Joy Ambition with Emma Lavelle

In this episode, I share the identity-based tool I use to never need to rely on motivation alone, when you prioritise BEING, you us far less energy than constantly topping up motivation! 🐆 Grab your notion doc to do the exercises here ✨ Inside this episode: * Why motivation is unreliable — and identity is not * The simple phrase that cuts through overthinking instantly * How “I am someone who…”...

I’ve had ‘learn to surf’ on my list of things I want to do for the last 3 years, first though I had to learn how to swim. Which meant learning how to be in water. And I was scared of water, very scared. But I wanted to be the person who could surf, so I created my sequence and decided that I would just get in water whenever the opportunity arose especially with someone I could learn from. So while...

Day Four: Nourishing 🐆 CLICK HERE TO GRAB YOUR JOY JOURNAL PAGE WITH EXERCISES 🐆 This episode is about the step we love to skip — nourishing. Not as a nice-to-have. Not as self-care theatre. But as the thing that quietly determines whether anything else actually works. Nourishing is how you set yourself up for success — in your body, your nervous system, your goals, your relationships, your crea...

Shed — creating space for creativity and deeper trust In this episode, I’m talking about Shed — the part of Joy Ambition where we create space. Not by forcing change or urgently hurling everything out. But by paying attention to timing, energy, and what you need to nourish in this present moment, to process and to let go of. Creating space, shedding what’s done is a skill. Just like wanting. In th...

I tried to keep this to 10 minutes. Honestly. But it turns out my passion for The Skill of Wanting burns as brightly as my love affair with nut butter 🤷‍♀️ and in France you can spend the equivalent of a posh bottle of red wine on a blend of cashew, pistachio and hazelnut butter so here we are. Unrepentant as ever. La vie Deep Selfish Joy continues. I’ve also made you a Notion Joy Journal Page to...

Today I want to invite you to do something a little scary, a lot vulnerable but so worth it. I want to invite you to see your self. Honestly. Not through the lens of ‘not enough’ or ‘valuable when’ But as I see you. As others see you. Just neutrally. Which statistically is about 80% more amazing than you’re designed to see yourself. On my first date with my partner, who is currently happily sendin...

I’ve taken a pause from my pause to share these reflection questions with you tonight, or today if you’re reading this already in 2026 and over the next few days I’ll share a daily prompt in the Joy Ambition to help you realign or indeed discover your idea of aligning if this is the first time you’ve thought about it! The full explanation of how to use in the prompts is in the podcast episode or y...

Episode Notes: Introduction: A Bigger Thing Than You Think You Can Do (00:00) Welcome to the Joy Ambition podcast, with me, Emma Lavelle. Today we’re going to have a chat about a brilliant question I received on Instagram. I’m also recording this one as a video — partly because I want to show off my creation, honestly — and partly because it really illustrates the point I want to make. If this is...

This week’s Field Notes arrive as a voice note — recorded from the floor, with Rita resting between my legs, a mug of soup nearby, and my carefully laid plans literally pinned under a dog’s chin. In this first Field Notes, I’m sharing what’s been not so quietly unfolding behind the scenes of my life and work: a seismic shift away from efficiency-for-efficiency’s sake, and towards something slower,...

This episode is a reminder that your life expands when you stop optimising every second of it. “I’m listening” becomes a daily practice — a refusal to rush yourself, a decision to prioritise spaciousness, and a quiet rebellion against the pressure to be endlessly efficient. This is where ambition becomes joyful instead of draining. I break down how I create space for defiant inefficiency in my own...

Most of us wait for the perfect plan. I’ve been there—charts, spreadsheets, “Dream Plan Do” notebooks—and still not seeing results. I share my story of moving to France during the pandemic, renovating a cottage with no money, no internet, and a relationship ending. The plan? It almost broke me. The decisions ? They gave me clarity, momentum, and the life I wanted. Decisions create action and data...

Pausing to listen to the part of you that doesn’t feel good enough and prioritise being able to create a pathway back to good enough as I’ll teach you in this lesson from The Joy Studio is probably the most important skill you can learn after creating safety. It will change how you approach everything in life. It will change how you experience and evaluate everything in life. It will unlock joy. E...

I love this tool so much, this is a lesson from the private podcast (The Joy Journey) inside The Joy Studio and it’s just one of the ways to use the concept of your future self so that you can take decisions as them now. You’re already your past selfs dream, you’re doing things right now as standard that felt impossible to your past self, the more we pause to recognise those things, the more we bu...

I wanted to share a written coaching request from The Joy Studio with you today because it’s so relevant for anyone who has tried to set a goal with the feeling of ‘I’ve already failed’ dread. There are three core themes I’ve pulled out here * Past Failure Paralysis * Invisible Rules * External Validation Drive The quiz my client mentions is The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin , we’ll be diving...

Nothing gets my hackles up like the phrase ‘be your best self’ Least of all because, it doesn’t really work, it’s an idea that keeps you constantly stretching because the goal post on your best just keep moving. Instead, I practise the powerfully simple (but not easy) art of being yourself. Think taking off heavy clothes that never fit instead of needing to hand sew a couture garment each time you...

Watch the full conversation above. If “be humble” has been muting your sales (including selling yourself on your skills), this will help. What you’ll learn: • A values-led script for making the ask • Pricing seasonless work without discount-reflex • Moving beyond Law of Jante / Tall Poppy conditioning Links: • Emelie: Instagram @mlibysvensson Website - and lookbook! mlibysvensson.com • Join The Jo...