The first joy experiment: why ease is a better engine than discipline, and how to choose it.

I wanted a cut flower garden for three years and did absolutely nothing about it, until I asked myself the question I've been putting to my clients for over a decade: what would be easy? ( £80 and 2 pre-treated wood 'build-your-own' kits later, I had one.)

This is the first of the Season 4 joy experiments, and it's a big one: choosing ease and joy on purpose, and why that's a better engine than discipline.

In this episode:

• The two questions that change the energy you bring to just about everything, and why that energy is so important.

• The dog-training science behind my dislike of the word discipline, drawn from years working with Victoria Stilwell

• The honest caveat about joy vs comfort

• Why frameworks make better scaffolding than gospel, and the human design insight (with Jazze Jervis) that reorganised how I work

• Real "what would be easy" decisions, from the flat-pack flower beds to where values complicate convenience

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/FZgvz4V7Vfs
• How and why I ditched discipline: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZMyoCCsyN-/
• Forbes article | Comfort & Joy: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelldebevoise/2026/06/09/comfort-and-joy-are-not-what-you-think/
• Find your colour personality type (the quiz): https://go.jnicholesmith.com/quiz
• Go deeper with us on Substack @joyfirstworld: https://joyfirstworld.substack.com
• Free Summer Alignment Sessions on alignment: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/summer
• Our Joy First Founders' Circle community: https://go.joyfirstworld.com/jffc
• Jazze's free 'Find your Human Design' tool: https://www.jazzejervis.com.au/generate-your-chart-nic 

If this resonated, subscribe and leave a review. It helps more people find their way to a bit more joy.

With love, xx Nic

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