32 - Using AI & Social Media Consciously as You Grow Your Business

Have you ever caught yourself scrolling without really meaning to and then coming out the other side feeling smaller instead of inspired? Have you been feeling pressure lately to use AI for more and more and more. You're not alone!

In this episode we're getting real about two of the most talked-about tools in our lives right now: social media and AI.

This isn't about villainizing either one. It's about learning to use both consciously — in a way that actually serves you, your business, and your goals. Because here's the truth: staying on top of trends and looking for inspiration seems harmless, but if you're not careful, it can quietly derail your growth and your joy.

In this episode we cover:

• The scrolling spiral and why it happens even to the most intentional of us
• Why the answers for what to do next in your business are already inside you
• The environmental and ethical realities of AI 
• The "you'll be playing catchup" story and why it's just that, a story
• The soul and human evolution piece: what it means to be a conscious creator in a world that just wants you to consume and outsource
• How I personally use AI in my business and what I don't use it for
• A game plan for using both social media and AI more mindfully going forward

Whether you're feeling overwhelmed by the pace of it all or just looking for permission to slow down and do things your own way, this episode is for you. 

After you listen to this episode, leave me a comment with your thoughts! 

Closing reflection tasks for conscious AI & social media usage: 

1. Do your research: Think of the AI tools and social media platforms you use — do some digging to learn about the founders, who's creating them, who's funding them, and reflect on whether those are organizations you want to support
2. Before you use social media or AI: Ask yourself — does this align with my values? Write down your intention — what are you using it for and for how long? Set a timer. Think of it as your flotation device.
3. After you use social media or AI: Check in with yourself — did that make you feel empowered? Did it energize you? Save you time? Allow you to make progress with your business goals in a helpful way? Did it make you feel disconnected from yourself?
4. Make a working boundaries list: What will you use each tool for? What won't you use it for? Let that list be a living document that reflects your values, not anyone else's. 
5. When you feel the urge to doom scroll or consult AI for everything under the sun: Come back to this reminder — you are the only one that can do what you do the way that you do it. The answers are already inside you. For as much time as you turn your attention and answer searching outward, spend double the amount of time looking inward.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey mama, welcome to the Mom Boss Freedom Podcast, where ambitious moms come to build and grow businesses that give them the freedom and flexibility that they deserve as both a mom and an incredibly talented human. Whether you're brand new to entrepreneurship or scaling a business you already started, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Paige Figaroa, mom of two and former English teacher turned online business owner. Around here, we talk about making space for both your big dreams and those little moments you don't want to miss as a mom. So reheat your coffee one more time and let's dive into today's episode. Welcome back to another episode of the Mom Boss Freedom Podcast. Today I bring you a solo episode with some thoughts and rumination and just opportunities for you to reflect on how you use social media and AI in your business. And I feel like these are two of the most talked-about tools in our lives right now. And they both come with lots of benefits, but also some real-world risks. I'm sure that you've seen that in your life at this point, especially with all the recent things going on with AI. And today I don't really bring this conversation to you to kind of villainize either AI or social media, but really just to kind of pause and reflect and to figure out how you want to use AI and social media in a way that actually serves you as a human being, serves what you are trying to do in your business and just the world at large and what's important to you. And so the goal of this episode is not to overwhelm you, but to really invite you to pause and reflect and decide how these tools fit into your values and your vision of freedom with what you are building in your business. And so let's dive in. So I actually originally was going to do this episode just on AI, and I knew there was just like something missing. And like I do what I have done this in past episodes, I'm like, I have this idea, but it's just like not quite there. I kind of just like give myself a couple days and I I asked my higher self, like, please give me some guidance, like a download on what's missing here. And I did that, and just like it did the in past times, it came to me a couple days later when I had this instance of scrolling on social media. And so the other day I caught myself doom, I wouldn't say doom scrolling, but I caught myself kind of like absent-mindedly scrolling when I wasn't intending to, and it derailed me a little bit for about 20 minutes. So what happened was I one of my freelance copywriting clients is this twin parent company, and I do some things on their social media accounts sometimes. And while I was scrolling, I came across this twin mom who runs a business, and there are really some parts of her business that I find genuinely inspiring. And I kind of like got sucked into this rabbit hole, just kind of looking more into her business and looking at her content and seeing what she's doing. And as we do sometimes when we, you know, absent-mindedly scroll on social media, especially I was on Instagram, I began to have these like thoughts come up for me, like, oh dang, what she's doing is really cool. And I wish what I was doing was as cool and as authentic as her. And then there was this like slow spiral that started from there. And then it came this sort of like rushed feeling of, oh my gosh, like I need to get back to working on this offer that I'm planning on putting out over the summer, and I don't even know what I'm doing. It's not as good as what this this gal is doing. And, you know, you I'm sure you've had one of those spirals before, right? And I could feel, you know, my body getting a little tighter. And it was definitely not an instance of using social media that energized me in my business. It made me feel smaller. And what I realized in that moment, and what I wanted to kind of bring to the conversation here for you to think about is it wasn't the act of scrolling alone that was the problem for me, right? And it's like it's not social media or IAI that are ever necessarily the problem on their own. It's the way that we are using them and the way that they are impacting the larger world. And also in this moment of this social media scrolling instance, it was that I went into scrolling without being super mindful or conscious or like intentional about why I was using it in that moment, right? And so without a very clear goal or exit strategy, it can quickly kind of take you off track of what you're trying to accomplish. And you need some sort of game plan for getting out, right? So the algorithm in that moment did what it does. It sucked me in and I didn't have my my floaties on, if you will. Sorry, I have summer on my mind here uh because we had the pool set out with the four-year-olds in the background yesterday. But so my mindset while I was looking through this girl's social media account was really just like floundering about and it made my nervous system almost feel like I was sinking. And so I'm curious and have yourself reflect on this. Like, has this happened to you recently? And was there a moment before you started scrolling or using social media or AI in that moment where you were like, okay, this is why I'm using it in this particular moment, and that's the only reason. And you kind of like have that very clear intention set before going in. So that's just a kind of preview, some of the things we're gonna talk about inside of this episode, but uh, we're gonna really hit on a lot of angles here as it relates to AI and social media, our mindset, our values, our vision, how what we're doing is connected to the larger world, and just really always coming back to our higher self and what it is that we are trying to do and what our purpose is in our business and how we want to serve others. So, the first thing I want to talk about here with social media and AI is this idea of like, I feel like there's this collective sense of we have to stay on top of trends, and it's this like trap that a lot of us fall into. And it seems like a harmless thing at first, sometimes, right? To like want to keep up with what's going on in the world and like knowing what other people are doing and how other businesses are building their brand and like achieving the growth that they're achieving. And so sometimes when we use social media in particular to kind of just like get inspiration for what other people are doing, it feels like we're doing something productive. It feels like we're almost doing like market research, right? But what happens is if we're not careful, it can really derail our growth and our joy because we have those like doom scrolling moments, right? And this is this is really what happens, right? Like you are the only one that can do what you do the way that you do it. And what that means is you already have the answers for what to do next. And so if you're like, okay, well, why do I still get stuck then? I don't know what to do next. That's why I need to consult these tools, right? Like social media or like asking AI what to do. The answer is because you're not spending enough time with yourself and going inward, right? Connecting to you, connecting to your body's wisdom, to your intuition, to your higher spirit, your higher self, your spirit, your soul, whatever you call that, like, you know, higher power within you. And the thing is, you want to grow your business in a way that feels good for your season of motherhood and that makes you feel like you're actually using your most unique gifts and serving the people that you are meant to serve. What happens is if you kind of um put that out on that responsibility onto all these tools externally, and you don't remember the own power that you have within, that is what kind of pulls you out of your power and just makes you feel like you're doing something that everybody else is doing, and it takes you out of what your unique gifts are. Okay. And so that is such an important thing to keep in mind here. The other thing I want to talk about is putting social media into perspective really from a technological like advancement standpoint, right? So while social media feels still feels in some ways like it's second nature to us and it's been around for, you know, like 20 years now. I mean, is that actually right? Is this make maybe like 15 years? I remember I started using Facebook back in like ninth grade, but I know we had like MySpace and stuff before that. So we'll say like 15, 20 years that social media has really been around. And I think we just need to remind ourselves sometimes that we have been through technological advancements like this before. Um, you know, like when everybody started having cell phones and all like every family didn't just have uh like one black and white TV in their home anymore, and like every room in the house had a TV, right? So if we can apply our hindsight perspective on those other advancements to broaden our wisdom and perspective, you know, in this context, in this new arena of social media and AOI, I think that can be really helpful for us, right? Because in so many ways, social media has been super beneficial, right? It's allowed us to connect with people globally, it's allowed folks to grow successful businesses with free marketing, right? Like so many of the cool humans who you see have these amazing businesses and brands that are really making a difference in people's lives. They were able to build that initially through the free marketing that is allowed for us through social media, right? Um, it's also allowed us to bring more awareness and attention to social justice movements. So, like lots of good things have come from social media. At the same time, it's also caused so many of us tremendous anxiety, right? From like the constantly comparing our realities to the filtered realities that we see being shared, you know, post after post, real after real in front of us. It's taken us out of the present moment with the distractions of all the notifications and like almost this sense of like, I, oh, I have to be like on this app at all times. And it's also caused us to, because of that like sense of being pulled out of the present, it causes us to miss out on the connections that are right in front of us. And that really does take a toll on our nervous systems, right? I feel like as human beings, at the point that we have evolved to now, our bodies weren't necessarily like designed to have attention to our physical presence diverted away to all of these like mental things that are distracting our minds throughout the day. And so I say all this to say that as with any technology that feels new and shiny and like it's in the beginning, I think we really just need to remember that as humans, we are always going to be evolving and creating new inventions. And those inventions are always going to come with benefits and disadvantages. And it it will take us time, kind of as a human species, to basically figure out how to use the technology in a way that serves us in our best interests collectively. And of course, you know, as with all things that are out there as far as inventions go, like there are the people who, you know, quickly take advantage of it and you know abuse their power with it. Um, but at the end of the day, I think that we just need to remember that it does take some time to kind of recalibrate how we are using those tools. And like over time, I feel like more often than not, like the pendulum does swing in us using it in, you know, a helpful way. The other thing I want to talk about with social media and AI that's been on my mind a lot is I feel like the one thing I don't love about AI, and honestly, social media too, is this sense that we always need to be optimizing everything. I feel like we have this existential crisis as a species of how can we produce and create more and more and more. But I worry like, when does the optimizing actually become counterproductive, right? Like, when does it actually cause more harm than good? When does it make us forget more and more of what makes us human beings and not like robots or machines? So the reason I thought of this is the other day my husband brought up to me this episode from Hacks. So I don't know if you watched this show Hacks. It's amazing, by the way. I'm only on season two right now, so I'm a couple seasons behind. So I I'm gonna need to like jump ahead to watch this episode that he was talking about. But if you're not familiar with it, just for context here, real quick, uh, it's basically about a comedian who's getting up there in age and she's reinventing her comic act with the support of a younger writer who she doesn't really get along with at first. And in the episode that my husband was telling me about, she meets with this tech bro who's telling her that she should be using her voice to create an AI comedy program. And the conundrum she faces is at what point does the use of AI fail to allow the human creative process and to create something that actually connects with humans? Like how human can we actually train AI to be? And it's giving me flashbacks now to watching The Terminator in the early 2000s, but anyway, definitely go watch Hacks. That's an amazing show with a lot of really cool female leads. Um, but I also think it's cool that they're bringing in this, you know, timely consideration of like, okay, like how is AI actually pulling us away from what makes us human? Because it's something that I feel like I think about a lot. Um, and I'll talk a little bit about this at the end of the episode with what I use AI for and how that um piece of it factors into my decision. The other thing I think that we need to consider here, and I talked about this a little bit about at the beginning, is our own personal power and our own knowledge and our own, you know, trust in what we know intuitively is good for for us and for the other people in, you know, in our orbit. And I want to I want to bring up an analogy here that I think is helpful. So it's almost like we each have our own Wi-Fi connection to ourselves, right? And the more we find ourselves using external tools, whether it be social media or AI, when we find ourselves using those tools in an unintentional way, our Wi-Fi signal becomes weaker and weaker. And then we end up feeling stuck in what we're doing, right? Like our own internal operating system is doing that thing our computers do when we need to figure out if we need to hit control alt-delete to wake it up and like restart it, right? Because it's getting like it's just getting like jammed up and it's it's running slowly and not doing what it's supposed to be doing. And I feel like when we unintentionally scroll or we over-rely on AI, we are weakening our own internal Wi-Fi signal and our own inner operating system that is connecting us essentially to all of our own internal intuition and knowledge and power. And so I hope that that analogy helps you just kind of think about how you as you as a tool, essentially, in your own mind as a tool and your own soul as a tool fit into this picture of these other tools that are in the external world. The other thing I want to think about here is this kind of like collective story that I've been seeing on social media and like and also in email promo promotional emails that I've been getting in my inbox of this. Like, if you're not using AI right now for all of these things, like you're already behind. I've seen so many reels and like ads and things saying things like that. Even a business coach that I know wrote this recently in her marketing, and I highly respect this business coach. She said something like the businesses that move on AI right now are the ones that will look like geniuses by 2028. And then the businesses that wait will spend years catching up. So I have a couple of thoughts on this. First, there is definitely some validity to the advantage of getting in on something at the right time, right? I mean, that applies to so many areas like the stock market, thinking back to social media accounts that blew up during the pandemic when all the algorithms worked differently and there was like not as many people using it for business purposes. Um, and there's also some validity to the idea that AI can help people, you know, help the smaller businesses even out the playing field a little bit, because those of us who are solopreneurs who have really small teams are wearing a lot of hats and we can't really afford to hire all these team members to do all these specialized areas of work in our business. So, from that standpoint, there is a lot of validity to the fact that AI can actually help balance out the playing field, right? Because it's allowing us to get more tasks done for our business and still be able to spend time with our family. But where I don't align with this sentiment that keeps being played over and over again in the collective is this idea that you're gonna be playing catch up or that you are somehow behind, right? So I want to kind of like pull this story apart a little bit because there's a couple layers to it. The first is that this, there's this underlying expectation or assumption that if you don't do X, Y, or Z in your business, then you won't be able to be successful or that you are not going to be as successful as so and so is going to be, right? And all of that is a story, right? That is a belief. If you believe that to be true, then it will most likely turn out to appear true in your reality for you as a business owner. But again, we have to remind ourselves that that is just a story or a belief that is being put out there into the collective. And so you can also decide that that is not true for you, right? The second layer to this is it also has this sense of time pressure attached to it, with this idea that you are going to be playing catch up if you don't know how to do all of these things with AI right now, right? And you don't know all of the AI features and intricacies that these billion-dollar tech companies know how to use it for. And we've talked a lot about the concept of time on this podcast. And I feel like this is a perfect example of why we have to be discerning of the advice that we take in from other experts, no matter how reputable they may be, they may be, right? Because what they teach is a reflection of their values. It's not everyone's dream or main priority, or should I say, only priority, to have a seven-figure or eight-figure business. And if that is your dream, that's amazing. But perhaps what matters to you more right now is that you are super present with your children and your family while you are growing your business, especially in your kids' younger years. So when we look at that story of you're going to be playing catch up if you're not using AI for all of these reasons, well, playing catch up to what exactly, right? Like, who are we trying to keep up with? Which priority is being spotlighted here when we talk about playing catch up with AI and with social media and all these tools in this way. So just another mindset piece for you to be cognizant about when you are, you know, taking in all these stories that are being thrown at us about like how we are using AI and other technological advancements in our business. I think we also definitely need to, you know, have at least a decent awareness of the environmental and ethical reality of AI as well, right? Because when we use something consciously and we we are set healthy boundaries with how we are using them in an ethical way, we have to, we have to have these pieces in in mind, right? And so let's just like really quickly talk about some of the pieces here, specifically with AI, right? So there's the environmental standpoint. According to MIT News, collectively, data center power demands in North America nearly doubled just between 2022 and 2023. And that was largely driven by generative AI. This was from a couple of years ago now, right? So I'm sure it has been vastly increased since then. And experts have warned that this growth simply cannot be sustained on renewable energy alone, right? So definitely have to consider the implications that all of this AI usage is having on our planet. Another data source, this was from the Harvard Gazette. There's this massive Stargate project data center that is being, you know, put into the works, and its projected projected energy use is equivalent to the energy of a million households. And estimates suggest that within just a couple of years, data centers could account for 10 to 15% of total nationwide electricity demand. That's insane. That is so much electricity being used, and we're already like struggling to be more sustainable in the way that we are using like energy sources, right? And then there's also the ethical piece here, too. So this assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and Public Policy, he talks a little bit in this article from the Harvard Gazette about the false promises that developers of AI data centers make to the local communities where they plan to erect data centers. And basically, what a lot of them do is they talk about the infrastructure it's going to bring to the community because of the jobs it's going to create in the developmental phase when workers are needed to help with construction and things like that. And then after a year or two, once the construction phase is done, the data center pretty much runs itself with a very small staff of like maybe 20 to 50 people. So there's really not any true economic growth happening as far as creation of jobs for that local community that is being impacted by this huge data center that is then also taking up, you know, like water usage and electricity usage. And of course, there's also the issue of certain AI companies. And the you know the projects that they are funding. So, for example, just one that comes top of mind is OpenAI and how much it has contributed to MAGA Incorporated and also its involvement in military applications recently. And then meanwhile, there are other companies like Google and Microsoft who are pledging to run on carbon-free energy by 2030. So, just as with being a conscious consumer and being mindful about where you buy everyday items from, I think as a business owner, even a solopreneur who is like in the early stages of growing, it just really helps to consider which AI tools you are actually using, who's funding them, and how those specific companies are impacting the world and the planet on a larger scale. All right, getting to my last final thoughts here. And I'm sorry if this is jumbled. Uh, my brain works in like weird little snippets sometimes when these ideas come to me. But I think it's important that we talk about using social media and AI from a soul and human evolution standpoint. I really feel like we are in a very weird time to be alive because there's so much evolution, and in a lot of ways, I feel like it's pulling us in two polar, polarizing directions, right? On one hand, we have these rapid-fire technological advancements that are speeding up the way we do business in life. And on the other hand, I feel like there are a lot of us who are realizing that this new fast pace we are living in is putting so much strain on our mental health and on our nervous systems. And many of us are turning back to earlier times in our human evolution when we were like more connected to nature. And, you know, we're all like, we we need to be like do our grounding exercises and we need to like go for a walk and like go outside and like connect to our heart center and you know, do breath work. And I feel like there's this like constant like back and forth between these two worlds. As humans, we are here to create, right? Not just to consume or to outsource. We are ourselves powerful sources of creation. And I was actually reminded this of I think this was a week, two weekends ago now, when my husband and I took our kiddos to this local museum that had a Lego exhibit, and there was a table where other museum patrons put their like little Lego creations, and it was so, so nice just to see what like people had designed and created with their little Lego towers. There were some that looked like cats and dogs. I myself got lost in creating something for at least 30 minutes that was kind of like a rainbow tower, and it felt so good to just sit there and spend time creating just for the purpose of creation and enjoyment and seeing what would come together from my own two hands. And I feel like, especially as women and moms who are by design more in tune with creation and nurturing human life, I feel like we are more sensitive to the heaviness of these two worlds colliding, right? I feel like the way that we can reframe this for ourselves in a helpful way is one, to just really educate ourselves about how AI is actually impacting our world. Two, deciding whether or not using AI or the company whose AI products we use are in harmony with our values. And then three, learning how we can use AI in a way that supports our nervous system and our mental health. So, with all of that said, I want to just kind of like share a little bit about like what my game plan is and maybe you can adopt some of this, you know, this approach for yourself if you find that to be helpful. Again, the purpose of this episode is like not to tell you how to use social media or how to use AI or like which specific tools to you, it's really just to kind of have a conversation with you and open up your mind to just different angles of thinking about this big picture and like bringing it back to you and what you are trying to do in your business and what your values are. And so for social media, when you're getting going to use social media for something, and this is something that I started doing recently. I actually had to do it this morning. Write down on a piece of paper or state clearly out loud what you are using it for and how long. I did this this morning. I set a timer for seven minutes, and I said, I am using this to post stories for this client for this purpose. And think of setting a timer almost as like your fail-safe flotation device so that you don't get sucked into like the algorithm and the doom scrolling. Then once you set that intention or that like purpose of like, okay, this is why I'm using social media right now, do what you need to on there and do it mindfully. And then if your time isn't up yet, but you feel like you're not feeling good about what you're doing on social media or something that you saw on there triggered you in some way, take a minute to pause and like reset yourself. Come back to it later if you need to. And then after you finish what you need to do on there, look back at your intention and self-assess. Like, did I stick to this plan? How did I feel? And like, let's not judge ourselves here. We're we're only human. There are going to be times when we get deeply sucked in and find ourselves comparing and spiraling. But if we can cut down how many times that happens to a like a puny amount, we'll say, what a win would that be for our energy and our own life force and our own knowledge and our own intuition, right? Um, so just a helpful consideration for social media usage and using it more mindfully and more consciously in a way that is empowering for you. Um, for AI, there's definitely a lot of considerations here from what we've talked about. So, of course, there's no clear-cut answers with any of these questions. And I really just want to make these abstract concepts come to life for you by sharing some of my own personal examples. But here are some of the things that I recently have been using AI for. I am no AI expert and I am well aware that there are many more things that I could be using AI for that I have like not delved into yet. Um, so love to have you message me, tell me what you're using it for lately and how it's been helping you. But uh for the one client that I talked about, the parenting company, I recently used it for something that I was like so proud of myself for. So I had like we do these crowdsourced articles sometimes where we like put like a poll up and have um twin parents kind of like share their perspectives so that we can kind of aggregate them together in an article so that twin parents can kind of just like see like what other twin parents are doing and kind of make um a choice and just be more informed about like what their options are. And so we had put up this wall post on Facebook, and there were all these responses, and it for long story short, I'm not gonna go into it, but like we were basically having them rate which stages of twin parenting were the hardest, and like the each stage had like a number attached to it, and it made sense to do it on social media because having put it in a Google form, like nobody's gonna fill it out then, and so basically I used AI in that moment to kind of like put all of this data together for me. Like, this is I like copied from Facebook and from Instagram what all of the responses were, put it in Claude, and then it like spit back out for me, okay. Like, this is the average number, like the twin parenting stage. I think it was like six months to one year or zero to six months was like the hardest. It was rated at like 9.1 or something like that, right? It would have literally, I was prepared to spend hours trying to like compute all of this data, but I was like, well, let me just put this into AI and see if it can do what I need it to do. And it did it in literally like one minute, right? So that's just one example. Another one is word vomiting into the notes app on my phone and then have having Claude re-spit it back out into a more organized outline just to kind of help me see how the ideas are piecing together, and then from there kind of like reworking podcast outlines and tweaking how I want things to come come together. And then the other one is to look further into my own natal chart and astrology to see how that aligns with my business goals. So just are some examples of what I've been using for, occasionally use it for social media content creation ideas, but lately haven't been using it so much for that as well. But again, these usages are in line with my values, right? I am using AI sparingly right now to help me with tasks that I would otherwise not have the means to complete or the time to complete, like that data compilation example. And it's serving a valuable purpose for me in that way, um, right, because it's allowing me to put all this data together to share with other twin parents out there. It's also helping me save my time so I can have more time later in the day to hang out with my children, not be wasting three hours trying to do this gigantic, ridiculous math problem that AI could do for me in one minute. Um, and also just helping me organize my thoughts better. Now, there's some things that I will not use AI for that just don't align with my values. So I will not use it to create all of the content that I use in my business, right? I am a writer and a poet at heart, and I truly believe in the authenticity of our words and our human experience. And for me personally, I want that to come through in my marketing and the way that I connect with other humans. And it doesn't mean I don't use AI at all, right? But in the instances where I do consult AI, I always edit it and I realize that it's a work in product, oh sorry, a work in progress and not a final human output. I also don't really take anything AI tells me for 100% fact, and I'm sure that goes without saying, right? But I feel like it's really easy to think that like whatever it's telling you is like, oh, that like that sounds right. So I told you the example of how I use AI to an extent for like astrolog understanding my own astrology or sorry, my own natal chart and also how it aligns with different astrological events that are happening. But I also have invested money in astrology education from an actual astrologer and from like a woman who educates people on astrology. And from that program that I took earlier this year, I was actually able to pinpoint where AI was giving me incorrect information about my natal chart. And so, like, we really do have to be careful with AI because if we're using it in an area where we don't already have a strong baseline knowledge of something, we are putting way too much trust in it, and you know, we are just kind of like perpetuating misinformation. Um, so definitely something to be mindful for, but just two examples of what I do and do not use AI for. So I think a final point that I want to touch on here is just again, this sense of how we are viewing our own knowledge gifts and intuitive nature in the world of social media and AI and all this other technology that is floating around us. And so I think a major drawback really of both social media and AI for us as entrepreneurs, as mom business owners, that needs to be addressed is that they are really just making us over-reliant on external sources and entities and under-reliant on our own abilities, right? Like, I think there are many instances where we turn to like way too quickly to these tools for things that we could look inward for first and figure out for ourselves. I actually did a c uh podcast episode on this concept earlier in the year about the importance of going inward. I think it was episode 14. But I feel like more than ever, if we want to truly set out to achieve our purpose here in this lifetime and in the business that we are creating to serve others, we have to be more in tune with our authentic gifts and our authentic experience. And that does require us to go inward. So I feel like if we are using AI or social media to support some of our business tasks, then we really need to work to balance that out with going inward more and creating more from within as well. All right, so that was a lot of ruminating. And again, my intention is not to confuse you or to make you feel overwhelmed, as you probably already are with AI and social media and technology, but rather to have you just pause and reflect and question how you want social media and AI to be part of your creation process and how your individual values align with the ways that you are using both of those tools. So, as some final like wrap-up here, I just want to like give like five quick little ways that I am, you know, integrating these into my own business as a monpreneur. So, one, I am doing my research. So I think it's important that we think of the AI tools and social media platforms that we use and do some digging to learn about the founders, who is creating them, who's funding them, and reflect on whether those organizations are actually people and you know, things that you want to support. Number two, before you use social media or AI, ask yourself does this intention or purpose of what I'm using it for align with my values? Write down your intention for using it in that moment so that you are like doing it from a conscious state. What are you using it for and how long? Set a timer, right? So you have that flotation device and you don't get sucked into the algorithm or of AI or of doom scrolling. Number three, after you use social media or AI, do a quick check-in with yourself again. You know, reflect did that make you feel empowered? Did it energize you? Did it save you time? Did it allow you to make progress with your business goals in a helpful way, or did it make you feel more confused? Did it make you feel disconnected from yourself? Like, and again, there's no right or wrong answer here, but just do a quick, like, five, 10-second check-in and like tune into your body wisdom and be like, okay, did that feel good after I used it for that purpose? Number four is make your own working boundary lists. So, again, I told you some examples of what I do and do not use AI and social media for, but really just write down like what am I gonna use each of these tools for? What am I not gonna use them for? And that that list be like a living document that reflects your your values, right? And not any other business owners' values, right? Because again, this comes back down to your purpose and your reason for why you are building this business and why you are helping the people that you are helping. And then the last thing is number five, when you feel the urge to doom scroll or to consult AI for everything under the sun, which I feel like I I've seen so many people doing lately, just come back to this reminder. You are the only one that can do what you do the way that you do it. And the answers often that you are looking for are already inside of you. So for as much time as you turn your attention and your answer searching outward to external tools, spend double the amount of time looking inward, you know, sitting with yourself, journaling, asking your higher self for guidance, meditating, um, you know, just sitting silently, going for a quiet raw dog walk with no headphones, or, you know, just letting your mind wander, or sit down and create something and like see what inspiration comes to you, right? So you have to balance these external tools with those practices of coming back to yourself and going inward and grounding yourself and really just calming your nervous system. All right. I really hope that this wasn't overwhelming for you, and I hope that something that we chatted about here as far as social media and AI goes just helps you have like a little bit of a broader perspective on on it and like how you are using it, and you know, maybe hope it makes you feel good and knowing that like you shouldn't be like you know, forcing yourself to go out there and just like learn everything you could possibly know about it, unless that is related to your business in some in some regard. Like I'm sure what you are using for it right now is enough. Like, you don't have to be like pushing yourself to like work harder to learn all these new new tools, like just trust that what you are doing is enough and that like you will learn more as you go. And so don't, you know, feed into that collective story that's been going around that like if you're not using it for all of these things right now, you are behind. You are right on schedule, you are not behind, you are exactly where you need to be, and you know, you can continue to move forward with some of these practices and mindsets to help make sure that you are continuing to use social media and AI consciously in your business in a way that feels good for you, right? Because that's what all of this is about. If you're not growing your business and doing the things in your business in a way that feels good, like what's even the point, right? Um, okay, so I think I'm gonna end this conversation here. I would love to know from you. Send me a DM on Instagram. I'm at mombossfreedom. Like, what are your thoughts on using social media and particularly like what are your thoughts right now on AI? Like, how are you using it in a way that you feel is really helpful? Or, you know, how have you been seeing these stories go around with like, you know, if you're not using it for this reason and that reason, like somehow you're doomed. I'd love to just really hear your thoughts um because I want this to be a conversation. Um, and I don't always get the other side of the conversation when I'm throwing these episodes out there. Um, so I'd love to hear from you. You're also welcome to leave a comment on Spotify or on Apple for specific episodes. I always go back and read those and I love seeing what those of you who have commented put in there. It's always helpful for me to just like see how certain episodes are landing. So I would love for you to communicate with me in either of those two avenues. And if you are an ambitious mom who is starting or growing her business, as I am sure you fit into one of those categories, if you're listening to this episode, um, definitely check the show notes. I have some helpful freebies in there. And I also always love connecting with folks through one-to-one clarity and connection calls. So in the show notes, you can see how to do that, and then we can kind of just chat through informally kind of where you're at in your business and what your next right step is to kind of move forward in a way that feels good for you. Um, or to just have a space to, you know, share what you're doing and have someone be excited about it for you. Um, because I am definitely here to be your cheerleader and also to, you know, be your mentor and guide and helping you see what's what's coming next for you and what you are growing. So thank you for listening to another episode of the Momboss Freedom Podcast and definitely come back next week. I have an incredible guest episode to share with you, and I am so excited for you to hear it. And I hope you have an amazing day and amazing rest of your week.