From Hitting Bottom to Bossing Up with Karissa Adkins

This epiphany sparked something so deep down inside me that I used it to help motivate me and push me through workouts, eating clean, eating less, and it pushed me and it still continues to push me every single day. That spark led me to an almost 100-pound weight loss and, because it’s not about the weight, it led me to feeling unstoppable.

Dennis: What does “boss up” mean to you?

Karissa: Bossing up is doing anything that scares the living crap out of you. Bossing up is that moment when you’re like, “Should I, or should I not?” It takes courage, but it’s our job. It’s our responsibility in life to boss up. We can either choose to stay stuck or to boss up and become the best version of ourselves, whether that’s with our health, our personal lives, our businesses—it doesn’t matter, the choice is yours.

Bossing up is taking courageous steps to get where you want to go. At this point in my life, it’s fun. I’ll think, “This is kinda scary. Okay, do it!” That’s the cue that I’m on the edge, and I encourage myself to jump because it’s okay, I’ll be caught! I’ve already hit every rockbottom moment, so it can’t get any worse.

Like many women, I wear so many hats: I’m a working mama, I’m a military spouse, I’m a sister, I’m a daughter, I’m a friend, I’m a coach, I’m a speaker, I’m an author—you name it, I’ve done it, I’ve been out there. And the most important role that really means the most to me is being a champion for women’s health. It’s my mission, it’s my purpose in life to literally help babes BOSS UP to the next level of success in their life, their health, their businesses.

Dennis: Tell me about the biggest challenges facing people when they want to lose weight and get healthy.

Karissa: The most obvious challenge is yourself. You always will get in your own way. But I think the biggest thing is that you keep your expectations reasonable. When I first started out, I expected to lose weight quickly, but because I did it the right way, through changing my whole lifestyle, it took me three years to lose that 90 pounds. Changing your lifestyle means having to find something that you like to do a lot so that you can do it forever. So you need to think sustainability and lifestyle.

I started with two habits. I thought, “What are the needle-movers for me? I need to move my body because the couch and a bus stop are not enough. And then I needed to eat less.” I started simply by eating less—going from three servings to one. Once I mastered that, I looked into clean eating.

So really, the biggest challenge is not expecting to get the results so fast. I always tell my clients, “Your body’s not Amazon. Don’t expect change in two days. It ain’t gonna happen. There’s no fairy dust, there’s no magic pill to get to this level of unstoppable-ness.” You’ve got to go through the journey. It’s more about who you become in that process, and I have fallen in love with taking care of myself.

Dennis: What was it like to reprogram your mindset to sustainable lifestyle changes?

Karissa: I had such clarity. I didn’t realize this was what I was doing at

the time, but now as a coach, I teach my clients to build anchors around their life that motivate them. In the beginning, I hated working out and changing my eating, but I motivated myself and created discipline by using pictures reminding me of the fate I was trying to avoid and by having my mom be my accountability partner—a constant reminder of why I was doing this.

Dennis: What do you think people are missing when it comes to losing weight? Karissa: A plan.

A sustainable plan. I’m a huge believer in mastering one habit and then moving on to the next. Getting 1% better every stinking day. We all need accountability. Even boss babes like me have coaches and accountability partners, but you need to have a plan for getting where you want to go. You don’t just go to work and hope to God that your board meeting goes as planned if you have no agenda. If you go to the gym, have a plan before you walk into the gym. If you want to eat cleaner next week, have a plan for the meals you’re going to eat. It all comes down to a plan. Every single woman I ask, “What do you think you need?” And they’re like, “I just need a plan.” So get yourself a plan. It’ll save your life.

Dennis: You’re passionate about both health and fitness. What do those things have to do with each other?

Karissa: Everything.

business executives I’ve seen run themselves into the ground? Their businesses failing because they have too much stress, too much on their plate, and they’re not even taking care of themselves? They’re too busy, and it all catches up with them. You have nothing without your health, in my opinion. Health has everything to do with business. You need to be fit mentally, physically and emotionally to run a business. I would not be here today living my dream had I not taken care of my health every single day. It’s a priority.

Dennis: You’re often referred to as the Habit Queen. What are some of your daily habits, routines and rituals that you do?

Karissa: I’m up every day at 3:45 a.m. unless it’s Saturday or Sunday, then it’s 5:45. I’m at the gym by 4:15, making my social media post, drinking my preworkout. I’m home by 6, I get my daughter up, I’m out of the shower by 6:30. Everything is so routine in my life, because it all lines up for my perfect day, and it gives me freedom because structure gives you freedom back. There are a couple of other fun habits and routines I have, like, at 8 a.m., I get home from taking my daughter to school and I don’t even touch the computer. I sit in my chair and read and meditate. I call it my “spiritual power hour.” It’s journaling and thinking time. I fill in my “I want” journal. It’s manifesting the things that I want. It’s consistently setting my intentions for the day. Because I’m a boss, I have to show up with energy and passion. If I don’t take care of my spiritual needs, too, forget it all.

The last thing I do at the end of my workday is write my “Heck yes!” wins on my whiteboard. It literally says, “Heck yes,” and I will write anything that made me smile or lit my fire. Like when I met you, “Dennis, heck yes,” or I got a new client, “Heck yes,” or I wrote a new book, “Heck yes!” Anything. Even something as simple as, “I didn’t spill coffee on my way up the stairs trying to juggle everything in my arms”— heck yes! It’s that way of training my brain to find the positive. I take it a step further at dinner and we talk about our “heck yes” wins. My daughter’s like, “Heck yes, Mom, I got an A today,” and I’m like, “Heck yes!”

Find out more about Karissa on her website, 365dailyhustle.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram, and tune in to her shows on 2InspireTV. com and https:// motivationandsuccess. com/tv/.

Karissa on Changing Your Tribe

My tribes have definitely shifted over the years. When I first started, we were all spouses complaining about our bodies and how we hated certain things. It was all just negative. Now, I don’t even put up with that crap. My vibe matches that of the people I hang out with. So if you say anything negative, it’s bye-bye!

I think the biggest thing with staying motivated is to be willing to let some of those people go, the friendships, the toxic relationships online—anything that is going to drag you down.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you don’t open up five bags of chips and set them out in front of you before you’ve gained discipline. You change your environment. You clean out your pantry, freezer and fridge. Your friend group needs to change too. It’s not that you have to ditch them—you have to set them aside and find people that you can be on this journey with. You can’t hang out with people who have no problem driving to McDonald’s at 2 a.m. They don’t value and respect their body enough, and it’s gonna be hard for you. You’ve gotta ditch that stuff.