] How sticking to our budget is going 🥴
[14:40] Leaning into your "more than enough" era
[15:25] The energy of those Cali folks is just different & I can't wait to come back
Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!
MORE ABOUT ASH
I'm Ash McDonald — the Entrepreneur's Therapist. Trained therapist, seasoned entrepreneur, mom of 3, && the person you call when your business coach doesn't get your brain && your therapist doesn't get your business.
I built the thing I couldn't find anywhere else: whole-picture support that holds your strategy && your humanity in the same conversation at the same time.
LINKS:
- Work with me 1:1 → Deep Cuts
- Fast-track your results → The Green Room
- Solve one thing right now → Studio Sessions
- Burnout-proof your life && business → Mixtape
- Get your free podcast playlists → The Soundcheck
- Weekly emails that tell you what your business coach won't && your therapist can't → Subscribe to The Beat
- Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com