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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
155. Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should: The Hidden Cost of Being Capable
What if your superpower of “I’ve got it” is the very thing keeping you exhausted? In this episode, I unpack the quiet trap high-achieving women fall into: mistaking capacity for compulsion. We talk about why saying yes feels safer than slowing down, how your body always pays the bill, and the simple filter I use to ensure I don’t lose sight of my defined version of success.
TOPICS & TANGENTS:
• Capacity vs. compulsion: why “I can” isn’t the same as “I should”
• The hidden cost of being capable: energetic and emotional price tags
• “Your body pays the bills”: what over-functioning does to your nervous system
• Discernment as a regulation skill: pause, ask, and act with intention
• My success filter: will this bring me closer to or further from peace
• Breaking the “helpful one” identity without burning everything down
• Micro-habits that create exhale moments instead of more adrenaline
• Real-talk examples from retreats, pods, and everyday life
POINT OF THE STORY:
Strength is not carrying it all. Strength is knowing when to set it down. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and trust me… and your nervous system knows the difference.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
• Mixermind (the curated, connection-first visibility community I’m part of)
• Bonus for my community: join via my link and you’ll get a 1:1 visibility strategy session with me on how to use Mixer Mind intentionally and map your 2026 visibility plan
• My chat with Katie Grimes on her podcast Anything for Love — we dove into cycle syncing, rest, and turning your hormones into your biggest business advantage. It’s such a good one to queue up after this episode.
Are you loving it? Send Ash a text!
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.
LINKS:
- Become the Regulated Woman
- Get emails that feel like your best friend (if your best friend was a therapist and actually told you the truth).
- Use code BB20 to get The Burnout Breakthrough for only $7
- Follow me on IG (dropping in once a quarter for updates & gossip)
- Website: ashmcdonaldmentoring.com
Work with me 1:1
- Therapeutic Mentorship
- Business Therapy (therapy + strategic mentorship) ...