195: What's Catching My Attention: I Let ChatGPT Redesign My Skincare Routine... and It Changed More Than My Skin
Episode Summary
A brutally honest ChatGPT skincare review should have ended with a simpler, more effective skincare routine. It did. But it also made me notice a pattern that I suddenly can't stop seeing in business, health, parenting, leadership, and nearly every area where high achievers are trying to improve their lives.
This isn't a typical teaching episode. It's one of my "What's Catching My Attention" conversations, where you get a front-row seat to an idea while it's still unfolding and discover where it leads. (And in this one, I’ll also share the new products I love!)
In today's episode, you'll discover:
The surprisingly simple skincare routine (products included!) that ChatGPT built after ruthlessly reviewing my medicine cabinet, and which expensive favorites it convinced me to let go of.
The question I've started asking that instantly changes how I evaluate new advice, trends, products, and opportunities.
A behind-the-scenes look at how an emerging idea becomes one of my frameworks, and why this one may change how you think about growth, optimization, and discernment.
Listen now to discover a fantastic summer skincare routine, plus the unexpected pattern it revealed and why it may completely change the way you evaluate advice, opportunities, and what actually creates your best results
Who This Episode Is For
High-achieving women overwhelmed by constant self-improvement advice, optimization trends, and expert opinions.
Women entrepreneurs who want to make better business decisions by strengthening judgment instead of collecting more information.
CEOs who feel stuck in endless researching, tweaking, optimizing, or learning without seeing proportional results.
Leaders who want to distinguish between necessary strategic intervention and unnecessary complexity.
Business owners seeking sustainable business growth through simplicity, discernment, and stronger operating conditions.
Entrepreneurs interested in building calm executive authority rather than relying on hustle, optimization, or productivity culture.
Women exploring how trust, sufficiency, and judgment create better leadership, business, health, and life outcomes.
High performers who suspect their biggest opportunity may come from removing friction instead of continually adding new tools, strategies, or systems.
Core Concepts in This Episode
Power Consolidation in Scaling
Rather than dispersing power across endless tactics, products, platforms, and optimization efforts, sustainable growth comes from consolidating attention around the few conditions that create the greatest leverage. Removing unnecessary complexity frees power for meaningful expansion.
Leadership Capacity in Business
Executive leadership strengthens when decisions are driven by judgment instead of continual reassurance seeking. The capacity to stop chasing more inputs and confidently lead with sufficient information becomes a defining leadership advantage.Present Bias in Investment Decisions
A behavioral economics principle explaining why entrepreneurs tend to overweight the immediate cost of an investment while underestimating the long-term cost of remaining in the same operating pattern.
Strategic Discernment
Not every popular tactic, trend, or best practice deserves adoption. Discernment is the ability to evaluate advice through the unique needs of the business, choosing interventions intentionally rather than reacting to external pressure or fear of missing out.
Business Sufficiency
Businesses often grow not because leaders acquire more resources, information, or systems, but because they recognize the capabilities already present. Expansion shifts from solving imagined deficiencies to fully expressing existing strengths.
Right Conditions for Sustainable Growth
Living systems including businesses, leaders, teams, and even plants often perform best when foundational conditions are supplied rather than constantly optimized. Long-term growth comes from creating environments that naturally support resilience, adaptation, and performance.
Trusting Intelligent Systems
The episode introduces the idea that businesses, bodies, teams, and relationships function as adaptive systems. Rather than assuming growth requires constant intervention, leaders develop greater results by trusting these systems once their core conditions are in place, intervening only where leverage truly exists.
Key Takeaways
The surprisingly simple skincare routine (products included!) that ChatGPT built after ruthlessly reviewing my medicine cabinet, and which expensive favorites it convinced me to let go of.
The question I've started asking that instantly changes how I evaluate new advice, trends, products, and opportunities.
A behind-the-scenes look at how an emerging idea becomes one of my frameworks, and why this one may change how you think about growth, optimization, and discernment.
Full Episode Transcript:
In this episode, you'll discover how a brutally honest chat GPT skincare review unexpectedly made me notice a pattern I now cannot stop seeing. Welcome to The Uncommon Way, where high-achieving women entrepreneurs and leaders pitch the rulebook and design success on their own terms. I'm your host, Jenna Harrison, a top-ranked business coach sharing business growth strategies, mindset mastery, and power moves to help you attract ideal clients, leverage your unique genius, and scale with freedom. Let's dive in.
Welcome, welcome back to The Uncommon Way. I want to try something a little different today. This isn't really a teaching episode. It's more like you are catching me halfway through thinking about something. And I don't know if that something is something that's just interesting, or whether it's one of those ideas that eventually changes how I see everything. But this is how most of my frameworks are born, so I thought I'd invite you into the process. It usually starts with something that I witness or experience that my brain can't let go of, and I'm not sure why. So I noodle on it a bit, then a bit more. This time, it started, of all places, with my skincare. Which, if you'd told me six months ago would become the thing that made me rethink business, I would have laughed. In this episode, you will get the surprisingly simple skincare routine, products included, the chat GPT built for me after a ruthless review of my medicine cabinet, and which expensive favorites it told me to throw overboard. You'll learn the question I've started asking that instantly changes how I evaluate new advice, trends, and opportunities. And you'll join me for the first What's Catching My Attention episode, where you get a front row seat to my thinking as I connect dots I hadn't realized were connected. And then we see where it leads. So. I used to be pretty minimalist with skincare, long ago. And then, like every woman over 40 with an internet connection, I started getting bombarded with advice. BHAs and copper peptides, growth factors, barrier repair, red light therapy, microneedling, salmon sperm, I still cannot believe that's real. Until before I knew it, I'd slowly accumulated this little army of products, the kind where my husband's like, honey, did you make this charge for $250? But the funny thing is that the more products I had, the less confident I felt that I was doing the right things, and the more I was noticing my skin aging really quickly, in my mind. So it finally occurred to me, hmm, I use chat GPT for so many things, why not this too? So I gave it all of my deets, my concern areas, my priorities, which by the way, were number one, efficacy, do they actually work? Number two, price, because I'll never forget once when I worked at a fashion company, and they were late on an order. So they just ripped off the brand label from some items that were made for one of their lower cost brands, and slapped on a new label for a fancy brand and shipped it out. And in that moment, I stopped perceiving that the more expensive items were necessarily any better than others. And then the third one was healthy ingredients. But efficacy comes first, you notice, I'm more cautious about, you know, ingredients in a moisturizer that I put over all over my body, than I am about just what goes on my face and neck. So show me what'll get the best results. So then I told it all the products I currently used, which ones I loved and why, which I wasn't sure about and why. And then it basically looked at my medicine cabinet, and started throwing things overboard. I was like, this? Yeah, no. But this? Keep it. There was this very pricey exfoliant I'd bought only because Amy Porterfield raved about it in one of her newsletters. And chat literally told me, I mean, it looks pretty, but I don't think it's going to do much for you. Especially given the less is more leverage, not overload philosophy that you have in business and everything else we've been talking about in our chats. It was like having this brutally honest friend who knows you and what you're about, but also happens to have read all the studies and reviews and can just bring it all together. And in the end, I could not believe how simple my routine has become. Afterwards, I realized the same philosophy applies to brain health and exercise and so many things. So I used it to kind of further my recommendations in those areas. And I wrote up a little companion piece to this episode that I'll send out in my newsletter next week. But I don't want to make this episode too long, so I'm going to get on to what the routine actually is. But I should first say that since I live on an island, chat was very adamant about how my main priority is sun protection. Most importantly, hats, which luckily I already wear, so I was good. But the skincare products themselves are so good. And no, there are no affiliate commissions here. I am just a real fan in the course of the two weeks I've been using them. So I start my morning with this gentle cleanser called Jelly Joker from Geek and Gorgeous, followed by the liquid hydration toner. And that brand is sold only online with no heavy marketing budget, so the price stays low, like drugstore low. Seriously, it is unbelievable. And they're focused on just high quality products that are evidence-based. Now, by the way, the only reason I'm using toner is because I like to, or I have to, get my son off to school. And so usually in the morning, I just wash my face really quickly, and I like to have just a little something on there for moisture. But chat was telling me we don't really need toners now. They were designed for the days when cleansers were much harsher. So then after I've gotten him off to school, and it's time for me to get ready, I apply a vitamin C liquid, which neutralizes free radicals. I had been using something like that some nights, because I mistakenly thought it's what you put on after the sun exposure, since I'd read that it actually breaks down in sunlight. But chat said that the whole breaking down process is actually what protects you. You're kind of using up the protection throughout the day. And the one I was using had a really dark color, and apparently it probably wasn't that effective. The Geek and Gorgeous Sea Glow I use is transparent. It looks like water. They make fresh batches every two weeks. And then when it arrived, I am keeping it in the fridge now. And of course, in summer, that feels amazing each morning. And then I'm continuing to use my favorite tinted mineral sunscreen, which is the Anthelios Ultra Light Fluid. It's from La Roche Posay. You can find it in the US, even though it's a French brand. Ironically, you cannot get it here in Europe. Some, even though you find lots of other products of theirs, but it's formulated for the Americas. So I have to get it from the States, but it is worth it. However, apparently I wasn't using enough. Did you know that the SPF factor you see on the bottle is from when you use a full teaspoon of product on the face? Yeah. So I also have a chemical sunscreen for beach days when I want a little extra protection because they are amazing here in Europe. I use Istein. It's a Spanish brand to support a local company. So that is my morning routine. Cleanse, optional toner, vitamin C, and sunscreen. Then at night, the cleanser again, and then one of these three things in rotation. Either a barrier repair moisturizer. I'm using Happy Barrier from Geek and Gorgeous. I now love the brand. So anything I can buy from them, I am. And then another night, I'll use my old Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant, which I have talked about here before and raved about, and I still love it. This earned the Yes Yes Keep It endorsement from chat. And then I follow that up with Happy Barrier. Or I use the Geek and Gorgeous A Game 10, which is a retinol serum. And that's retinol with an A. Apparently, that's more effective than retinol with an O. Now you might be thinking, yeah, of course it is, duh, have you been living under a rock? And yeah, I feel like I have been and I am just now emerging into the light after keeping a young human alive. So that's it. So easy, right? It's really about barrier support. That's what we're constantly focusing on. And then a couple nights a week of an exfoliant and a couple nights with a retinol. If you could have seen my past routine, I had peptides, I had niacinamide. There were all of these actives and boosters that I was mixing in with my retinol with an O gasp and all these creams. And apparently it was just too much for my skin. All that exfoliation and activity was making it look so dull and tired. So ironically, I kept trying to like firm it and make it glow and do more. And it was totally counterproductive. So within just a week, huge improvement. It looks and feels healthy and glowing again. And here's what has surprised me the most. Even though it's completely transformed my routine, the skincare isn't what has stayed with me the most. Because as the conversation with chat moved forward to talk about longevity, it said there are really two schools of longevity thinking. One says stress the body enough that it adapts. That's where fasting and cold plunges and lots of high intensity workouts often fit in. And the other says support the body so well that it remains resilient. And that is where good nutrition, sun protection, sleep and purpose and social connection all fit. And I told it, okay, that's funny. The first one sounds like the hustle culture and bro marketing in the business world. You know, the harder it is, the greater the payoff. But here I was right really falling into that with skincare. So I divested myself of that in many ways in business, but here I was still living it in other areas. So that kept bumping around in my head. And I thought at first that maybe this is about how we kind of fall into these outdated systems. And we think we're choosing independently, but there's really some other operating system still running in the background. But then I thought, no, that's not quite what it's about. You know, maybe it's about just polarity, you know, our propensity to fall into these kind of one of two opposing camps, or that the more dramatic camp is usually the most compelling, or that maybe it's about we need to learn to marry both of them. But then I thought, maybe I'm questioning why it is that we always believe harder is better. But where I'm landing right now with this, as I'm recording this episode is that now I think ultimately what caught my attention was something underneath all of them. I started thinking about the sense of accomplishment we feel when we're staying on top of everything. Like the mom on the playground who's found one more trace mineral that children desperately need because it's missing from the modern diet. Right? And when you can convey that information, when you're that mom that has, you know, found this very essential thing, there's a little rush. Look at the same urge in business, in hair care. And I know this because I've been there personally. I don't think we're always searching and adding on because we needed the solution. I think sometimes we're doing it because searching feels safer in our bodies. You know, biohacking and cold plunges help us feel safer, like we're actually doing something to prevent whatever we don't want. I think searching itself can become really a way that we regulate ourselves. Knowledge then becomes regulation. You know, I'll just research another serum. I'll optimize this landing page. I'll cycle in this other supplement. I'll demo this other software. All safety. I had a coach once she was from Europe and she told me that she was used to driving a manual transmission. And when she tried driving an automatic, she hated it. She felt like she needed to be doing something. Without that, she felt totally out of control sitting in this moving vehicle, but not being able to press the clutch and hold the gear shift. And I'm wondering how many places in life do I mistake involvement for control? The counterbalance to this is the olive tree. If you have been here for a minute, you'll know about my right conditions theory. When I was hiking, it struck me or this is way many, many moons ago, but it struck me that olive trees live for hundreds or even thousands of years in the wild through really hot, dry summers with no water, just because they are in their right growing conditions. And I'd forgotten all about that metaphor until this week. But notice the olive tree isn't lazy. It is incredibly ambitious. It grows huge. It sends its roots way down. It produces tons of fruit. It lives for ages. Like I've already said, it just doesn't spend every day wondering whether it needs another root optimization protocol. It flourishes because the underlying conditions allow it to express what it already is and what it's already designed to do. Living systems are astonishingly adept, really capable when their basic conditions are met. And at what point did I move away from thinking my body had this same intelligence and could do this too as long as it has the right support rather than needing so many interventions? When did I stop believing my child could develop resilience with thoughtful support instead of a perfect sleep protocol? When researchers study longevity in places like Okinawa or Sardinia or Ikaria, they don't find people doing 20-hour fasts and cold plunges and taking expensive supplements. They find people who move in natural ways throughout the day, like gardening or climbing hills, and people who stay socially connected, who eat mostly whole foods, who sleep soundly and have a sense of purpose well into old age. But what is more likely to get our attention? Something that says, the one food to eat for longevity, or go to bed, right? I see the same thing in business, of course. Someone comes to me and says, I need to figure out how to use Nextdoor for lead generation because then I'll find lots of clients. And I think, no, you need to understand your value so deeply that Nextdoor becomes incidental. You know, you could meet someone standing in line at Starbucks, and then you get to choose where you want to be, what platform you want to be on. The platform isn't the living thing. Your business is. We tend to think growth comes from adding, right? More content, more software, more tactics, more metrics, more optimization, more funnels. We've become so good at adding things that we've forgotten to ask whether they're actually solving the problem. Or worse, maybe they're capping potential due to overdoing it, just like my skin became duller thanks to too much trying to whip it into shape. What about just growth comes from removing what prevents the business from expressing its natural strengths? What if it were that simple? Now, I don't think I am becoming anti-intervention. I think I am becoming pro-dissertment. Because discernment sounds like someone telling you, you need this serum, and asking, do I? Just curiously. You know, jury's still out, but you're going to look great with or without the serum, but tell me more. Someone says, you need an evergreen funnel. Do I? Or you need to fast. Should I? What's underneath that capacity is you trusting that whatever you are stewarding, your body, your business, your child, is an adaptive, intelligent system, and it's going to rise to the occasion really well when its basic needs are met. If there is optimization, it belongs after that trust and understanding, not before. But let's face it, being willing to sit back and not add on, to not optimize, it's slightly terrifying. Because now there isn't a checklist protecting you. It's just your judgment. It brings up insecurity. Well, wait, am I doing this right? Because what if you're wrong and the magic supplement or skin serum would have made all the difference? It feels like a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of letting go, something that's notoriously hard for most high achievers. And yet that is the place where authority and power both live. At some point, our continued searching stops increasing wisdom and it starts replacing judgment. It's actually something I'm creating my newest product around. How do you build that judgment? It's coming out later this summer. I'll keep you posted. But years ago, way at the beginning of this podcast, we're talking episode 20, I recorded an episode called business sufficiency. Back then I was talking about resources, about how entrepreneurs often believe they need more followers or more certifications or more systems or more time before they can grow. When actually that is rarely true. The reason we're learning the new skills or expanding our audience is always for our next level, our next stage of growth. I still believe that. But I think I'm realizing that there's another layer underneath it. What if true sufficiency is recognizing that you have enough perspective and enough judgment and enough wisdom for this moment? An olive tree doesn't stop growing because it's sufficient. It keeps expanding. It simply isn't growing from a place of deficiency. So much of personal development and our constant improvement mindset is built on this equation. Deficiency, there's some deficiency and therefore there's an improvement or intervention, which then brings growth. But what if it's actually sufficiency? That's what creates growth. That's what leads to expansion. The first one says growth is how you become enough. It's how you patch up that deficiency. The second says growth is what naturally happens because you're no longer spending your life proving you were enough all along. I'm wondering if that's what authority truly is. Not having tons of confidence, not 100% certainty in what you're doing, just this is enough. You know, I know enough. I have enough information. I can lead from here. It's the willingness to stop searching, the feeling safe enough in your own skin, in your own environment. Maybe it's really the capacity to stop grasping for more inputs because you've developed enough judgment to know what is sufficient. Because there's such a beautiful relief when you can do that. It's like you're taking off the weight. I've been getting that feeling reintroduced to me lately thanks to this skincare discovery. Every time I go into my bathroom and it's time to put on one of my new things, it just feels like a relief. It just feels like fresh air that this is all that is really needed. This is all the thing really needs. This is how skin thrives. What if we start to trust living systems more than we trust constant intervention? What if the key to our best results is learning to tolerate that moment when we already have what we need, but we haven't yet received the reassurance that we did the right things? I don't know yet if all of this is just a random idea, but it seems like a pattern. I'm seeing it, like I said, in business, in parenting, in leadership, in health, in relationships. Everywhere I look, I seem to find one philosophy saying, add another intervention, do more. And another asking, what conditions allow this living intelligence system to do what it already knows how to do? I'm going to keep paying attention. I'm curious whether you will start noticing it too. That's it for this week, my friend. Thanks so much for hanging out, and I'll talk to you next time.
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The Uncommon Way is a leadership and business podcast for ambitious women entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders who are scaling companies and expanding their influence.
Hosted by business and leadership coach Jenna Harrison, the show explores how power, authority, and leadership capacity shape business growth. Episodes focus on decision-making, founder leadership evolution, team stability, and the structural shifts that allow companies to scale without overwhelming the person leading them.
This podcast is especially relevant for women navigating:
• Business growth and scaling challenges
• Increasing leadership responsibility
• Team expansion and higher-stakes decisions
• Founder authority and executive presence
• Identity and leadership evolution during scaling
The Uncommon Way approaches growth differently.
Not through hustle, constant self-optimization, or endless inner work — but by upgrading leadership, strengthening decision structures, and expanding the capacity required to run the company you’re building.
Topics include:
• Founder leadership capacity expansion
• Decision-making at higher levels of responsibility
• Authority and power dynamics inside scaling businesses
• Structural business leadership
• Founder psychology and identity shifts during growth
• Sustainable scaling and operational clarity
Whether you’re an experienced founder, a rising leader, or building something that’s starting to matter at a bigger level, this podcast helps you access more power and lead accordingly.
