Joy First®

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 intactThe Joy Codes Episode: https://joyfirstworld.com/blogs/joy-first-podcast/finding-your-joy-codesTake the Joy First Audit: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/t/joy-first-auditDiscover your Colour type: https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quizThe best glitter pens: https://calmoverchaos.co.uk/products/constellation-glitter-pensArm Knitting in Lancashire: https://chunkyarmknit.com/Painting Workshops UK: https://www.brushandtipple.co.uk/

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 otherWhether 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/@joyfirstworldUnlock the full AI-guided version with a paid subscription.Learn more about Whyfinding® sessions: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/brandingAccess the Whyfinding® co-pilot with Citrus: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/citrus

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 spacesTAKE THE AUDITTake the full Joy First Audit on Substack: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/p/the-joy-first-auditEXPLORE MORE:Take the Colour Personality Quiz: https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quizLearn about Colour Joy (free when you become a founding member on Substack): https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/p/getting-started-with-colour-joy-1CTAIf this episode resonated, please share it with someone who you know will love it too 🧡 This is how together, we'll spark the #joyfirstrevolution

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 restThis 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

Did you know that financial scarcity actually causes a measurable drop in IQ? Not just a feeling, actual cognitive impairment that changes how we make decisions, often making a hard situation significantly worse.This week on the Joy First Podcast, I'm sharing my honest score from the money and security section of the Joy First Audit (nine out of twenty, if you want to know), and getting real about what's behind that number.This isn't a tidy little success story, it's a pretty raw look at 20 years of entrepreneurial cycles: the lawsuit that ate my savings, the double-burnout before 30, the year, six and seven figure successes, the year everything seemed to break at once, the ten year cycles, and what I'm doing right now in this next 'rebuild' stage.We explore:How Scarcity makes us dumberThe tunneling effect and why financial stress pushes us toward decisions that feel urgent but make things worse long-termMy full money origin story, the parts I don't usually talk aboutHow the Joy First Audit surfaces the difference between actual financial reality and the fear running the showThe practical choices I'm making right now to reduce costs without abandoning the self-care that's keeping me functionalWhy building recurring, non-time-dependent revenue is the priority I keep coming back toThree brilliant women whose work has genuinely changed my relationship with money, and where to start with each of themResources mentioned:Denise Duffield-Thomas: Get Rich Lucky Bitch + Money Bootcamp — denisedt.comAnn Wilson: The Wealth ChefCatherine Morgan: It's Not About the Money (book + podcast)The Joy First Audit: joyfirstworld.com/substack (free + paid with custom GPT)Find this (and last week's episode on Vitality) on our new YouTube channel @joyfirstworldThe Joy First Podcast is hosted by J.Nichole Smith, colour psychology expert, brand strategist, and working mum of two: finding, choosing and sharing joy while navigating the messy middle. New episodes drop every other week.

This episode kicks off a 6-part series exploring each category of the Joy First Audit. Today (live from sunny Morocco ooh la la) we’re diving into Vitality: energy, hormones, time scarcity, and breaking up with optimization. I share my own (not great) score and what I’m changing right now as a result.YouTube: https://youtu.be/bkehOyf-oxwJoin us on Substack and take the audit: https://substack.com/@joyfirstworld

Some episodes arrive perfectly lit, well-rested, and uninterrupted.This was not one of them.This one arrived after bedtime, dinner, swimming lessons, forgotten groceries, a squeaky dog toy, and that low-level anxiety of juggling what work needs and what everybody else needs.Which, actually is the perfect place to talk about baselines and audits.I just audited my entire life using the same framework my clients and I have used for over a decade (with a few updates and upgrades) and I got my 'joy number' or Joy First Pulse (JFP): 75/100.In this episode, I break down:The 6 categories I measured (and my scores in each)Why I created the Joy First AuditWhat I'm doing about my lowest scores (spoiler: I've already re-started HRT conversations, and am vlogging the process)How you can take the audit yourself (including a custom GPT to help you action it)Why I'm launching on Substack and what that meansThis is the baseline. The messy starting point. The "where I actually am" before the experiments begin.If you're brilliant at your work but struggling with adulting or self-care or 'balance'... this one's for us.

The Joy First Experiment BeginsAfter three years of podcasting about joy, colour, and business, I'm doing something different.Something scarier.I've spent two decades teaching entrepreneurs how to build brands that create desire, joy, and transformation. But as I've sat down to write this Joy First book, it feels like I've really been tested. It's been a really challenging 18 months and I've been asking myself, who the heck am I to share this work? But on reflection I feel like my experience with testing, and imperfectly embodying these joy first principles and practices is the way joy REALLY looks. Joy isn't just aspirational, sometimes it's actual survival. So, in this season, in an aim to continue to define share the real face of what 'joy first' actually means, 'm becoming my own guinea pig. Over the next six months, I'm auditing six key areas of my life, vitality, relationships, work, creativity, all of it, and documenting what happens when a someone who has obsessively built shiny, perfect 'afters' (but who feels perpetually like a 'before') attempts to really explore what the 'joy of the journey' actually looks like.This season isn't about teaching you how to be joyful. It's about what joy really looks like for a 44-year-old woman dealing with perimenopause, anxiety, weight loss, two kids, marriage and a couple businesses. To explore this 'Joy First Experiment' we're going back to our bi-weekly schedule on the public feed, with deeper, more vulnerable conversations happening over on the new Joy Journal Substack (link below). If you've been stuck in the messy middle, that gap between who you are and who you're becoming, pull up a chair.Let's get honest about what the real work of becoming the person you need to be to live the life you actually want actually looks like.Welcome to Season 4.LINKS:Join the Joy Journal on Substack: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com/Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyfirstworldTake the Joy First Pulse audit [coming next episode]In this episode, I share:• The real story behind the Joy First podcast (and the four iterations that came before it)• What I’m intentionally shifting this towards (and why) • What it has felt like to leave a niche where I had authority, ease, and security• Why joy is not shiny, aspirational, or performative (it’s gritty and lived)• What I've watched become the most powerful joy tool, ever• What my emotional intelligence profile revealed that helped fuel this journey• What’s coming next...This season is about pulling back the curtain.Not because I have it figured out.But because joy lives in the trenches, not in the shiny 'after' photo.If you’ve ever felt like you’re great at building a life that looks good from the outside but feels disconnected on the inside…If you’re in a season of change, confusion, or quiet unraveling…If you’re tired of optimizing for other people's opinions and ready to feel like you again (or the first time ever)You’re in the right place.