Making Work-Life Ends Meet With GenAI

Work-life balance—the elusive unicorn we’re all chasing.

Everything I seem to read tells me that as a woman I can have it all. I just have to learn how to strike a work-life balance. I don’t really know what that means and, frankly, I don’t have the time to research it. But if having it all means I can pay the bills, and have a life I’m open to the tech and tools that help me get the job done more efficiently.  As a business owner, wife, and mother, I’ve come to terms with the fact that "balance" is just controlled chaos with a good PR team. Some days, I’m a powerhouse. Other days, I’m a sleep-deprived mom trying to keep up with my two teenagers and their wonderful, crazy lives.. Thankfully, ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI)  tools are here to help me make ends meet (or at least keep me from running solely on caffeine and willpower).

AI My Personal (and Unpaid) Intern

Until I can figure out how to be in more than one place at a time—or recruit top-tier professionals who will take payment in stickers, AI is the next best thing; helping with some of the more repetitive tasks while I focus on strategy. As I’ve looked for ways to incorporate AI tools into my daily ops, I’ve found areas where I can save time and improve focus. . AI expedites cleans up, and refines work by checking grammar, and suggesting taking a break when you’re up against a deadline. Instead of staring at a blank screen, I can refine and personalize AI-generated content, turning it into something valuable for my audience while saving time. I’ve seen the biggest lift in the early stages of content creation projects, where generative AI is useful for refining content ideas. When I’m staring down the gorge of writer's block AI can be a rope ladder to get you to the other side.

Because Moms Are People Too

AI isn’t just for work; it’s also my partner in crime when it comes to family management. Smart home devices adjust the thermostat, remind me of appointments, and even suggest dinner ideas when I’m two seconds away from serving cereal for the third night in a row. (No judgment—cereal is a perfectly acceptable meal.) Voice assistants help me juggle everything from grocery lists to bedtime stories. "Siri, remind me to pick up my kid from school."  And when the kids start bombarding me with “why” questions, AI is right there with answers, so I don’t have to remember the quadratic formula and when to use it. Hint: ChatGpt is a queen when you need to give yourself a crash course on 8th grade math at 10:30pm because homework has taken a backseat to boys.

A Game-Changer for Sanity

Between work deadlines, school drop-offs, remembering to be a functioning human, and wife self-care often gets tossed aside like a mismatched sock. But AI helps here, too. Meditation apps powered by AI help me be Zen amidst daily chaos. AI-generated playlists curate the perfect background music for focus, relaxation or jamming out with my girls. And AI workout apps mean I can sneak in exercise between meetings without having to leave the house.

AI Isn’t Magic, But It’s Pretty Close

At the end of the day, AI isn’t going to fold the laundry (yet). But what it does offer are powerful tools to simplify life and reclaim time. It gives me space to work smarter and harder, allowing me to focus on big-picture strategy instead of drowning in repetitive tasks. If you’re a business owner trying to juggle marketing, operations, and, you know, actual life, incorporating AI can be a game-changer. It takes some of the guesswork out of marketing, making everything from content creation to customer engagement more efficient. And who knows? Maybe one day AI will really solve the work-life balance by doing the dishes– complete with loading the dishwasher the way I train it to. Until then, I’ll keep leveraging AI to streamline my workflow, boost engagement, and (hopefully) suck the marrow out of life where I find it.

At Smart Start, we know AI isn't just a trend

Take your day to day operations to the next level by leveraging a tool your competitors are already using. We can help. Wondering how to fit Generative AI into your workflow without breaking a sweat? That's where we come in. Whether it's brainstorming killer marketing strategies, automating repetitive tasks, or training it to know your brand voice, we’ll help you unlock AI's potential in ways that are tailored to your business (and sanity!).