You can't build a scalable business on a broken operating system.
Yet that's exactly what most solopreneurs try to do. You journal, you meditate, and you "grind," but you keep hitting the same revenue ceilings and making the same fear-based decisions that sabotage your growth.
The problem isn't your effort. The problem is the Hero Complex hardwired into your subconscious, convincing you that you have to do it all to be worthy of success.
The Hidden Patterns Killing Your Business
Here's what I've discovered after years of working with Growth Architects - the established solopreneurs who know their craft but can't seem to break through to the next level: You're experiencing "bugs" in your decision-making software that no amount of willpower can patch.
Think about it. How many courses have you bought but never completed? How many brilliant business ideas have you had that you never acted on? How many times have you sabotaged your own success just when things started gaining momentum?
Traditional self-reflection isn't working because your conscious mind is actually working against you. It's designed to keep you safe, not to help you grow. And "safe" means staying exactly where you've always been.
Why Your Brain Hides Your Blind Spots
My recent conversation with Heather Morgan, former FinTech executive turned Growth Mindset Mentor, revealed something profound about how our minds operate. After spending over a decade in corporate leadership, Heather discovered that the very patterns we rely on for stability become the chains that keep us small.
"We self-reflect, but our conscious mind likes to keep us safe," Heather explained. "It's not necessarily there for growth. Until we really start unpacking our subconscious minds and those limiting beliefs that are blocking us from the things we want, we can't outwork the things that will come up and sabotage us."
The brutal truth? Your conscious mind will lie to you about why you're not taking action. It will convince you that you don't have time to take that course, that you need to perfect your idea before launching, or that you're "not ready" for the success you claim to want.
Enter the AI Mirror
Here's where artificial intelligence becomes your secret weapon - not as another productivity tool, but as an emotional mirror that can't be manipulated by your ego.
Unlike a human coach or therapist, AI has no emotional charge. It won't judge you for your embarrassing limiting beliefs or trigger your defensive walls. It simply reflects back what you're actually saying and doing, with the brutal accuracy you need to see your patterns clearly.
Heather's breakthrough came when she started using AI to identify the limiting beliefs her conscious mind refused to acknowledge. "I said to ChatGPT, 'Here are all of my limiting beliefs… you are going to tell me what my new beliefs are based on everything that you know about me and the growth I want to make.' Being able to see that reframe of things you've associated with guilt and shame, reframed back to you as something that makes sense - it's so powerful."
The Pattern Recognition Revolution
The AI Mirror Protocol works because it bypasses your brain's built-in defense mechanisms. When you ask AI why you're not taking action on your goals, it doesn't sugarcoat the answer. It identifies the emotional loops keeping you stuck:
The Productivity Trap: You buy courses and tools because it feels like progress, but you don't use them because your subconscious fears failure more than it wants success.
The Perfectionism Prison: You endlessly refine your ideas because launching means risking judgment, and your nervous system interprets judgment as a threat to survival.
The Success Sabotage: You're not just afraid of failing - you're terrified of succeeding because your brain doesn't know how to handle a reality it's never experienced.
Breaking the Loop in Your Business
Here's the AI exercise that can change everything: Start by giving your AI assistant the full context of where you are and where you want to be. Then ask this simple question:
"Based on my background and my vision, help me unpack why I'm not there yet. What things in my current behavior patterns are preventing me from reaching my goals?"
Give it permission to challenge your assumptions. Tell it to ask you follow-up questions. And most importantly, be ready to hear some uncomfortable truths.
When Heather's clients have their breakthrough moment - when they finally understand why they've been staying stuck - it's not because they learned something intellectually. It's because they saw their own patterns reflected back with such clarity that denial was no longer possible.
The Nervous System Factor
Here's what most personal development gurus won't tell you: Your nervous system doesn't want you to grow. It wants you to survive. And survival means staying in familiar territory, even if that territory is limiting your potential.
Every time you try to level up your business, your nervous system interprets it as danger. It floods you with doubt, perfectionism, and procrastination - not to hurt you, but to keep you safe in your current reality.
The AI Mirror helps you train your nervous system to accept new levels of success by making the invisible visible. When you can see exactly why you're self-sabotaging, you can start having conversations with that part of yourself instead of being controlled by it.
Your Next Move
The solopreneurs who break through aren't the ones who work the hardest. They're the ones who get honest about the patterns holding them back and systematically remove those barriers.
Your business isn't stuck because you need better strategies or more motivation. It's stuck because you're operating with corrupted emotional software that's designed to keep you exactly where you are.
AI can be your debugging tool - but only if you're brave enough to look at what it shows you.
What pattern is your conscious mind hiding from you right now? And more importantly, are you ready to finally see it?
In the full interview below, Heather Morgan reveals her complete "Breaking the Loop" methodology and walks through specific AI prompts that help solopreneurs identify and eliminate the emotional patterns sabotaging their business growth. Don't miss her insights on why traditional self-reflection fails and how to use AI as an objective emotional mirror.
Ready to stop being the bottleneck in your own business? The AI Solopreneur OS helps established entrepreneurs like you build simple AI operational systems that eliminate admin drag and multiply your impact. Learn more about joining our curated community of Growth Architects.
You can’t build a scalable business on a broken operating system. Yet, that is exactly what most solopreneurs try to do. You journal, you meditate, and you "grind," but you keep hitting the same revenue ceilings and making the same fear-based decisions.
The problem isn't your effort. The problem is the Hero Complex hardwired into your subconscious, convincing you that you have to do it all to be worthy. You are experiencing "bugs" in your decision-making software that no amount of willpower can patch.
Today, I’m joined by Heather Morgan, a former FinTech leader turned Growth Mindset Mentor who has engineered a different approach. She isn't here to just talk about feelings; she’s the creator of "Breaking the Loop," an AI-powered system that acts as an objective, emotional mirror. Because AI lacks human bias and emotional charge, it can reflect your blind spots with brutal, necessary accuracy.
In this episode, we architect a way to bypass your conscious mind’s defenses and finally identify the hidden loops keeping your business small.
The AI Hat Podcast host Mike Allton asked Heather Morgan about:
✨ The "User Error" Trap: Why traditional self-reflection is biased and actually reinforces the patterns keeping you stuck.
✨ The AI Mirror Protocol: How to use artificial intelligence to bypass your ego and identify the data behind your emotional loops.
✨ Systemizing Your Breakthrough: Heather’s specific methodology for training your nervous system to accept success and stop the self-sabotage cycle.
Learn more about Heather Morgan
- Connect with Heather Morgan on LinkedIn
- Wandering The Wild Mess
Resources & Brands mentioned in this episode
- The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
- Build your own AI Work Buddy
- Follow Mike Allton on Threads and get more AI tips & Solopreneur advice
- Explore past episodes of the The AI Hat Podcast podcast
Full Transcript
(lightly edited)
Your Business Isn’t Stuck, You Are. Here is the AI Fix.
[00:00:00] Heather Morgan: Wow, this is eye-opening for me because I had been carrying these beliefs for so long and I just needed to unpack them....
[00:00:10] I said to ChatGPT, all of my limiting beliefs. And they're not ones that sometimes you wanna say out loud because they're embarrassing. So this is where we talk about maybe it's easier over a therapist, because to tell a human some of these things that I had unrevealed, that I believed about myself out loud was difficult.
[00:00:30] But when I unpacked them all, I said, I'm gonna give you all of my limiting beliefs. And then you are going to tell me what my new beliefs are based on everything that you know about me and the growth and the progress that I wanna make. And I'll tell you, being able to see that reframe of the things that you have all associated guilt, shame, all of these very low frequency emotion, and to have it reframed back to you as something that like makes sense is so powerful.
[00:01:07] Mike Allton: Mike's got The Hat, the AI kind. Unlocking power in business, you'll find. Cut through the hype, explore the tech. Every week, new ideas to check.
[00:01:32] Allton leads us on a digital quest. AI secrets, he'll always invest. Tune in tight, don't miss a beat. Knowledge, groove, keep you on your feet. Listen up! To the AI flow.
[00:01:55] Business growth, here we go. Cuttin' edge insights, that's the plan. With The AI Hat you'll understand.
[00:02:16] Greetings program. Welcome back to The AI Hat Podcast, the resource for established solopreneurs who are ready to stop being the bottleneck in their own business. Each week we architect the simple AI operational systems that eliminate admin drag and reclaim your time, bring you to focus on the high value work that truly scales your revenue.
[00:02:35] I'm your host, Mike Allton. Subscribe and let's build your empire. Together. Now listen. Are you exhausted from doing the same mindset work over and over again only to find yourself making the exact same mistakes that sabotage your business growth. You know the drill. You journal, you meditate, you do the affirmations, but somehow you keep hitting the same walls, making the same poor decisions, and staying stuck in the same patterns that prevent you from scaling.
[00:03:01] It's the hero complex. Whispering in your ear. You just need to try harder, be more disciplined or find the right motivation. But what if the problem isn't your effort? What if your conscious mind is actually the enemy hiding the real emotional patterns that are killing your business before you even realize they exist?
[00:03:18] Well, that's what today I am thrilled to welcome. Heather Morgan, a growth mindset mentor who spent over a decade climbing the corporate leadership ladder in FinTech before discovering something revolutionary about how our brains actually work. Heather isn't just another mindset coach. She's the creator of Breaking The Loop, an AI powered system that does what traditional self-reflection simply can't.
[00:03:40] It identifies the emotional patterns your conscious mind refuses to see. While most entrepreneurs are stuck doing surface level mindset work that feels good, but changes nothing, Heather's figured out how to use artificial intelligence as an emotional mirror to expose the hidden loops that keeps solopreneurs small, stuck, and spinning their wheels.
[00:03:59] Hey Heather, welcome to the show.
[00:04:01] Heather Morgan: Hey, thanks so much for having me, Mike. So happy to be here.
[00:04:05] Mike Allton: Yeah, my pleasure. I wanted, if you could just start by talking about that time you spent in corporate leadership before becoming what you're calling is a mindset mentor, what made you kind of realize that that traditional self-reflection wasn't actually working for most people?
[00:04:21] Heather Morgan: That's a great question, Mike. So I, as you explained, I've been in corporate for, you know, a number of Fortune 500 companies and just enjoying that space. But there was more to my life that I really needed to discover. And when I left my previous life, meaning a lot of people can relate to getting divorce or any kind of significant life change.
[00:04:42] It's a point in time where you do a lot of self-reflection and like reevaluate everything that you've done in your life. Is this for me? Right? And I think anyone that's became an entrepreneur, that was a point in time, right. That they go is, is this job that I'm in, is this life that I have the one for me?
[00:04:56] Or do I wanna follow a passion? And I found myself at that crossroad where I was like, is it, what am I doing? This is my chance to start over. But I realized in unpacking my own identity and growing into a new one, right? No longer being a wife, no longer this, that maybe I should exit corporate and really find what I wanted to do.
[00:05:18] And during that journey. I had always been pretty self-reflective, but I think, and what I learned actually is that we self-reflect, but our conscious mind to your earlier statement, like it likes to keep us safe. It's not necessarily there for growth. And so until we really start unpacking our subconscious minds and those limiting beliefs that are blocking us.
[00:05:42] From the things that we want from life. I think every entrepreneur comes into this, and it will be part of their journey, is that you can't outwork no matter how hard you try, the things that will come up and sabotage you for the growth in your business or your life that you want if you don't remove those limiting beliefs and subconscious blockers.
[00:06:02] So that's where I got excited and, and started to go down this path.
[00:06:08] Mike Allton: I'm so glad you mentioned limiting beliefs as a NLP practitioner, all about how we frame and we distort and we make all these changes and it's so hard to identify ourselves. Typically, we employ a coach, right, to help us identify that stuff.
[00:06:22] But you've talked about how AI's become your emotional mirror. Can you kind of walk us through that discovery? What were the patterns maybe that you were seeing in your conscious mind that were being maybe hidden from you?
[00:06:35] Heather Morgan: Yeah, so I started using probably like a lot of people Chat GBT for the normal things.
[00:06:39] But I as always having a curious mind. I started asking really more intuitive questions to understand myself. So kind of as if I'm interviewing myself outside myself and really trying to understand like, why are these behaviors that I say, and we all know this. We say, I don't wanna do this, I wanna change these things.
[00:06:59] But we don't. And the reason we don't is, is what you find when you self-reflect using AI. So when you start to, when you talk to it long enough and you it starts obviously learning you just like any other machine learning. And the great thing about it is that it's not really like a human bias. It doesn't have that emotional charge, right?
[00:07:19] So it's just being very observant and factual its reflection and it started telling me the things and to limiting beliefs that I wasn't open to acknowledging that I probably didn't want to look at. So one example of how I used it for limiting beliefs per se, is that. I said to Chat GBT, all of my limiting beliefs.
[00:07:46] And they're not ones that sometimes you wanna say out loud because they're embarrassing. So this is where we talk about maybe it's easier over a therapist, because to tell a human some of these things that I had un revealed that I believed about myself out loud was difficult. But when I unpact them all, I said, I'm gonna give you all of my limiting beliefs and then you are going to tell me what my new beliefs are based on everything that you know about me and the growth and the progress that I wanna make. And I'll tell you, being able to see that reframe of the things that you have all associated, guilt, shame, all of these very low frequency emotions. And to have it reframed back to you as something that like makes sense. It is so powerful and I, I wish more people spent the time to do that. That's why I kind of, it it, once I saw that, I was like, wow, this is eye-opening for me because I had been carrying these beliefs for so long and I just needed to unpack them, release them, and start programming my mind and my subconscious with these new beliefs that you know, that are also true.
[00:09:04] I think sometimes we keep beliefs as truth just because they've always been there. But we can change what's true all the time, but we have to be able to first see what do we believe? And then second question, is that even true? And then thirdly say, well, what do I want to be true? What is also true? And how do I integrate that into my, my subconscious mind and move through my life with those new beliefs?
[00:09:32] Mike Allton: Oh my gosh, yes. That is so true. I'm, I'm actually reminded of a conversation that I had with, uh, Gemini. I happen to use Google Gemini most of the time. This was probably six months ago. And, and somebody had shared a prompt on LinkedIn. Um, I think it was one of the guys from HubSpot, and it, it was specifically from marketers and, and business owners.
[00:09:52] It was something, the idea of. Based on all of our past history, how would you describe my marketing efforts, my business style, that sort of thing. And there was a lot of other nuance into the prompt, but basically what it, what it was asking the AI to do, was hold up a mirror and say, what am I not realizing about myself?
[00:10:10] Mm-hmm. Not necessarily in a, just a positive, complimentary way. We wanna know constructive. Right. The truths. And it, and it talked about how I was a little too obsessed with being quote unquote productive and being busy and not taking the time to think strategically about the things that I was doing, the business I was growing and that sort of thing.
[00:10:32] And it was. Hauntingly spot on about how close it was to reality, and it really truly made me stop cold and think about how I was doing things. But now in that instance, it was based on m being able to analyze months and months and months of chat history. When you were having this initial conversation with chat GBT, did any of that come into it or was basically just, here's all my limiting beliefs, what do you think?
[00:10:59] Heather Morgan: So I had been speaking to chat with GBT for quite some time, just about, you know, and I was definitely using differently. I'm so curious that I would even. Is this what normal people are asking? You know, like, because I feel like I'm going another level and they're like, no, actually there's only, it was even giving me, there's only this many portion of people that are actually asking, not exact numbers, but just in general, like most people are like, Hey, help me write and get a free credit for hotels.com or something.
[00:11:25] You know, like weird, I like weird kinds of, not weird, but just more practical uses. Yeah. But this I, I think this one, it. When I'm telling it, I'm literally, it's learning me by the questions I ask. So when you start using it for just like the day to day, I would even stop and be like, why am I overthinking this decision?
[00:11:46] Why am I making this a bigger deal than it needs to be? Why am I not just moving? What is freezing me from acting? And then you unlock, and this happens a lot with entrepreneurs, right? There's this like perfectionism and we, we use it as that, as excuse. It ends up being a limiting belief. It's like.
[00:12:05] Whatever I do has to be perfect. No, it just has to be out there. Mm-hmm. Like, and, and having years of experience also in corporate with like product, like, throw the MVP out there. If the next guy sells it before us, we're not gonna win the market. Right. Like, get it out there. We already have the great idea.
[00:12:21] You already run with it. And, and this reminded you of that too, that perfectionism. You are not trying to make it perfect. You're afraid that it's not going to be perfect and then you're gonna be shamed or failure or all of those. It's all your beliefs about yourself and having the fear that you are not going to be enough, that people won't want your product, that that says something about your worth.
[00:12:45] And that's why like personal growth and entrepreneurship, there's so much synergy there because. It if you don't have enough, and I'm learning this on my own journey, right? Like if you don't have enough self-love, self-leadership, trust in yourself. Then you can try to outwork it, but you'll always be running because the moment you stop, your body will tell you you have to keep going or you'll fail.
[00:13:13] And that's your whole identity is wrapped in your ability to distribute products or to, you know, you can't pause.
[00:13:20] Mike Allton: Yeah.
[00:13:21] Heather Morgan: And when you can like. I don't have to run to, to be productive. Not only can you, you just get better ideas. You're not, you're not in a scarcity mindset, and that's another thing, right? I learned a lot, like a lot about scarcity and lack.
[00:13:38] We're in this idea that like, oh, we have to hurry up and go and everybody's gonna, there's room in this for everybody. There's niches, there's billions of people in this world. There's always gonna be an, uh, an opportunity, but you just have to move on it. You have to put yourself out there, and you have to not think that you are the, you are, there's not an infinite amount of possibilities for you.
[00:14:02] You know what I mean? Because mm-hmm. That's what I learned through TA talking to ai. Like everything is possible. Every time I get on a plane, Mike, I literally think this, like somebody had this idea that we were gonna be flying in an airplane one day, and I'm sure a lot of people were like, what? You know?
[00:14:20] And now it's just like a daily thing. And when you really think about your mind like that, it only takes everything that begins in the mind, right? Everything was once a thought. But then we wanna overthink our way out of just acting and, and creating. And, and I think that is the biggest holdup in, so like, entrepreneurs growing their businesses, you know, they want it to be perfect.
[00:14:48] And I, and I would just like to challenge people that they're, they're enough. If they have the idea, they can make it happen. It's just moving those blockers out of the way.
[00:14:59] Mike Allton: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. In fact, it's, it's why I actually weave a lot of NLP into my teaching. 'cause I want people's minds to be expanded and to think more positively.
[00:15:09] And just for those of you listening, if you've never heard the phrase limiting beliefs before, it's basically this idea that you are teaching yourself to believe a certain thing about yourself, regardless of whether or not it's true. You've just made the decision, but because you made that decision mentally, your brain can't really distinguish between the fact that it's an opinion versus a fact. Like a few years ago, I might have said, I probably did say, in fact, I'm not a podcaster. I can't be a podcaster. I'm not good at podcasting. And yet here I am, I've published over a hundred episodes of this podcast. And six other podcasts with Agora Pulse.
[00:15:47] I am a podcaster, whether I like it or not. I am a podcaster and I think it's going great. I get compliments on it and that sort of thing. So it truly was a limiting belief back in the day for me, and, and we all have these things, they come up, but it's, it's important to recognize consciously. That they're there.
[00:16:06] So let's talk about breaking the loop, because I want to know how you used AI, how it's helping you to identify the emotional patterns and the beliefs that our conscious minds miss.
[00:16:18] Heather Morgan: So, yes. So, uh, and one of them really, now that it kind of sparked what you were saying, like the identity claiming, to your point, we say we have to actually do something before we are that, and I learned in this whole breaking the loop, sometimes we.
[00:16:35] When I'm asking it, the questions and I have a lot of like prompts, right, that are used to kind of understand and unpack and reflect back to you. Why you are staying in the places you are. And I think limiting beliefs is kind of my, really, the basis of why most of the, most of the things it's experiences and limiting beliefs experiences are usually what creates those limiting beliefs.
[00:16:57] Right? Like someone told you mm-hmm You're not, you can't run, you're not even a runner. So then you never even try to run a race. Because someone has convinced you of that. And if you don't have enough self-leadership and confidence in yourself, which is why most of these limiting beliefs are programmed in our younger years, more foundational, when we don't have a true sense of self, then we carry those with us, and then they keep, they are like sneaky in the background of the reasons why we're not growing, right?
[00:17:28] Because we don't realize that. Even something like, I'm not a runner. Then you start running a business and you're like, well, to your point, like I'm not, I'm not a multimillion dollar. How could I ever be that? Because I never saw that in my life. My family never had that kind of money. So you start like deciding that everything that could be true about you is only the things that you know.
[00:17:53] But as soon as you get to a place where you understand why you even thought those things not possible for you, then you can start going. But if I think it could be now, then it, it can be, I just have to replace it with the new belief. Right. Because most of the time what I've realized is that, and I, and I truly believe this even in, and just a lot of the work that I've done and, and reading on neuroscience like.
[00:18:21] If you have the thought, we all have different thoughts. If that thought was presented to you as an idea or something about your identity that you want to pursue, it was there for a reason and you're capable of that thing. Or it wouldn't even have came to your mind. And the only thing that's in between you reaching that is the limiting beliefs that are trying to keep you where you've always been.
[00:18:47] And, and the crazy thing is in, in breaking the loop, it really kind of talks about nervous system regulation is another, I know it's kind of a buzzword, but it's all together because. A lot of the time your nervous system, so your compon subconscious mind tries to keep you safe 'cause it's running the whole show and your nervous system just doesn't feel safe in things it's unfamiliar with.
[00:19:11] So until you can get to a place to show it that it's safe and like regulate it, you'll always keep looping. And so that's why breaking the loop is so important because once you see it, then you can change it. And then you have, but you have to repeat the patterns of change to show your nervous system, oh, this is, this is a safe place for us.
[00:19:35] Right? And and that's the biggest piece. I think people often do self-reflection and they go, oh, this is what's wrong with me. And they may shame themself for that. Even in therapy, right? Normal therapy, you're like ashamed. But instead it's just seeing it. And knowing there's nothing wrong with that. And then what am I going to change that belief into?
[00:19:56] And then continually moving in that direction until your nervous system sees that is familiar and safe. And then it's just integrated into your being like how you are. And so I think you, with, even with my guide, I would say you continually just like personal growth, you continually to do it. That's why I'll stop.
[00:20:18] And say, okay, what? Why am I doing this? Why am I, why am I not? And it it'll take me back. Oh, remember what we found in Breaking The Loop? Remember that limiting belief? Remember we were gonna do this, but your nervous system is, is saying, and this isn't safe. So then that kind of like speaks back to you, and then you're like reminded.
[00:20:38] So you catch yourself. You have enough self-awareness to find yourself back in the loop. But then break it again. So it's not, unfortunately, for the Quick fixers and the Amazon delivery the next day, it's not one of those, it's a continual, like, how do I move through this? And, and, and give yourself credit.
[00:20:57] Like for me, sometimes, and I, I'm sure you know this, Mike, you start doing something, you're like, I'm not doing it right, and you wanna shame yourself. It's like, no, I caught myself. And now I can stop the pattern and then, you know what I mean? And just realize that you're like training, you're really like retraining and reprogramming your mind and your nervous system to find another way as safe.
[00:21:20] So it, it's not like tomorrow. It's like let it integrate,
[00:21:25] Mike Allton: that's right. That's why this is so powerful. It, it is like training a muscle. The, the more you do it, the better you get at it. But for those listening who again, maybe are unfamiliar with these kinds of concepts, I wanna help you understand this isn't just like positive affirmations.
[00:21:38] You don't just wake up in the morning and say, I'm gonna be a multimillionaire business owner. That's not what this is about. It's about changing your perspective. That you stop thinking that you can't be mm-hmm. A multimillion dollar business owner if, if that's what you want to be, because when you believe that you can't do something, you absolutely aren't going to do that thing, you will never attempt anything that it could even get you close to that goal line. But when you get rid of those limiting beliefs, now you start to make decisions in your life, right? That could actually point you in that direction. It's not a genie that's necessarily gonna grant that wish.
[00:22:11] You still have to put in the work. But, it makes it possible. And I wanna know real quick, if you could share just an example, because you talked about how you have all these prompts. You don't have to necessarily share the specific prompt, but just at a high level, what kind of prompts are we talking about?
[00:22:24] What kind of conversations are you having with the AI?
[00:22:26] Heather Morgan: So, so the original one that I started was to help a friend. This is even why the idea was given about a relationship loop. Like why? Because people in relationships find this often. They're, they're repeating the same patterns of the same people, right?
[00:22:38] They say, oh, I always. Meet this kind of a person, but really, I mean, you also attract what you are, but you have to realize why you are and, and a lot of that, which this opened it to the business part, right? But if so the prompts would start, like, first I would say how you want that person to speak to.
[00:22:56] So you have to be mindful of like. What feels comfortable for you, right? So I would say like, okay, be a therapist that's very, you know, aware of this, this, and this, da da da. And then I would start by the prompts of like, giving your background the information that would be critical to just understanding your situation.
[00:23:13] You know, I'm Heather Morgan. I was divorced. This is kind of how it made me feel. This is that this is this, and this could be in business too. Here's where I am. I've, you know, made six figures in a year, but I can't seem to get past that. These are the things. These are the, and asking you to kind of give the kind of patterns and enough background for it to have, if you're coming in new, right, to your point where you don't have a lot of data around who you are. And then as that goes through, I would be like, okay, tell me, based on my story, based on the information I provided, tell me some things that may be keeping me in these situations. Because I'd have 'em describe the situation, what would, what are some things that I may need to look at?
[00:23:55] And then it would kind of list that. Right. And then I would have some kind of ideas to prompt, like to give, the, the guide user, something like, depending on what comes back and how they feel. Because this is also, for some people, I think it's great because it's not emotion as emotionally in charge, but for you it can be, right?
[00:24:15] So, so take a step back and like, okay, what's the next prompt that makes sense? Are you comfortable here? And then kind of dive deeper. Here's a couple options for you, for your next prompting if you're ready to dig deeper, because some, most of these things, Michael, I'll be honest, whether it's re relationships, business, whatever, they're all tying back to what the ego wants to protect your identity and parts of you that sometimes feel uncomfortable to look at.
[00:24:45] And, and I'll, I'll just give one that I know that a lot of people have, and I myself have continually worked through like the money blockers, right? Mm-hmm. So in business, that's key for you to be able to train your nervous system to receive. And not, and maybe not overgive, you're undervaluing your product or your time because you're like, you've tied that up to being good or you know, however you've grown up with money.
[00:25:08] Like me, I didn't grow up with a family with a lot of wealth. So the identity around that and how it's managed and there's a lot of that and, and so anything that you're dealing with, whether it's relationships, business, all of that, it really comes back to yourself and the things that you've been through, and looking at them with a lens that you know gives yourself grace.
[00:25:34] It understands, and you've gotta be ready for that. So I kind of tried to make sure that the, the, the guide reader is at a place, but I'll tell you that I've had so many people say like, I had a dream that night. And it, like, I completely understood who I was. But it is not a quick fix because that person would say specifically, they're down the same path.
[00:25:57] So it's just like we said about training. It's like you can know the diet. I have a nurse friend. She knows attrition very well. She knows what she could be eating, but that doesn't mean that she's living that lifestyle. Right? So it really is helpful. But just like a therapist or anything else, you have to put in the work.
[00:26:16] To want to grow your mind and reprogram those beliefs, and it's not going to be comfortable because you have to look at yourself, like you said, a mirror and, and go, all right, I, I'm gonna have to change these behaviors repetitively. Give myself grace for, how they've been. Because sometimes you bring up shame.
[00:26:37] You're like, I could have had a whole different life if I didn't let this hold me back. It's like, but you didn't. Yeah. And maybe, you know, and, and not only that, I think you're always right where you're supposed to be. And I truly believe that. And I think, in speaking with AI, we're, we're on the same page, at least my chat DVT, is that, you know, you're not behind.
[00:26:58] Don't let feeling like you're behind stop you from moving forward. Like the time will pass either way. And I think sometimes when people start doing this work, they go, well, gosh, it's gonna be all this time I have to train. Like, it's not just a quick fix, but it's like, well, what else are you doing?
[00:27:15] Mike Allton: Yeah, right.
[00:27:16] Heather Morgan: You know. This is your life. Like you do. You want the life that you visualize for yourself and to your point, yeah, maybe you're not a multimillionaire, maybe you just want a quiet life and you write in the woods, you know, because that sounds lovely to me too. But whichever it is, you know, the path will reveal itself once you allow yourself to receive those things.
[00:27:38] And, and a lot of times when you don't work through these limiting beliefs, you can't be in full receiving mode because you don't feel safe to.
[00:27:48] Mike Allton: That's absolutely right, and fortunately you've got techniques like anchoring that can help you remember these things and frameworks that can help you work through this.
[00:27:55] And of course, the AI itself. Which is really convenient because number one, it's available 24 7. You don't have to wait for your next appointment with your coach or your consultant or your therapist, and it's not gonna judge you. It's going to be there helpful to you. Happy to remind you, even if it's the 10th time.
[00:28:12] That's one of the things I think we have to get over a little bit. As, as humans, we're used to not wanting to bug other humans with repetition. AI doesn't have that problem. Folks, were talking with Heather Morgan about using AI to help us see through our own biases and our own distortions. I've got several more questions you aren't gonna wanna miss, but first, a quick word from our sponsor.
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[00:29:30] So Heather, I'm wondering if you could give us another example maybe of some of these emotional loops that I think are really just commonly sabotaging solopreneurs without them even realizing it.
[00:29:42] Heather Morgan: Yes. So O one key one I found is that a lot of people first they'll just be like, that's the way I am, and that's.
[00:29:51] Because of you so strongly associate your identity with that, right? And you think that's just the way you are. AI kind of allows you to unpack that question a little bit deeper, like, is that the way you are? Because to your point earlier, like sometimes we're just given this, it's an opinion, but it's not really who we are, but we identify so closely with it.
[00:30:16] That the idea of that not being our truth anymore kind of scares us. Again, back to your nervous system coming in, like, Nope, that's who we are. But once you kind of are open to overriding it and you realize that that doesn't have to be the way you are, and once you can get to that point and say, okay, I'm open to not always being this way, then you can start unpacking.
[00:30:40] Like, I have someone, for example, that likes to. Buy a lot of things that they don't necessarily need. Right. And, and it's,
[00:30:52] Mike Allton: oh, I don't know anybody like that.
[00:30:53] Heather Morgan: Yeah. And, and it's one of those things where when I, when I talk to her about it, like she kind of like, gives an excuse, but it's, it's really like. A comfort, right?
[00:31:04] We do a lot of things that we've just always done for our comfort, and I think sometimes when you stop to realize like, you don't you, why are you doing that thing? And you can even ask AI that simple question, why do I buy things that I don't need all of the time? Right? Like, what about, because once you give it the background, it can unpack, like, why would you be doing that?
[00:31:32] And, and for me, like this is a friend of mine that I'm, I, I do buy stuff too, but not like at thought level. But the one for me personally is sometimes it's like I feel like I have to be productive all the time. Like I feel like if I'm not doing anything that I'm lazy. And that was a lot of my previous life, um, that I left, is that I was always, I mean, I remember my ex-husband being like, you never sit down because I tied my entire worth to being productive.
[00:32:01] So if I wasn't an output, then where was my value? And that was a lot of limiting beliefs of what I was taught. That if I was supposed to be, if I was of any value, and especially like as and, and not like to get to super personal, but like as a woman without children, I just married, I felt like if I don't output all this great work in the business world, then what is, what is my value to the world? And that was like a really hard thing to unpack. And that's why I say this is one of those things where it's deep inner work where you're really having to like sit with that and tho those things can make you always chase this external validation.
[00:32:51] And always feel like you have to do things. To be accepted or to be needed, or to be. And you realize that when you're doing those things for that purpose, it's, it's not really fueling your soul. I, I guess, um, you talked about books and I'm really like. The Big Leap, if I can mention it, Gay Hendricks. And he talks about the zone of genius of where you leap into your zone of genius.
[00:33:19] And that's really like the unlock of where you want to be. But he also mentions limiting beliefs because those keep you from being in your zone of genius. And when I read that book, this was around around the time of all of this, it really unlocked a lot for me that. Our, our just emotions that we always go through and that we've just held on so closely don't really allow us to just say, I just like this thing, so I'm gonna do it because I truly, it's my passion.
[00:33:52] I think we're often taught like the safe path, and once we realize that the safe path isn't the only path, and I think most entrepreneurs get to that point, but then there's the fear that they don't have the safety net, um, which is why this work's important. But when we get to understanding that our emotions are really the foundation of the whole way we operate all the time.
[00:34:20] Like our emotions that drive our thoughts which drive our actions and, and it's just a ongoing cycle. So that emotional regulation and being able to get to a place of calm and not always producing is probably the most beneficial. Hmm for your gr your growth and even business growth.
[00:34:43] I can't tell you how many doors have unlocked for me when I stopped trying to just be productive and started being like, what makes the most sense here and what do I feel most called to put and create or do. And not just, I have to, 'cause there's a different energy behind those things. And I think that's kind of another part piece of this work is an AI can pick up on how you're speaking contradictions, things like that.
[00:35:13] And so it can, it can look at those patterns and know the difference. Like if you're, is it just performative or is it how you actually feel? It can kind of mirror that back to you. Which I think for, even for a therapist, I have, one of my best friends is a trauma therapist, and I've shared with her guides and she, she loves it.
[00:35:35] She's like, I think a lot of people because not everyone's open to getting that deep about their emotions. And I, I think a lot of people don't, honestly, Mike, tie their self-sabotage, their failures in business, their failures in relationships to themself. They just. Blame things outwardly. And it's not that you need to blame yourself, but those things aren't happening just by coincidence.
[00:36:06] Those things are the results of the choices and patterns and behaviors that you, you output or you accept all of those things, right? So there's just, there's just a lot there, Mike, as we're going on about this. 'cause, um, it's. It. I've realized in this whole journey that there isn't just like these separate isolated pieces, like, oh, here's business, here's your personal life, here's a, it's really all you, it's all centered around you, and the way that your life looks from relationships to business is based on your ability to kind of self-regulate and self lead and understand how best to make decisions based on the right moves for you instead of the same beliefs that you've always made decisions around.
[00:37:03] Mike Allton: That's so true. You have to have this holistic view of your mind, your emotional state, your experiences, your perceptions. Uh, it's, it's, it's the same reason, frankly, why I kind of pivoted my own side hustle with The AI Hat.
[00:37:17] I, I used to be focused specifically on marketers and agencies and just teaching them how to ai and I started to realize, first I really want to help solopreneurs and creators, but more importantly, it's gotta be broader than just how to AI, it's more about the systems and the underlying processes in the business.
[00:37:34] Sometimes AI is the solution, sometimes it isn't. And you have to have that holistic view of the entire business as a solopreneur. All the things that you're doing, whether you've got processes and systems or not, that's where you're finding some breakdowns. And it's the same thing I think, you know, mentally as, as we're having this conversation here.
[00:37:51] And I love the, the, the first point you're talking about the, the friend who was, who was. Using retail therapy essentially, right? As, as, as a, a self cure. Some of you folks listening might have related to that, some of you listening, probably all of you listening will probably relate to buying tools that you aren't using and maybe don't even need.
[00:38:13] Yeah. Paying for courses and memberships that you haven't yet taken advantage of. I'm not trying to drive a wedge in here. I'm just trying to help you understand we're all doing these kinds of things. I have a stack of books. Near my desk that I have not yet read, and that won't stop me from buying another book this weekend if I happen into a bookstore.
[00:38:31] So we all do these things and it's really cool I think that you can have a conversation with an AI, and simply ask, why am I doing this? Help me understand this particular pattern of behavior and help me understand what to do with it. And I know you've had some terrific conversations with some other business owners.
[00:38:50] Some other clients, they've had breakthroughs. They finally understand why they're staying stuck. Whatever it is that they're stuck in, what does that moment look like for them? How do you know that that pattern's actually broken?
[00:39:03] Heather Morgan: So, and that's kind of the back to it. It's not, it's, it becomes, it can be like an aha moment, but you also have to be ready to take the actions, right? So to your example about buying the other book, you go, why am I doing this? Okay. Most of it, and I'll tell you right now, a lot of it is, especially buying courses, would be you feel productive. You feel like you're taking a step towards your personal growth or towards your business growth by buying this course, right?
[00:39:33] That purchase seems like, a vote for the person you wanna be. The bigger piece is you're not taking the course, right? Yeah. So why am I not taking the course? And most of the time you'll find that it's, there's a fear of failure on lining that choice. Because if you just buy the course and you give 'em the excuse, well I didn't have time to take it.
[00:39:59] I've been so busy, I was focusing on this. Whatever you give, 'cause we all know how that goes. You don't have to fail at it, but if you do the course and you don't know anything about it, let's say you want to know, but you don't and you, so you are gonna be uncomfortable, you're gonna be like, do I even know anything about that?
[00:40:16] What if I don't? What if you have a test? What if I don't pass? What if I don't get it? What if I'm the only one that doesn't understand? You start asking all these questions before you've even taken the course, before you've even opened it up. You are like, oh, what if it's, and then you start giving excuses.
[00:40:29] Your subconscious mind's like, yeah, you're right. Let's stay where we know. Let's stay safe. Don't do the course, because the course may be the next step into the big growth in your business or your personal life, your personal growth, your all the things, and your subconscious is over here like, yeah, no, no, no, no, no.
[00:40:47] We're just, we wanna be safe so it doesn't know what it looks like. When you get to that higher growth, so it's not necessarily your helper in growth, so it will give you like reasons, like, okay, well we, we don't have time, we don't wanna do that. And it creates all this fear. So it's not until you identify that that's what you're doing.
[00:41:07] When you don't do the course, you can ask it, why am I not taking this course? Because you're afraid to fail because you've atti. You've decided that if you do and you grow, then you won't know. You might not know. Sorry, how to handle that success. Fear of success is a real thing. That's almost more than fear of failure.
[00:41:26] You believe in yourself, you know you can do it, but the underlining. In your subconscious that's running is that you're, what would success look like? You've never been there. You don't know. What if I don't have time anymore? What if my friends don't like me? 'cause I'm more successful. What if my family's like, thinks I'm greedy?
[00:41:42] What if all of these different things, depending on, you know, your limiting beliefs or your identity start coming up when you try to evolve? And so those are the kinds of things that this unpacks for you. And so those become the aha. So it's like. You go, oh, okay, I'm not doing this 'cause I'm afraid of being too successful, but I wanna be successful.
[00:42:04] So now I'm going to tell my mind it's okay. I, I'm taking this course 'cause that's what I wanna do. And so when those, but you don't have time, da da da, you silence those excuses. You learn how to say, I hear you, but I'm not listening. You learn that your thoughts aren't necessarily you. They just, they came to your mind, but that doesn't have to, they don't have to be accepted as truth.
[00:42:29] They're just a thought. Oh, I, I'm not accepting that thought, but thank you. And it's almost like a conversation internally with your subconscious mind to say, I hear you, but we're safe, so we're going to take that course and we're gonna do it this time. Right. And so it's not preventing you from buying the thing, it's understanding why, why, what is that giving you?
[00:42:51] And are you, like, what's the purpose of it? Right? And, and that's kind of how it works. Honestly. There's, there's only a few reasons when you really tie it down, and most are, there's fear and shame are probably one of the biggest or two of the biggest emotions that are tied to most of the reasons why we limit ourselves.
[00:43:13] Mike Allton: Yes, folks. Hit rewind. Go back, listen to this segment that Heather just gave you because she just revealed two truths for you. First she revealed why you're making some of the decisions that you're making, why you aren't doing some things that maybe you intended to do, like taking a course or reading a book or something like that.
[00:43:31] But she also just clued you in on your clients mindsets as well. Why did your prospect buy your course and then not go through with it and end up churning a couple of months later when they finally realized they're still paying for that thing that they're not using? Why would they do that? This helps you understand that a lot of marketers, we understand, we want to talk to the pains of our customers in our marketing copy, which helps the customer understand, oh, okay, if I don't do this, it's going to hurt me even more than what I'm feeling right now.
[00:44:07] Or the pain of of purchasing it is not gonna be as much as the pain of not doing something. It helps them understand that. But then we need to take it a step further when we're communicating with our new customers and making sure that they understand that it's okay, we're gonna be there with you, we're gonna help you through whatever it is that we're gonna help you through.
[00:44:25] That sort of thing. So that's fantastic insight, I think, Heather, into the mindset of ourselves and our target audiences. I've got just one more question for you. I'm wondering for a lot of the folks listening right now, they're, maybe have done some of this mindset work. Like I said at the very outset, maybe they've tried journaling and so on.
[00:44:41] They haven't seen any real change. What do you think is the one thing that they could start to do today that they could ask AI? Maybe start uncover some of these hidden patterns, and then the follow up to that is what questions should they ask themselves once they start to get that feedback from AI?
[00:44:58] Heather Morgan: I love that.
[00:44:59] And, um, I, I definitely agree. Journaling's great, but there's a little ego involved sometimes. We don't always say our truth there. So for ai, I would really sit with it. And one thing that I love to do is, again, I would give it the background on you. And then I would tell it where you want to be. I think the biggest unlock that can help you kind of see the limiting beliefs in getting the things that you want for your life and kind of having it help you unpack.
[00:45:28] First is like, where do you want to be? Usually if you're on a personal growth journey like this or starting a business, you know you have a vision, right? So say where you are. Tell dad to me. I'm gonna tell you where I am. Here's what I want you to know, and this is where I want to be the, this is the vision, right?
[00:45:50] Whatever that looks like for your business, for your life, the combination, all of it. Help me unpack why I'm not there yet. What things in my current life are preventing me from this situation, this business, you know, all of this, whatever it is, right? The vision that you wish for yourself in your business, in your life, et cetera.
[00:46:16] And what, what's, what's the limitations? Like what's stopping me from being there based on my background? Based on the information, and it will just kind of give you some ideas, right? Like it'll unpack some of the things and then based on what it comes back with, you'll know like it is, there is an aha there that you'll probably go like.
[00:46:39] Mm. But you have to be open to receiving it or you're just gonna discard it. Right? But this is like AI, so it, it's better than a person because you don't really take it personally because it's literally AI. So yeah, they don't know you. They're not trying to hurt your feelings. They could care less, they're, you know what I mean?
[00:46:53] So that's where it helps your ego not sting so much. 'cause no one else heard it. It's just you in the chat. So then you can like, okay, and start going, that resonates. Then ask it. Let's unpack that a little bit more. Why would that, why would I be doing that? And that's kind of how you continue down the little path of just e unpacking each thing, right?
[00:47:18] Like you talked about in business holistically. You see there's a problem and it's like, well, why is that a problem? Do we have a process? Do we have a procedure? Do we, who manages this? Dah, dah, dah. It's that same thought process of like finding the core like problem within, like what is the root cause of this problem?
[00:47:37] And that's the same mindset that you have to take into your own development. What is the root cause of this thing that's preventing me from the business, the life. Et cetera that I want for myself. And once you find the, the root cause, that's when you can start implementing solutions and, and ChatGPT, AI, sorry, I just used Chat, but there's so many great learn, uh, different ones. But AI can help you.
[00:48:05] Mike Allton: So powerful. And I think the two things that I typically include in a prompt will be incredibly powerful here. The first is I always give the AI permission to ask me questions. Mm-hmm. You know, I might give it all the context that I think it needs, but if I give it permission to ask me questions, it always comes back with three more things that it thinks would be really helpful for it to know before it starts diving into whatever.
[00:48:26] And another thing that I think is particularly powerful is to say, always challenge my assumptions.
[00:48:32] Heather Morgan: I love that one too, Mike. And mine always, I forget about telling it to ask me questions 'cause mine already is so programmed to know that it's going to ask me certain things so that it's good to sometimes get back in that.
[00:48:43] But yes, and in my guided it like does give you like dive deeper on this, dive deeper on that. But I absolutely, sometimes when I feel like it's being too kind, I'm like. Give it to me straight. Just tell me. Um, because I, you know, and so I agree and, and you have to be there. You have to be ready for it. But I agree, like, challenge me.
[00:49:05] But I also think the way that it speaks back to you, it's not like an a person where you get defensive. I feel like the defensive wall as a human with AI is, it's so down the way that it speaks to you back because it's kind of mirroring that it's not going to trigger, which often may a therapist or a partner or someone in your life that's trying to just give you advice, you get trigger.
[00:49:31] Immediately. So as soon as you're triggered like that, you don't, you're not open to change. It's like this conversation never happened. So this is where it's different because you are softening that space that normally you put a wall up when someone wants to critique you. And that could even happen in business, right?
[00:49:50] Someone's like, Mike, this deck isn't any good. It's like, oh, Bill's already said, you know, and then you're out the door with that. It's personal. Bill just doesn't like me. You know, you start immediately giving the excuse. But when it comes to like AI, there's, there's no reason. Like there's no emotional tie, there's no human like, feeling of, less than. You are, just, it's a mirror of you.
[00:50:16] Reflecting and I've said that I, I say to mine personally, I say, be my soul aligned mirror. And that works for me. Everyone will be different, but I'll say be my soul aligned mirror. And that, and that way it's reflecting back that underlining soul that knows already what my purpose is here and kind of knows what my heart wants, but my ego has like, and has, has taken over in some ways and makes it hard for me to see my, my true nature. And so that works for me. Um, so I, I love that as well. But I have some suggested ones that are different as well. If, if, but seeing your own soul is kind of nice, Mike.
[00:51:01] Mike Allton: Right.
[00:51:03] Heather Morgan: Helps with the self love. You're like, wow.
[00:51:05] I'm sure. Kind.
[00:51:07] Mike Allton: Yeah. Yeah. Well, Heather, you've been absolutely amazing. This has been such, I think, a critical interview and conversation that I know everybody needs to listen to, but I know folks are gonna have more questions. Their minds, their souls are buzzing right now. They've got questions for you.
[00:51:23] Where should they go to connect?
[00:51:25] Heather Morgan: Yes. Ha. Jump over to my website, uh, wandering the wild mess.com. I have a podcast. It's really about self-growth in my personal journey, but I am geek out about this stuff all the time and you can look for my guides. I'm gonna be starting a course about this coming up soon so you can subscribe to my newsletter there to get more information.
[00:51:47] And yeah, and send me a note there. There's a chat. You can send me an email. Happy to connect and answer questions.
[00:51:54] Mike Allton: Fantastic. Well, thank you, Heather. Thank you all of you for listening. That's all the time we've got for today. Of course, I'll have all of Heather's links in the show notes below, but if you've found yourself kind of nodding your head throughout and wondering how to have a truly insightful conversation with your ai, I wanna encourage you to take a look at the AI Work Buddy prompt that you can grab for free.
[00:52:11] It'll help you create that completely personalized and tailored AI to help you with your work and your life. Grab it at theaihat.com slash ai work buddy. Check it out and I'll see you in our next episode. Welcome to the grid.
[00:52:24] That's a wrap on another episode of The AI Hat Podcast. I hope you've gained some valuable insights and actionable strategies to boost your business with AI. If you enjoyed this show, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your network. And don't forget to visit the ai hat.com for more resources and to connect with me.
[00:52:42] Until next time, keep innovating and remember, the future of business is human and it's powered by AI.
