Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career and life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside Her Collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Welcome to the Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floor podcast, the podcast where we get real about the challenges women face in work, life, and leadership. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, HR executive, keynote speaker, and executive coach, and I'm on a mission to get more women into positions of power and keep them there. This is the space where we call it the paradoxes. Being told to lead in, but not too far.

Erica: To speak up, but not too loudly. Be ambitious but not too ambitious. Does that sound familiar? Yeah. We're over all that.

Erica: Here, we break down the sticky floors that keep us stuck, from imposter syndrome and perfectionism to burnout and fear, and give you real strategies to shatter those glass ceilings once and for all. So if you're ready to rewrite the rules, own your power, and take your career and life to the next level, you're in the right place. Alright, y'all, today I wanna talk about the holidays. I do.

Erica: But I'm not gonna do that whole traditional, like, I'm gonna give you 10 tips to be as productive as possible and to get all the things done without burnout. Right? I feel like we've all done that before. But I actually want to talk about the magic of this season. And I don't know if it's because I've got a 10 and 7 year old, and I feel like this is such a prime magic season, but I wanna talk about the slower rhythm.

Erica: The way everything just seems to dim a little bit and soften and how that actually invites us to slow down too. Now I don't think we talk enough about how this time of year actually does feel like a natural pause if you let it. It, to me, feels almost like that in between. Right? It's the exhale before the big inhale of 2026, and I call it the refractory period.

Erica: And if you let yourself lean into that, instead of just powering through, it can be the thing that actually sets you up for growth in the coming year. So what do I mean by that, y'all? I mean, I'm a mom. I've got these two small kids. It is the holiday season.

Erica: I have all my in laws and my parents. They all live here. I always host. The holidays are busy. Right?

Erica: There are 27 extra school activities. There are so many things that me, as the caregiver, as the mom that I am, doing to make this season magical because I love it, but because I wanna do these things for my kids. But we take on so much, and we don't always take things off our plates to accommodate for this time of year. Right? And so sometimes it does feel like a crazy rat race, like from one thing to the next thing to the next thing.

Erica: And I think if I'm honest with you, for me, a lot of times, it does feel like that sprint to the finish line. But what I started doing last year, and I'm carrying into this year, is really paying attention to what my body and my life are doing and actually allowing myself this moment to rest, to just look around, to experience the holiday season with my family, and to be really honest with myself about what feels good and what doesn't. And I like to take a lot of time to reconnect with myself and what grounds me in this kind of dim, special, magical holiday season. I don't know, it's something about the atmosphere, y'all, but I really wanna implore on you that this season, it's not about pushing.

Erica: It's not about doing more. It's not about checking off every box and every goal that you've had for the entire 2025. I want you to look at this season as a season that's asking you to be present, to just sit on the couch and watch a movie with your partner or bake cookies with your kids even if they come out horrifically. Right? Take a walk outside.

Erica: Feel that cold air on your face. And I really want you to take this time to stop doing all the things that you think you should do and start doing the things that matter to you. So part of this is really giving yourself permission to make life easier, which, y'all, this is gonna take you for a left turn, but this is what I wanted to have this conversation about. AI is gonna help us get us there. And I know you're like, Erica, this is a dang holiday podcast.

Erica: Why are we talking about AI? But y'all, I have used it already. Okay? And I'm recording this. It's November 19.

Erica: I have used it for so much, so this is a pre Thanksgiving recording episode. Okay? So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about how I used it and how I want you to use it for the rest of the holiday season carrying into 2026. Okay? So don't freak out on me here.

Erica: But the first thing I want you to do is I want you to use AI to plan your next holiday meal. So I used it to plan my Thanksgiving meal. I told AI, like, hey, look, I love Half Baked Harvest. It is my favorite food blogger out there. Her name is Tegan Gerard. Y'all should go check her out. But I went to them and I said, I love her unique recipes. We actually don't like turkey.

Erica: Sorry, guys. So no turkey at my house for Thanksgiving. And I said, we've got nine people coming. And I was like, give me a menu that I can, you know, do a lot of the prep work ahead and stagger. These are the allergies.

Erica: These are the sensitivities. And y'all, when I tell you that AI gave me a full shopping list, a full meal plan, it told me when I needed to start prepping, how long I needed for everything, and it gave me a full, like, week setup starting for the week of Thanksgiving, I didn't have to overthink anything. It literally planned the perfect meal for me in five minutes. And so I want you to think about that. I want you to go to your ChatGPT, your Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, whatever it is, and I want you to say, act as if you are, and then pick your favorite food blogger or chef.

Erica: Right? Whatever you want. But for me, I said act as if you're Tegan Gerard from Half Baked Harvest, and you are creating a delicious Thanksgiving meal for nine people based on these dietary needs. Please include a shopping list and a simple timeline for when to prep and cook each dish. And then boom, y'all.

Erica: Boom. You're gonna have an incredible holiday meal because you're not having to think through, what am I cooking? Does that accommodate everybody here with all of their allergies and their sensitivities and this, that, and the other? So that's your magical meal planner for during the holidays using AI so that you could have more time in your day to focus on those things that matter. Now the second thing I did with AI was I used it to help me with creative gift ideas.

Erica: Now you may have done some of your gift shopping already, so think about this prompt for every other gift giving holiday that you may have. Right? Creative gifts for birthdays, creative gifts for anniversaries or high school graduations or, like, whatever the celebration is. Okay? Because, y'all, my husband is so hard to buy for.

Erica: He is just, number one, everything he likes is super bougie, so it's crazy expensive. Number two, he buys himself everything that he wants. So, like, how do I actually find good gifts? So I actually went to AI, and I said, give me 10 meaningful gift ideas in three different categories, budget one, budget two, and budget three. And it was like a big gift, small gifts that were anywhere from $50 to $20, and then stocking stuffers.

Erica: And then I just word vomited into AI everything I could think about my husband. I talked about what he liked, what he didn't like, what we'd like to do as a family. I talked about some of the gadgets that he's had that he really enjoyed. And just to let you know, then it spit back to me all this stuff like, hey, get him this if he's a golfer, so generic. Y'all, my husband does not play golf, though. So I was like, nope, you gotta rethink that. Take out any references to golf.

Erica: And, y'all, it gave me the best ideas. It gave me all of the links. So if you've already done all your shopping, good for you, I'm super proud of you, I wanna be more like you. But if you haven't, save this prompt and use it for all your future celebrations. Okay? And then this is the one that I want you to use to help you slow down and to help you just take a breath, and it's perfect for this season. It is perfect for this holiday season, but this is also something that you can carry out into any month of any year. And what I did was I sat down with my chat, and I said, look.

Erica: I, you know me, I always have a lot going on, and I got ping pong brain. But this December, this season, I wanna feel calm. And I asked AI to help me design a weekly rhythm that supported that while incorporating all of the other things that we have to think about and that we're juggling in that mental load and fit that in there. And I also told her that I wanted to be able to have time for one moment of connection each week, one moment of rest, one moment of joy, and then also firm boundaries around my time.

Erica: So I protected the time for when my kids are blocked out of school and things like that. And so my AI prompt for that was, help me design a December that feels slower, more intentional, and more grounded. Give me a simple weekly structure that includes one moment of connection, one moment of rest, one moment of joy, and clear boundaries around my time. And y'all, it gave me a structure that made slowing down feel more intentional instead of just, like, me crossing my fingers hoping that it would happen. It actually reminded me to make space for these things that I want in my life.

Erica: And y'all, with babies that are 10 and 7, like, I don't know how many more magical Christmases like this I'm gonna have. So if you're with me, slow down with me. Okay? But let's talk about why this matters so much, and I want you to hear me clearly. No one here is using AI to replace humanity or to take the magic out of the holidays or anything like that.

Erica: I'm using it to clear the clutter so that I can be more present during this time. And I think what's been so transformational with me is how it really protects my energy, how AI helps me protect my energy. It helps me focus in on what matters. So it takes away a lot of that invisible labor that I constantly have going on in my head that weighs so many women down, especially during the holiday season, and it just allows me space to breathe. The other thing, y'all, is this is the stuff that I teach inside Her Collective.

Erica: It's what we go over every week, not just AI stuff, not just technical stuff, but about how do we free ourselves up so that we can live the life we want instead of the life that we feel pressured into. So as you move through this season, I do hope you let yourself slow down. I hope you let yourself enjoy the magic of the in between before we all get going crazy town in January. I hope you let yourself rest without feeling guilty. And y'all, if you want support, if you want coaching, if you want community and real tools that help you step into the next year feeling clear and grounded, I would love, love, love to have you inside Her Collective. So you can DM me, and I will absolutely get you a link, get you inside.

Erica: It is an incredible community, and we go over all of these amazing things that just free up your mental energy and give you the space so that you don't lose your shit on those you love. But, y'all, if today's episode lit a fire under you, here's your next move. Don't keep it to yourself. Please share this episode with a friend, drop a review, and let's keep the conversation going. Remember that your potential, it's limitless, and the only thing standing in your way are those sticky floors.

Erica: But guess what? You have the power to break through them. So go out there, take up some space, and let's shatter some ceilings together.