January 6, 2025 • 26 mins
Summary
Jonathan Mast joins Jim Burgoon on the Grace in the Grind podcast to explore the transformative potential of AI for Christian entrepreneurs and businesses. They discuss how AI can enhance productivity, particularly for those managing ADHD, by allowing individuals to complete tasks more efficiently and effectively. Jonathan emphasizes the importance of viewing AI as a tool that can be used for good, urging Christian leaders to embrace its capabilities while maintaining strong ethical standards. The conversation also delves into the necessity of integrity in leadership and how personal experiences, including Jonathan's past challenges, have shaped his approach to business and faith. Listeners will gain valuable insights on integrating AI into their practices while upholding their Christian values and ethics.
The podcast features a compelling dialogue between Jim Burgoon and AI expert Jonathan Mast, who offers a fresh perspective on the role of artificial intelligence within the Christian business landscape. Mast's enthusiasm for AI shines through as he discusses its practical applications for entrepreneurs, particularly those managing ADHD. He underscores how AI tools can help streamline tasks and enhance focus, allowing users to achieve more in less time. This discussion is particularly relevant for Christian business leaders who seek to integrate faith with innovative practices to boost productivity and effectiveness.
Key Takeaways:
- AI is a tool like any other - neither inherently good nor bad.
- Focus on basic AI tools rather than chasing every new development
- Implementing AI can give teams back significant time (up to 3 work weeks annually)
- Christian business leaders should focus on using AI to provide more value
- Start with simple AI implementations rather than trying to do everything at once
- Ethics should be part of business practice before AI implementation.
Description:
Mast delves into the ethical considerations surrounding AI, addressing Christians' common fears regarding its implications. By comparing AI to previous technological advancements, such as the internet, he frames it as a neutral tool that can be wielded for good or ill. He calls on Christian entrepreneurs to actively shape the ethical framework of AI usage, advocating for a responsible and values-driven approach. This perspective encourages listeners to reconsider their apprehensions about AI and recognize it as an opportunity for growth and positive change in their businesses.
As the episode progresses, Mast shares insights on effectively implementing AI within teams, emphasizing the importance of focusing on fundamental processes that can be improved with AI support. He provides actionable strategies for integrating AI into daily operations while maintaining a commitment to ethical practices. Mast's journey, including his challenges and growth through incarceration, adds depth to the conversation, illustrating the transformative power of faith and integrity. His parting wisdom emphasizes the importance of personal agency in shaping one’s life and business, inspiring listeners to take decisive action in their journeys. This episode serves as a rich resource for Christian entrepreneurs eager to navigate the complexities of AI, offering a blend of practical advice and heartfelt encouragement.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- ChatGPT
- Claude
- Perplexity
- Mid Journey
- Flux
Jonathan Mast
I'm the AI Prompting guy ...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,the podcast where we dive deep into
the journeys of heart centeredand purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey. So
let's get started and find thegrace within the grind. This is Grace
in the Grind. And now yourhost, Jim Burgoon.
(00:22):
Welcome to Grace in the Grindwhere we're here to empower, to encourage
and to equip the Christianentrepreneur to do all that God has
called them to. And today Ihave my friend Jonathan Mast here.
Jonathan, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me. I'mexcited to be here and looking forward
to the conversation.
Same. And give us a quickoverview of what you do, who you
are, so that the audiencebecomes very acquainted with you.
(00:44):
Oh, thanks. I appreciate that.I'm a nut for AI Other than being
a Christian businessman, Ilove AI and so I spend most of my
time teaching people how tocommunicate with it effectively.
My real focus is on how toact, ask IT questions to get the
best possible responses. And Ido a lot of coaching and consulting
around that to help bothbusinesses, nonprofits, but even
(01:05):
more importantly, Jim, to helpout their teams. Because we found
that AI can really help themsave time that impacts the bottom
line positively and inaddition to that, it lets them provide
more value to their clients.
So the first thing I guess Igot to ask you here because there
are so many people trying toget into AI. How did you get into
AI really?
More or less by happenstance.I just decided it really was impactful
(01:28):
to me when I started using it.And I'm a probably the quintessential
ADD entrepreneur. I've gotmore ideas than I've got time, I've
got more tasks than I've gottime, and I'm always looking to get
more done. And AI reallyhelped me amplify my skill and experience
to get more done. Now,sometimes that meant I failed really
fast, but that's okay becausethen I could move on. Other times
(01:49):
it meant I was able to get alot more done in, in a much shorter
period of time. And I justwanted to share that with everybody.
I've been in the digitalmarketing and sales space for over
a decade and said it's timefor me to, I want to really help
people just understand what animpact this can have. I saw people
that were talking about allthe fear mongering about, oh my gosh,
(02:09):
AI is going to take all ourjobs and was, this is a Terminator
revisited. And I wanted to adda voice of reason into that And a
voice of clarity, hopefully tosay there's. It's a tool and like
any other tool, it can be usedfor good or bad. But I believe part
of our responsibility,especially as Christians, is to embrace
tools like this anddemonstrate how we can use them for
(02:30):
good.
So there are three lines ofquestions that you just really hit
me with here. And I want to.First, because it's. Because there's
so much my mind just went.Let's start with the ADHD management
stuff because I too have someadhd. I know many of the listeners
probably struggle with somelevel of it. So how do you manage
your time with AI?
Poorly. But I get a lot more,I get a lot more done than I used
(02:53):
to because one of the things Ifound out being add and I got diagnosed
late in life, I got diagnosedat 43, I'm now 55. And so I'd learned
a lot of coping skills to dealwith it. It never even come up in
my life before that. And oneof the things that I've learned AI
helps me do is to get thingsdone faster. So I'm really good at
hyper focusing for a fewminutes, maybe if things are going
(03:15):
well for 15 or 20 minutes.But. But after that bright shiny
object squirrel, and I'm off,I'm onto something different. And
that can be just as simple asswitching tabs in my browser. I see
something and I'm like, oh, Igotta do that and I gotta do that
and I gotta do that. And then20 minutes later I'm back. Oh, I
forgot I was working on thatin the first place. Happens to me
all day long. But AI helps meget more done faster. It helps me
(03:36):
again leverage that skill andexperience that I've got, Jim, so
that I can get more done inthat 5 to 20 minute window that,
that my brain has the capacityto focus. And then I can be a squirrel
for five minutes and I can dosomething else. So almost in a Pomodoro
type task management way, Iget to be able to focus really quickly
(03:57):
and get things done. The keyfor me, and where AIs really added
the value, Jim, has been toallow me to actually complete tasks
in that time. So I don't justwork on a task for 20 or 25 minutes,
then take a five minute break.I actually complete tasks, sometimes
multiple tasks in that 25minute period. And, and that has
just been a total game changerfor me. And yes, I do say that word.
(04:19):
I know AI does too, but that'sone of the phrases I use. And it
really has changed my life forthe better and allowed me to get
a lot more done.
So what's your favorite toolfor the task completion?
I'm a big proponent of usingthe basic tools. I Recommend Tools
like ChatGPT and Claude andPerplexity. On the image side, I
recommend tools like MidJourney and Flux. I am not one of
(04:41):
these guys that's buying everynew, latest and greatest AI tool
that comes out. I bought a lotof them and I've tested a lot of
them because I've got a largecommunity and I share that information
out with them. But the vastmajority of the tools out there are
based on either ChatGPT orClaude anyway. And so why not just
use those and do that insteadof trying to chase all these specialty
tools that often are justreally lipstick on top of that that
(05:04):
it's a better user interfaceand oftentimes at a lot more money.
Okay, so then let's switch ourthoughts for a second because this
has been really good and itreally brings up something you said
earlier about being Christian,helping Christians with the tools
and stuff like that. One ofthe things that I've seen in the
Christian conversations hasbeen, oh, this is of the devil, or
this is this, or this is this.And there's a lot of fear around
(05:26):
Christians using AI. Whatwould you say to that?
A hammer can be used to builda building, can be used to tear one
down, it can be used to killsomeone. The hammer itself is not
evil, it's the way it's used.And I believe that exact same thing
applies to AI. AI isn'tinherently good or bad, it just exists.
It's a tool that exists. Ithink those people that are afraid
(05:48):
that AI is from the devilreally don't understand what it is.
AI is. It's really not eventhe right name for what we have right
now. What we really have ispredictive intelligence. We don't
have artificial intelligence.Literally, it's predicting the next
word that we're trying to doin most cases or on an image generation.
It's looking at its vastrepository and trying to match the
(06:08):
words that we used with thethings in its that is understands
in its library and createsomething unique based on that. It
is not capable of doinganything on its own entirely. If
I fire my computer up in themorning and I go, okay, let's see
what ChatGPT is going to dotoday at 5:00 or 9:00 or whenever
my day's done, it's not goingto have done a single thing if I
(06:30):
didn't ask it to.
So then, with that being said,so how do you think the Christian
entrepreneur should beinvolved in either shaping the ethics
or the development of AI?
It's a good question. I talk alot about ethics, but probably not
from a perspective that youmay be thinking. And that's it. I
think there's a lot of peopletalking about AI ethics, and I think
that's misplaced. And thereason I think it's misplaced is
(06:53):
as a Christian businessperson, I need to have ethics in
the way in which I conduct mylife and my business. AI doesn't
change that. AI doesn'tnecessarily have to have any impact
on my ethics. It's anotherarea of my business that I need to
apply my ethics to. But AI inand of itself, if it's what's driving
us to have that ethicalconversation, Jim, then I'm going
(07:14):
to challenge any businessleader out there that they're too
late to the game. In otherwords, you should have been having
this conversation about ethicsprior to AI. AI is just other ways
for us to again implement ourethical practices and our ethical
standards. So to me, that's abig part of it. On the implementation
side, what should we be doing?As business owners, I really believe,
and one of my goals is we needto be helping our teams be more effective,
(07:39):
not just using it ourselves,not trying to shortcut and find a
way to take advantage ofsomebody. And certainly AI provides
a lot of shortcuts indifferent areas. Some of them are
good and some of them are bad.It's like anything else in life.
But I think as Christianbusiness people, we need to be looking
at it as how can we leverageAI and how can we implement it within
our teams in a way to providemore value? Because if we can help
(08:02):
our teams. You and I weretalking about pre call, none of us
have more time than we dotasks to do. It just doesn't exist
in today's world. But if wecan help, if we can help our teams
find a little more time, maybe30 minutes a day using AI, that's
two and a half hours a week.That's going to be 10 hours every
month. That means that'sactually three extra work weeks every
(08:24):
year. Now, if we run, assumingmy math is right, and it may or may
not be totally right, but it'sabout how it boils down. And that
means that we can really dothings to help make our employees
and our team members livesbetter. We can deliver more value
to our clients, which we wantto do. And along the way, we may
(08:44):
actually be able to make alittle more money as well. And again,
that's okay. What's so coolabout is we can do all three of those
with AI at the same time.
So then this brings up anotherquestion for me. This so with AI
being developed at such arapid pace, 5000 things coming out
new at AI just about everyweek, it feels like, how does a team
stay relevant? If you'retrying to develop your team and integrate
(09:06):
AI, how do they stay relevantwithout being overwhelmed?
That's another great question.Literally, as we're recording this
right now, OpenAI has a majorannouncement coming out of a bunch
of new products that they'rereleasing. I'm not that worried that
I'm missing it because most ofit probably won't be quite ready
to go anyway. But from a teamperspective, focus on the basics.
(09:27):
Don't get caught up, as I doas an ad entrepreneur with every
late, latest, greatest,bright, shiny object, because most
of those don't matter today.They may matter down the road, but
they don't matter today. Focusand look at your business and identify
the areas in your businessthat can be automated, or I shouldn't
say automated, that can bereplicated. So if you've got a process
(09:49):
that your team is doing andevery day where they do that same
thing, maybe AI can help themdo that better. Maybe AI can help
them do that in less time.Maybe we can add some automations
into literally help reducethat workload. Now, I know immediately
people are probably thinking,oh, you're talking about getting
rid of employees. No, I'mreally not. Because I don't believe
most businesses areoverstaffed. I believe most businesses
(10:12):
are understaffed. And Ibelieve AI can help them increase
again that level of bothemployee satisfaction as well as
value they're delivering totheir clients. By focusing on the
basics, don't worry if you'rea business owner out there, don't
worry about doing everythingwith AI that you can do because you're
going to fail. It's anythingelse. If I go on a diet, and I should
(10:34):
always be on a diet of somesort because that's one thing I need
to work on. If I say, allright, I'm going to eat perfectly
today and I'm going to go tothe gym today and I'm going to do
this today and I'm going to.If I do too many things, guess what,
I'm going to do it for threedays and then I'm going to fail and
I'm going to stop And I'mgoing to give up. But if I say, all
right, I'm going to change myeating habits and I'm going to eat
more healthily by doing thefollowing three things and I start
(10:56):
implementing those and I doingthose consistently, a year down the
road, I'm going to be furtherahead having focused on three or
four basic items than if Itried to do everything up front.
Because I'll likely continueto do those simple items on an ongoing
basis and develop new habits.And I want to encourage people to
do the same thing with AI. Iwant them to use it to help develop
(11:18):
new habits that make theirlives easier, better, while providing
more value to their clients.
So before we switch gears,because I want to ask some other
questions. So for let's futurecast so three to five years. What
does AI look like forbusinesses in three to five years?
Let me reassure everybody it'snot going to turn into our the AI
(11:39):
from Terminator. If you're oldenough to remember the movie. And
you may not, but I know I am.Yeah, it's not Skynet. It's not going
to be Skynet in three to fiveyears. I actually don't believe it's
ever going to get there.That's just me, but I just don't
believe it. We're certainlynot going to be there in three to
five years. I think what we'regoing to see is we're going to continue
to see the mass adaptation ofAI in businesses. And so as a business
(12:00):
leader today, I think we oweit to ourselves and our teams and
our communities, our clientsto figure out how to use AI to do
a better job. Because if wedon't, our competitors will. And
I think three to five yearsdown the road, you're going to see
that from today, where bestestimates say that about 15% of businesses
are using AI on a regular andconsistent basis, I think we'll be
(12:23):
in three to five years,probably more at the 85 rate where
about 85% of the businessesare using them on a regular, consistent
and effective basis.
Well, thank you for that. Andjust as a side fun note, I may not
look it, but I'm actuallyturning 47.
So no, I've still got you beatby a few years. So you probably remember
Terminator then. I do.
I remember all of that comingout Skynet and everything. I remember
(12:44):
loving that show. And thenthere was a lot of other shows about
the same time, which is whatwas that one where it was a kid and
the computer was a trying todestroy the world I.
Think it was, oh, War Games,one of my favorite. Love that movie.
Yeah.
And you get into theseconversations because you've got
iRobot, you've got by ASemenoff and Vader, Will Smith. You
got all these movies andcultural references of how AI is
(13:05):
going to take over this planetand kill all of us because we're,
according to AI, we're theplague on the planet. So it's understandable
how the fear is there. And sowhat is one thing in that line of
question? What is one thingfor people who are maybe not as informed
informationally but maybe inmore informed culturally, where the
(13:25):
movies and the books andstuff, what would you say to them
to help them get over their fear?
That's an excellent point. Ithink I would point to a couple of
key things that have happenedin the last century or so. One was
the internal combustionengine. When it came out, we had
all kinds of people going, ohmy gosh, it's going to ruin our economy
and it's going to kill ourjobs. And oh, this is going to be
(13:47):
terrible. And it wasn't. Now,were there people that were displaced
because of the internalcombustion engine? Absolutely. There
were jobs that were replaced,but those people got new jobs and
they got new training and theyupscaled and that worked. The same
thing happened when the PCcame out. And I remember I was just
getting into the workforcewhen typewriters were getting removed
(14:07):
from desks and PCs weregetting put on. And I remember people
going, I'm going to keep myadding machine. I'm not using Lotus
1, 2, 3. And I'm going to keepmy typewriter. I don't want to use
that fancy word processor. Andfor a couple years that worked fine.
But if you walk into theaverage office today, or the average
home office, I would challengethat. Less than one in a thousand
would have a typewriter ontheir desk. They're going to have
(14:30):
a computer because that'sbecome standard place and it hasn't
replaced all of us. It hasn'tcaused us all to lose our jobs. In
fact, it's allowed many of usto increase our standard of living
by embracing that. And thenthe third one would be the Internet.
Right around the late 90s, theInternet came out and there were
plenty of naysayers going, ohmy gosh, this is going to ruin society.
(14:50):
It's going to kill us all,we're all going to die. And of course
I'm exaggerating, but therewere a lot of naysayers out there
that thought this was the endThere were even a lot of Christians
that said the Internet wasevil, it was from the devil because
you could look at porn andthings like that. And you can. Again,
the Internet's not good orbad, it's a tool. But again, in all
three of those scenarios, Ibelieve in human nature, we're going
(15:12):
to adapt, we're going tofigure it out. We're going to figure
out how to use thesetechnological shifts to benefit our
lives. And I believe the exactsame thing will happen with AI. Will
there be some scary moments?Possibly. Do we have to worry about
AI taking over and us losingour jobs and being penniless on the
street? Not unless you want tostick your head in the sand and stop
going to work.
(15:32):
Fair. Fair points. So withthat being said, I want to switch
a little questions over tomore personal, more dealing with
some stuff. Like, I know I'veheard you talk on different conversations.
I've been in several with you.First and foremost, what got you
into AI because you were 10plus years in digital marketing.
I'm sure that was a sweet gig.What made the shift to where now
you're an AI influencer?
(15:54):
Me simply deciding that Iwanted to become an expert in that.
I, I remember clearly, andthis will be a weird example, but
I remember in high school westopped. I went to a Christian high
school. It was about 30 milesaway from my home. And so we would
drive back and forth a lot,especially if you had extracurricular
activities. And one of thethings we always did on the way back,
we'd stop at a gas station andget a soda or a bag of chips or something
like that. And I rememberwalking into one of the gas stations
(16:16):
and going, I'm getting sick ofsoda. I wish I could get a bottle
of water. Now, mind you, thisis in the late 80s when I was in
high school, you couldn't buybottled water. It didn't exist in
the late 80s. And I rememberliterally getting back in the car
with my cousins and a couplefriends at the time, went to the
same school and going, man, Iwish somebody'd figure out how to
sell a bottle of water thatwasn't just out of the tap or the
(16:37):
hose on the side of the gasstation because I'd really just like
to have a bottle of water. Andwe laughed and oh yeah, who's going
to pay for water? And blah,blah, blah. Look at it today, what
an incredible businessopportunity it is. And that, of course,
at 55, that's happened to me anumber of times. And when AI came
around I remember sittingthere going, this time I'm going
to jump in. I did. I'm selftaught. I have not taken any university
(17:00):
courses or anything to learnAI. In fact, while I don't have any
problem with universities,most of them are not in a position
to train people on AI. As youmentioned earlier, AI is changing
so fast and so rapidly theycan't keep up. They, I've, I just
spoke to a group ofuniversities last two weeks ago and,
and they literally can't keepup. They can't figure out because
(17:20):
their systems are not designedto work that fast and a course that
they designed today to teachnext semester will be outdated before
Christmas, before that courseeven starts. And that's just, they
can't, I don't say they can't,they'll figure it out. But as this
moment, that's not the placeto learn it. So I believed AI was
a great tool. I dove in, Itaught myself. I've created literally
(17:44):
tens of thousands of prompts.I've failed a gazillion times when
it's come to AI, but I've alsosucceeded in a lot of areas by figuring
out how to communicate withit, how to get it to do the things
that I want and how toleverage it as a tool for my business
and for my life and even forme to help communicate with my grandkids.
So what kind of fear were youfacing when you jumped? Or was it
just super excitement?
(18:05):
Oh yeah, I'm definitely fairlyrisk, risk tolerant so I didn't really
have any fear at all. It was,I figured the worst thing that was
going to happen is I was goingto be wrong. But I just, that never
even entered my mind at thatpoint. Not that I was trying to be
arrogant, but I saw AI as thisnext major tectonic technological
shift that we were going to gothrough. Much like the Industrial
(18:25):
Revolution, much like when theInternet came on, when the PC was
put on the desk, those samethings that we talked about. And
I just wanted to add value.One of the things I've learned over
my career is that I didn'twant to sell. I just, I wanted to
help people out. That's justmy heart. I wanted to add value and
I believed and this was agreat opportunity for me to find
out that if I just went outand added enough value to people's
(18:46):
lives by teaching them thatsome of those people would go, hey
Jonathan, that free stuffyou're giving away is so good, could
we hire you to help us out?And I've been blessed beyond measure.
That has worked out incrediblywell. And that's exactly what's happened.
Just over a year ago in Augustof 2024. No. Or 2023. I'm sorry,
nobody knew me as an expert inAI because I wasn't. Right now we
(19:10):
are in December as we'rerecording this 2024. So let's see,
September, October, November.We're 16 months later. And I'm just
absolutely humbled to be ableto say that. Now I get people reaching
out to me literally every dayto talk about AI, to teach them,
to work with them and thingslike that. And it's, I hope and believe
(19:30):
it's because of that servantheart that I had to just say, let
me teach you how to use it.And the blessings that have come
from that.
Yeah, absolutely. And you'vebeen a blessing because I've been,
like I said, I've been part ofyour courses and some of them and
just, man, I've been blownaway because I want to learn the,
the depths of AI as well. Andfor the listener out there, just
realize, and I'm going to putthis all in the show notes, some
of the things we, all thethings we talked about, but like
(19:51):
his Facebook group just wentnorth of 250, 000. People like, my
goodness, people want it. Andthis man, Jonathan, is amazing at
it. The listener.
Thank you.
Check the show notes, clickthe links, go check them out. You'll
have it all in there and we'lltalk about it in a second. I do want
to ask a question which I findfascinating because when I was on
(20:11):
a webinar, it was actually twoor three webinars with you. Now you
had mentioned anincarceration. And one of the things
that really just intrigued meand a question that really came from
that is how is your thinkingand your faith in what you do now
shaped in that time?
It's a good question. Forthose that may not know, I call it
(20:32):
my federally mandatedsabbatical. Most people refer to
it as prison. And I spentthree years there because I screwed
up. My screw up was tellingsome lies and getting associating
with a bunch of people that Ishouldn't have. And that got me in
a bunch of trouble. And thatwas a real challenge at first because
I had actually stepped up. Idon't want to say stepped away. I
hadn't stopped believing inGod or anything like that, but I'd
(20:54):
stepped away from the church.I wasn't attending church, I wasn't
involved in anything. I wasjust definitely doing it's a me and
God thing, and I'll be fine.Until I met my wife, which was about
a year prior to me getting inall this trouble. And then we rededicated
our lives to Christ, gotbaptized again as adults and said,
hey, we've screwed up majorly.I was in my early 30s. It's time
to go ahead. And by the way,this is before the incarceration.
(21:17):
It was time for me to recommitmy life to Christ. And so we did.
And as I think happens a lotof times with people, just when we
recommit our lives to Christ,the devil gets involved and not to
preach, but all of a suddenstarts going, oh, crap, we're going
to lose this guy. We got tocause some trouble in his life and
mess things up. And that'swhat it seemed like. I rededicated
my life to Christ, and all ofa sudden the FBI is knocking on my
(21:40):
door and I've got problems.And again, legitimate stuff that
I'd screwed up on. I'm nottrying to say I didn't deserve anything,
but through that all, I reallyclung to the verse in James where
it talks about, consider thesetrials pure joy. And I'm going to
paraphrase, because God isturning you into the person he needs
you to be. And I realized atthat time, somehow the Holy Spirit
(22:01):
was able to help me realizethat I wasn't who God needed me to
serve him. And I'm still notthere for the record, but I'm a lot
closer today than I was then.I probably just realized how much
further away I am, because itseems like the closer I get to God,
the further away I realizethat I really am. And when I was.
When I thought, hey, it's justme and God and we're good, I thought
(22:21):
I was doing a pretty good job.I was. Now that I look back and go,
oh, my goodness, Jonathan, youwere such an idiot. But that incarceration
really taught me to rely onGod and events surrounding that and
everything else really taughtme just to have faith, to say, okay,
God is in control. I need todo the things that I can do, and
I need to be focused on doingwhat's right. A big part of that
(22:42):
for me had been integrity. Igrew up in a family where integrity
was. I'm not going to say wewere ever encouraged to lie, but
you played loose with thetruth as long as you didn't feel
it was going to hurt anybody.And that was considered totally acceptable.
And again, I takeresponsibility for my actions. I'm
the one who told the lie. I'mthe one that got in trouble. But
one of the things that beingincarcerated really taught me was
the power of integrity. Andnow I have something to prove because
(23:04):
I ended up going to prison fortelling lies. So now, and it's public,
you can find it. It's outthere. So now I've got to. I've got
to be better than most peoplein that area, not a better person,
but I've got to have moreintegrity, more honesty than most
because I have to reprove allof the things that people may not
expect about me. And what I'veseen through that is just by focusing
(23:26):
on God and focusing on truththrough that, whether that's in my
faith or in my business or inmy family, it has really just provided
an incredible amount ofblessings. Not everything's been
great. We've had our ups anddowns, like everybody. Overall, my
life is so much better than itever was prior to that.
Amen. I appreciate that. Sowith us landing this plane on the
(23:48):
show for the day, I usually doa segment that's called hashtag wisdom
bomb. And for the listenerspreviously that I do that just about
daily on my Facebook. Soplease follow that lead with Jim.
If you want daily wisdom frommy life experience and what I've
been through, I always ask theguest, give us a wisdom bomb that
can take us out so somebodycan say it's like a portable truth
and somebody can go, okay, Ilove that. So what would be your
(24:09):
wisdom bomb?
It's an old one, but I thinkit's one that I really try to live
by every day. Life is 10% ofwhat happens to you and 90% of what
you make it. We have thechoice to decide whether our life
is good or bad. And it's up tous to make that decision.
Perfect. And how doeseverybody find you? Jonathan?
Go to jonathan mast.comlinktree I've got all my connections,
(24:31):
every way to get a hold of meright there. So just my name slash
linktree.
Thank you, sir. And to thelistener making it this far, just
remember I'm going to puteverything in the show notes to make
it easy, make it clickable foryou so you can go in there. I highly
encourage you get connectedbecause AI is the wave of the future.
And with a man of faith who isan expert and an influencer in AI
and just a man of integrity,this is a guy you want to be connected
(24:54):
with. So with that being said,Jonathan, thank you for being on
the show. I really appreciateyour time.
Thank you, Jim. Love being here.
Yeah. And then for the you,the listener. Just remember we're
here to encourage you, toequip you and to empower you. We're
here to help you do all thatGod's called you to in whatever area
that he's called you to getover the fear and to actually take
action. So thanks forlistening to the show. Remember to
(25:16):
take a second to to hit areview down there for us if you really
appreciated the show and thengo ahead and on to the next episode
or an episode you missed.
This has been Grace in theGrind. Whether you're a Christian
leader looking for guidance oran entrepreneur seeking inspiration,
it's Jim's passion to equipand encourage you. Make sure to check
out Jim's solo episodes wherehe shares practical leadership insights
(25:39):
grounded in a biblicalperspective. We hope you've enjoyed
the show. If you did, makesure to like rate and review and
we'll be back soon. But in themeantime, find us on social media
LeadWithJam and you can alsohit the website at www.leadwithjim.com.
take care of yourself andwe'll see you next time on Grace
(26:04):
in the Grind.
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,the podcast where we dive deep into
the journeys of heart centeredand purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey. So
let's get started and find thegrace within the grind. This is Grace
in the Grind. And now yourhost, Jim Burgoon.
(00:22):
Welcome to Grace in the Grindwhere we're here to empower, to encourage
and to equip the Christianentrepreneur to do all that God has
called them to. And today Ihave my friend Jonathan Mast here.
Jonathan, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me. I'mexcited to be here and looking forward
to the conversation.
Same. And give us a quickoverview of what you do, who you
are, so that the audiencebecomes very acquainted with you.
(00:44):
Oh, thanks. I appreciate that.I'm a nut for AI Other than being
a Christian businessman, Ilove AI and so I spend most of my
time teaching people how tocommunicate with it effectively.
My real focus is on how toact, ask IT questions to get the
best possible responses. And Ido a lot of coaching and consulting
around that to help bothbusinesses, nonprofits, but even
(01:05):
more importantly, Jim, to helpout their teams. Because we found
that AI can really help themsave time that impacts the bottom
line positively and inaddition to that, it lets them provide
more value to their clients.
So the first thing I guess Igot to ask you here because there
are so many people trying toget into AI. How did you get into
AI really?
More or less by happenstance.I just decided it really was impactful
(01:28):
to me when I started using it.And I'm a probably the quintessential
ADD entrepreneur. I've gotmore ideas than I've got time, I've
got more tasks than I've gottime, and I'm always looking to get
more done. And AI reallyhelped me amplify my skill and experience
to get more done. Now,sometimes that meant I failed really
fast, but that's okay becausethen I could move on. Other times
(01:49):
it meant I was able to get alot more done in, in a much shorter
period of time. And I justwanted to share that with everybody.
I've been in the digitalmarketing and sales space for over
a decade and said it's timefor me to, I want to really help
people just understand what animpact this can have. I saw people
that were talking about allthe fear mongering about, oh my gosh,
(02:09):
AI is going to take all ourjobs and was, this is a Terminator
revisited. And I wanted to adda voice of reason into that And a
voice of clarity, hopefully tosay there's. It's a tool and like
any other tool, it can be usedfor good or bad. But I believe part
of our responsibility,especially as Christians, is to embrace
tools like this anddemonstrate how we can use them for
(02:30):
good.
So there are three lines ofquestions that you just really hit
me with here. And I want to.First, because it's. Because there's
so much my mind just went.Let's start with the ADHD management
stuff because I too have someadhd. I know many of the listeners
probably struggle with somelevel of it. So how do you manage
your time with AI?
Poorly. But I get a lot more,I get a lot more done than I used
(02:53):
to because one of the things Ifound out being add and I got diagnosed
late in life, I got diagnosedat 43, I'm now 55. And so I'd learned
a lot of coping skills to dealwith it. It never even come up in
my life before that. And oneof the things that I've learned AI
helps me do is to get thingsdone faster. So I'm really good at
hyper focusing for a fewminutes, maybe if things are going
(03:15):
well for 15 or 20 minutes.But. But after that bright shiny
object squirrel, and I'm off,I'm onto something different. And
that can be just as simple asswitching tabs in my browser. I see
something and I'm like, oh, Igotta do that and I gotta do that
and I gotta do that. And then20 minutes later I'm back. Oh, I
forgot I was working on thatin the first place. Happens to me
all day long. But AI helps meget more done faster. It helps me
(03:36):
again leverage that skill andexperience that I've got, Jim, so
that I can get more done inthat 5 to 20 minute window that,
that my brain has the capacityto focus. And then I can be a squirrel
for five minutes and I can dosomething else. So almost in a Pomodoro
type task management way, Iget to be able to focus really quickly
(03:57):
and get things done. The keyfor me, and where AIs really added
the value, Jim, has been toallow me to actually complete tasks
in that time. So I don't justwork on a task for 20 or 25 minutes,
then take a five minute break.I actually complete tasks, sometimes
multiple tasks in that 25minute period. And, and that has
just been a total game changerfor me. And yes, I do say that word.
(04:19):
I know AI does too, but that'sone of the phrases I use. And it
really has changed my life forthe better and allowed me to get
a lot more done.
So what's your favorite toolfor the task completion?
I'm a big proponent of usingthe basic tools. I Recommend Tools
like ChatGPT and Claude andPerplexity. On the image side, I
recommend tools like MidJourney and Flux. I am not one of
(04:41):
these guys that's buying everynew, latest and greatest AI tool
that comes out. I bought a lotof them and I've tested a lot of
them because I've got a largecommunity and I share that information
out with them. But the vastmajority of the tools out there are
based on either ChatGPT orClaude anyway. And so why not just
use those and do that insteadof trying to chase all these specialty
tools that often are justreally lipstick on top of that that
(05:04):
it's a better user interfaceand oftentimes at a lot more money.
Okay, so then let's switch ourthoughts for a second because this
has been really good and itreally brings up something you said
earlier about being Christian,helping Christians with the tools
and stuff like that. One ofthe things that I've seen in the
Christian conversations hasbeen, oh, this is of the devil, or
this is this, or this is this.And there's a lot of fear around
(05:26):
Christians using AI. Whatwould you say to that?
A hammer can be used to builda building, can be used to tear one
down, it can be used to killsomeone. The hammer itself is not
evil, it's the way it's used.And I believe that exact same thing
applies to AI. AI isn'tinherently good or bad, it just exists.
It's a tool that exists. Ithink those people that are afraid
(05:48):
that AI is from the devilreally don't understand what it is.
AI is. It's really not eventhe right name for what we have right
now. What we really have ispredictive intelligence. We don't
have artificial intelligence.Literally, it's predicting the next
word that we're trying to doin most cases or on an image generation.
It's looking at its vastrepository and trying to match the
(06:08):
words that we used with thethings in its that is understands
in its library and createsomething unique based on that. It
is not capable of doinganything on its own entirely. If
I fire my computer up in themorning and I go, okay, let's see
what ChatGPT is going to dotoday at 5:00 or 9:00 or whenever
my day's done, it's not goingto have done a single thing if I
(06:30):
didn't ask it to.
So then, with that being said,so how do you think the Christian
entrepreneur should beinvolved in either shaping the ethics
or the development of AI?
It's a good question. I talk alot about ethics, but probably not
from a perspective that youmay be thinking. And that's it. I
think there's a lot of peopletalking about AI ethics, and I think
that's misplaced. And thereason I think it's misplaced is
(06:53):
as a Christian businessperson, I need to have ethics in
the way in which I conduct mylife and my business. AI doesn't
change that. AI doesn'tnecessarily have to have any impact
on my ethics. It's anotherarea of my business that I need to
apply my ethics to. But AI inand of itself, if it's what's driving
us to have that ethicalconversation, Jim, then I'm going
(07:14):
to challenge any businessleader out there that they're too
late to the game. In otherwords, you should have been having
this conversation about ethicsprior to AI. AI is just other ways
for us to again implement ourethical practices and our ethical
standards. So to me, that's abig part of it. On the implementation
side, what should we be doing?As business owners, I really believe,
and one of my goals is we needto be helping our teams be more effective,
(07:39):
not just using it ourselves,not trying to shortcut and find a
way to take advantage ofsomebody. And certainly AI provides
a lot of shortcuts indifferent areas. Some of them are
good and some of them are bad.It's like anything else in life.
But I think as Christianbusiness people, we need to be looking
at it as how can we leverageAI and how can we implement it within
our teams in a way to providemore value? Because if we can help
(08:02):
our teams. You and I weretalking about pre call, none of us
have more time than we dotasks to do. It just doesn't exist
in today's world. But if wecan help, if we can help our teams
find a little more time, maybe30 minutes a day using AI, that's
two and a half hours a week.That's going to be 10 hours every
month. That means that'sactually three extra work weeks every
(08:24):
year. Now, if we run, assumingmy math is right, and it may or may
not be totally right, but it'sabout how it boils down. And that
means that we can really dothings to help make our employees
and our team members livesbetter. We can deliver more value
to our clients, which we wantto do. And along the way, we may
(08:44):
actually be able to make alittle more money as well. And again,
that's okay. What's so coolabout is we can do all three of those
with AI at the same time.
So then this brings up anotherquestion for me. This so with AI
being developed at such arapid pace, 5000 things coming out
new at AI just about everyweek, it feels like, how does a team
stay relevant? If you'retrying to develop your team and integrate
(09:06):
AI, how do they stay relevantwithout being overwhelmed?
That's another great question.Literally, as we're recording this
right now, OpenAI has a majorannouncement coming out of a bunch
of new products that they'rereleasing. I'm not that worried that
I'm missing it because most ofit probably won't be quite ready
to go anyway. But from a teamperspective, focus on the basics.
(09:27):
Don't get caught up, as I doas an ad entrepreneur with every
late, latest, greatest,bright, shiny object, because most
of those don't matter today.They may matter down the road, but
they don't matter today. Focusand look at your business and identify
the areas in your businessthat can be automated, or I shouldn't
say automated, that can bereplicated. So if you've got a process
(09:49):
that your team is doing andevery day where they do that same
thing, maybe AI can help themdo that better. Maybe AI can help
them do that in less time.Maybe we can add some automations
into literally help reducethat workload. Now, I know immediately
people are probably thinking,oh, you're talking about getting
rid of employees. No, I'mreally not. Because I don't believe
most businesses areoverstaffed. I believe most businesses
(10:12):
are understaffed. And Ibelieve AI can help them increase
again that level of bothemployee satisfaction as well as
value they're delivering totheir clients. By focusing on the
basics, don't worry if you'rea business owner out there, don't
worry about doing everythingwith AI that you can do because you're
going to fail. It's anythingelse. If I go on a diet, and I should
(10:34):
always be on a diet of somesort because that's one thing I need
to work on. If I say, allright, I'm going to eat perfectly
today and I'm going to go tothe gym today and I'm going to do
this today and I'm going to.If I do too many things, guess what,
I'm going to do it for threedays and then I'm going to fail and
I'm going to stop And I'mgoing to give up. But if I say, all
right, I'm going to change myeating habits and I'm going to eat
more healthily by doing thefollowing three things and I start
(10:56):
implementing those and I doingthose consistently, a year down the
road, I'm going to be furtherahead having focused on three or
four basic items than if Itried to do everything up front.
Because I'll likely continueto do those simple items on an ongoing
basis and develop new habits.And I want to encourage people to
do the same thing with AI. Iwant them to use it to help develop
(11:18):
new habits that make theirlives easier, better, while providing
more value to their clients.
So before we switch gears,because I want to ask some other
questions. So for let's futurecast so three to five years. What
does AI look like forbusinesses in three to five years?
Let me reassure everybody it'snot going to turn into our the AI
(11:39):
from Terminator. If you're oldenough to remember the movie. And
you may not, but I know I am.Yeah, it's not Skynet. It's not going
to be Skynet in three to fiveyears. I actually don't believe it's
ever going to get there.That's just me, but I just don't
believe it. We're certainlynot going to be there in three to
five years. I think what we'regoing to see is we're going to continue
to see the mass adaptation ofAI in businesses. And so as a business
(12:00):
leader today, I think we oweit to ourselves and our teams and
our communities, our clientsto figure out how to use AI to do
a better job. Because if wedon't, our competitors will. And
I think three to five yearsdown the road, you're going to see
that from today, where bestestimates say that about 15% of businesses
are using AI on a regular andconsistent basis, I think we'll be
(12:23):
in three to five years,probably more at the 85 rate where
about 85% of the businessesare using them on a regular, consistent
and effective basis.
Well, thank you for that. Andjust as a side fun note, I may not
look it, but I'm actuallyturning 47.
So no, I've still got you beatby a few years. So you probably remember
Terminator then. I do.
I remember all of that comingout Skynet and everything. I remember
(12:44):
loving that show. And thenthere was a lot of other shows about
the same time, which is whatwas that one where it was a kid and
the computer was a trying todestroy the world I.
Think it was, oh, War Games,one of my favorite. Love that movie.
Yeah.
And you get into theseconversations because you've got
iRobot, you've got by ASemenoff and Vader, Will Smith. You
got all these movies andcultural references of how AI is
(13:05):
going to take over this planetand kill all of us because we're,
according to AI, we're theplague on the planet. So it's understandable
how the fear is there. And sowhat is one thing in that line of
question? What is one thingfor people who are maybe not as informed
informationally but maybe inmore informed culturally, where the
(13:25):
movies and the books andstuff, what would you say to them
to help them get over their fear?
That's an excellent point. Ithink I would point to a couple of
key things that have happenedin the last century or so. One was
the internal combustionengine. When it came out, we had
all kinds of people going, ohmy gosh, it's going to ruin our economy
and it's going to kill ourjobs. And oh, this is going to be
(13:47):
terrible. And it wasn't. Now,were there people that were displaced
because of the internalcombustion engine? Absolutely. There
were jobs that were replaced,but those people got new jobs and
they got new training and theyupscaled and that worked. The same
thing happened when the PCcame out. And I remember I was just
getting into the workforcewhen typewriters were getting removed
(14:07):
from desks and PCs weregetting put on. And I remember people
going, I'm going to keep myadding machine. I'm not using Lotus
1, 2, 3. And I'm going to keepmy typewriter. I don't want to use
that fancy word processor. Andfor a couple years that worked fine.
But if you walk into theaverage office today, or the average
home office, I would challengethat. Less than one in a thousand
would have a typewriter ontheir desk. They're going to have
(14:30):
a computer because that'sbecome standard place and it hasn't
replaced all of us. It hasn'tcaused us all to lose our jobs. In
fact, it's allowed many of usto increase our standard of living
by embracing that. And thenthe third one would be the Internet.
Right around the late 90s, theInternet came out and there were
plenty of naysayers going, ohmy gosh, this is going to ruin society.
(14:50):
It's going to kill us all,we're all going to die. And of course
I'm exaggerating, but therewere a lot of naysayers out there
that thought this was the endThere were even a lot of Christians
that said the Internet wasevil, it was from the devil because
you could look at porn andthings like that. And you can. Again,
the Internet's not good orbad, it's a tool. But again, in all
three of those scenarios, Ibelieve in human nature, we're going
(15:12):
to adapt, we're going tofigure it out. We're going to figure
out how to use thesetechnological shifts to benefit our
lives. And I believe the exactsame thing will happen with AI. Will
there be some scary moments?Possibly. Do we have to worry about
AI taking over and us losingour jobs and being penniless on the
street? Not unless you want tostick your head in the sand and stop
going to work.
(15:32):
Fair. Fair points. So withthat being said, I want to switch
a little questions over tomore personal, more dealing with
some stuff. Like, I know I'veheard you talk on different conversations.
I've been in several with you.First and foremost, what got you
into AI because you were 10plus years in digital marketing.
I'm sure that was a sweet gig.What made the shift to where now
you're an AI influencer?
(15:54):
Me simply deciding that Iwanted to become an expert in that.
I, I remember clearly, andthis will be a weird example, but
I remember in high school westopped. I went to a Christian high
school. It was about 30 milesaway from my home. And so we would
drive back and forth a lot,especially if you had extracurricular
activities. And one of thethings we always did on the way back,
we'd stop at a gas station andget a soda or a bag of chips or something
like that. And I rememberwalking into one of the gas stations
(16:16):
and going, I'm getting sick ofsoda. I wish I could get a bottle
of water. Now, mind you, thisis in the late 80s when I was in
high school, you couldn't buybottled water. It didn't exist in
the late 80s. And I rememberliterally getting back in the car
with my cousins and a couplefriends at the time, went to the
same school and going, man, Iwish somebody'd figure out how to
sell a bottle of water thatwasn't just out of the tap or the
(16:37):
hose on the side of the gasstation because I'd really just like
to have a bottle of water. Andwe laughed and oh yeah, who's going
to pay for water? And blah,blah, blah. Look at it today, what
an incredible businessopportunity it is. And that, of course,
at 55, that's happened to me anumber of times. And when AI came
around I remember sittingthere going, this time I'm going
to jump in. I did. I'm selftaught. I have not taken any university
(17:00):
courses or anything to learnAI. In fact, while I don't have any
problem with universities,most of them are not in a position
to train people on AI. As youmentioned earlier, AI is changing
so fast and so rapidly theycan't keep up. They, I've, I just
spoke to a group ofuniversities last two weeks ago and,
and they literally can't keepup. They can't figure out because
(17:20):
their systems are not designedto work that fast and a course that
they designed today to teachnext semester will be outdated before
Christmas, before that courseeven starts. And that's just, they
can't, I don't say they can't,they'll figure it out. But as this
moment, that's not the placeto learn it. So I believed AI was
a great tool. I dove in, Itaught myself. I've created literally
(17:44):
tens of thousands of prompts.I've failed a gazillion times when
it's come to AI, but I've alsosucceeded in a lot of areas by figuring
out how to communicate withit, how to get it to do the things
that I want and how toleverage it as a tool for my business
and for my life and even forme to help communicate with my grandkids.
So what kind of fear were youfacing when you jumped? Or was it
just super excitement?
(18:05):
Oh yeah, I'm definitely fairlyrisk, risk tolerant so I didn't really
have any fear at all. It was,I figured the worst thing that was
going to happen is I was goingto be wrong. But I just, that never
even entered my mind at thatpoint. Not that I was trying to be
arrogant, but I saw AI as thisnext major tectonic technological
shift that we were going to gothrough. Much like the Industrial
(18:25):
Revolution, much like when theInternet came on, when the PC was
put on the desk, those samethings that we talked about. And
I just wanted to add value.One of the things I've learned over
my career is that I didn'twant to sell. I just, I wanted to
help people out. That's justmy heart. I wanted to add value and
I believed and this was agreat opportunity for me to find
out that if I just went outand added enough value to people's
(18:46):
lives by teaching them thatsome of those people would go, hey
Jonathan, that free stuffyou're giving away is so good, could
we hire you to help us out?And I've been blessed beyond measure.
That has worked out incrediblywell. And that's exactly what's happened.
Just over a year ago in Augustof 2024. No. Or 2023. I'm sorry,
nobody knew me as an expert inAI because I wasn't. Right now we
(19:10):
are in December as we'rerecording this 2024. So let's see,
September, October, November.We're 16 months later. And I'm just
absolutely humbled to be ableto say that. Now I get people reaching
out to me literally every dayto talk about AI, to teach them,
to work with them and thingslike that. And it's, I hope and believe
(19:30):
it's because of that servantheart that I had to just say, let
me teach you how to use it.And the blessings that have come
from that.
Yeah, absolutely. And you'vebeen a blessing because I've been,
like I said, I've been part ofyour courses and some of them and
just, man, I've been blownaway because I want to learn the,
the depths of AI as well. Andfor the listener out there, just
realize, and I'm going to putthis all in the show notes, some
of the things we, all thethings we talked about, but like
(19:51):
his Facebook group just wentnorth of 250, 000. People like, my
goodness, people want it. Andthis man, Jonathan, is amazing at
it. The listener.
Thank you.
Check the show notes, clickthe links, go check them out. You'll
have it all in there and we'lltalk about it in a second. I do want
to ask a question which I findfascinating because when I was on
(20:11):
a webinar, it was actually twoor three webinars with you. Now you
had mentioned anincarceration. And one of the things
that really just intrigued meand a question that really came from
that is how is your thinkingand your faith in what you do now
shaped in that time?
It's a good question. Forthose that may not know, I call it
(20:32):
my federally mandatedsabbatical. Most people refer to
it as prison. And I spentthree years there because I screwed
up. My screw up was tellingsome lies and getting associating
with a bunch of people that Ishouldn't have. And that got me in
a bunch of trouble. And thatwas a real challenge at first because
I had actually stepped up. Idon't want to say stepped away. I
hadn't stopped believing inGod or anything like that, but I'd
(20:54):
stepped away from the church.I wasn't attending church, I wasn't
involved in anything. I wasjust definitely doing it's a me and
God thing, and I'll be fine.Until I met my wife, which was about
a year prior to me getting inall this trouble. And then we rededicated
our lives to Christ, gotbaptized again as adults and said,
hey, we've screwed up majorly.I was in my early 30s. It's time
to go ahead. And by the way,this is before the incarceration.
(21:17):
It was time for me to recommitmy life to Christ. And so we did.
And as I think happens a lotof times with people, just when we
recommit our lives to Christ,the devil gets involved and not to
preach, but all of a suddenstarts going, oh, crap, we're going
to lose this guy. We got tocause some trouble in his life and
mess things up. And that'swhat it seemed like. I rededicated
my life to Christ, and all ofa sudden the FBI is knocking on my
(21:40):
door and I've got problems.And again, legitimate stuff that
I'd screwed up on. I'm nottrying to say I didn't deserve anything,
but through that all, I reallyclung to the verse in James where
it talks about, consider thesetrials pure joy. And I'm going to
paraphrase, because God isturning you into the person he needs
you to be. And I realized atthat time, somehow the Holy Spirit
(22:01):
was able to help me realizethat I wasn't who God needed me to
serve him. And I'm still notthere for the record, but I'm a lot
closer today than I was then.I probably just realized how much
further away I am, because itseems like the closer I get to God,
the further away I realizethat I really am. And when I was.
When I thought, hey, it's justme and God and we're good, I thought
(22:21):
I was doing a pretty good job.I was. Now that I look back and go,
oh, my goodness, Jonathan, youwere such an idiot. But that incarceration
really taught me to rely onGod and events surrounding that and
everything else really taughtme just to have faith, to say, okay,
God is in control. I need todo the things that I can do, and
I need to be focused on doingwhat's right. A big part of that
(22:42):
for me had been integrity. Igrew up in a family where integrity
was. I'm not going to say wewere ever encouraged to lie, but
you played loose with thetruth as long as you didn't feel
it was going to hurt anybody.And that was considered totally acceptable.
And again, I takeresponsibility for my actions. I'm
the one who told the lie. I'mthe one that got in trouble. But
one of the things that beingincarcerated really taught me was
the power of integrity. Andnow I have something to prove because
(23:04):
I ended up going to prison fortelling lies. So now, and it's public,
you can find it. It's outthere. So now I've got to. I've got
to be better than most peoplein that area, not a better person,
but I've got to have moreintegrity, more honesty than most
because I have to reprove allof the things that people may not
expect about me. And what I'veseen through that is just by focusing
(23:26):
on God and focusing on truththrough that, whether that's in my
faith or in my business or inmy family, it has really just provided
an incredible amount ofblessings. Not everything's been
great. We've had our ups anddowns, like everybody. Overall, my
life is so much better than itever was prior to that.
Amen. I appreciate that. Sowith us landing this plane on the
(23:48):
show for the day, I usually doa segment that's called hashtag wisdom
bomb. And for the listenerspreviously that I do that just about
daily on my Facebook. Soplease follow that lead with Jim.
If you want daily wisdom frommy life experience and what I've
been through, I always ask theguest, give us a wisdom bomb that
can take us out so somebodycan say it's like a portable truth
and somebody can go, okay, Ilove that. So what would be your
(24:09):
wisdom bomb?
It's an old one, but I thinkit's one that I really try to live
by every day. Life is 10% ofwhat happens to you and 90% of what
you make it. We have thechoice to decide whether our life
is good or bad. And it's up tous to make that decision.
Perfect. And how doeseverybody find you? Jonathan?
Go to jonathan mast.comlinktree I've got all my connections,
(24:31):
every way to get a hold of meright there. So just my name slash
linktree.
Thank you, sir. And to thelistener making it this far, just
remember I'm going to puteverything in the show notes to make
it easy, make it clickable foryou so you can go in there. I highly
encourage you get connectedbecause AI is the wave of the future.
And with a man of faith who isan expert and an influencer in AI
and just a man of integrity,this is a guy you want to be connected
(24:54):
with. So with that being said,Jonathan, thank you for being on
the show. I really appreciateyour time.
Thank you, Jim. Love being here.
Yeah. And then for the you,the listener. Just remember we're
here to encourage you, toequip you and to empower you. We're
here to help you do all thatGod's called you to in whatever area
that he's called you to getover the fear and to actually take
action. So thanks forlistening to the show. Remember to
(25:16):
take a second to to hit areview down there for us if you really
appreciated the show and thengo ahead and on to the next episode
or an episode you missed.
This has been Grace in theGrind. Whether you're a Christian
leader looking for guidance oran entrepreneur seeking inspiration,
it's Jim's passion to equipand encourage you. Make sure to check
out Jim's solo episodes wherehe shares practical leadership insights
(25:39):
grounded in a biblicalperspective. We hope you've enjoyed
the show. If you did, makesure to like rate and review and
we'll be back soon. But in themeantime, find us on social media
LeadWithJam and you can alsohit the website at www.leadwithjim.com.
take care of yourself andwe'll see you next time on Grace
(26:04):
in the Grind.
Host
Jim Burgoon
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