Cultivating a Thriving Mindset for the Stressed Leader with Kelli Risse

When stress knocked on her door with a health scare, Kelli Risse didn't just answer; she reinvented the doorway. Join us as the CEO of Rise Up and Live Wellness takes us on a profound journey through the landscape of leadership and stress management, revealing how this intersection has become pivotal in her life and the lives of those she coaches. Our conversation uncovers the transformative power of mindset and the need for leaders to reshape their beliefs to avoid the perilous cliffs of burnout and to soar in their roles.

Stress: it can be the wind beneath our wings or the weight that drags us down. Throughout our engaging discussion, Kelli and I dissect this duality, contrasting the thrill of eustress with the exhaustion of chronic stress. We're peeling back layers of early life conditioning to expose the roots that influence our stress responses, and we're not stopping there. Equipped with strategies to declutter our mental and emotional space, we're set on a path where negative experiences are but stepping stones to growth, ensuring that our conscious intentions are in harmony with our subconscious drive.

The search for work-life harmony is more than a trend; it's a movement, and we're leading the charge. We challenge the conventional balance paradigm with a fluid approach to integrating work and life, tailored to one's peace and priorities. As leaders, we have a responsibility not just to ourselves but to our teams, to establish boundaries and exemplify stress-reducing habits. We're also introducing the game-changing concept of a one-day breakthrough experience, a profound investment for leaders and entrepreneurs yearning to reclaim their time, focus, and control. If you've ever felt the burden of "should" or the sting of comparison, this episode is your catalyst for a leadership transformation grounded in emotional intelligence and personal growth.

I want to invite you to check out the Committed Mastermind, a community I help lead along with world-class leaders like JC and Karen Hite, Vinnie Fisher, and Jonathan Mast, plus incredible mentors like Dr. Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages, and many others.

This is for entrepreneurs who want to build a thriving business without sacrificing their faith, their family, or their health.

Check out the Committed Mastermind at https://committedmastermind.com/

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Transcript

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Podcast Intro 1:24

Welcome to Catalytic Leadership , the podcast designed to help leaders intentionally grow and thrive . Here is your host author and leadership and executive coach , dr William Attaway .

From Overwhelm to Wellness: A Leader's Journe

Dr. William Attaway 1:43

I'm thrilled today to have Kelli Risse on the podcast . Kelli is passionate about helping business owners , teams and organizations to gain an understanding of the mind patterns that result in stress , burnout and overwhelm . Through her speaking and coaching , Kelli has helped thousands elevate their success and well-being . Kelli is CEO of Rise Up and Live Wellness and a contributing author in the Amazon International bestseller Fearless and Fabulous . She's been featured on ABC , nbc , fox and CBS , as well as many other online media outlets . She's also the host of the podcast Winning in Business . Kelli's expertise is derived from being in the wellness industry for more than 12 years , plus her two master coaching certifications specializing in neuroscience , mindset , communication and behaviors . Kelli , I'm so excited you're here . Thanks for being on the show .

Kellie Risse 2:43

Thank you for inviting me . I'm excited to have our conversation today .

Dr. William Attaway 2:46

Me too . I would love to begin with you sharing some of your story with our listeners , particularly around your journey and your development as a leader . How did you get started ?

Kellie Risse 2:58

Yeah , so I feel like I've always been a leader in just growing up and you know , doing things and finding myself in those leadership positions , and you know my story is is then I became a business owner and you are the leader , it's true whether you want to be , or not ?

Kellie Risse 3:18

Yes , exactly Exactly . Some days you know you love it and others you wonder . But within that , what had happened to me , which is part of my big story and what I do ? What I do is taking on this leadership role , and really it was the striving and the driving and , you know , just really wanting to succeed and do everything well that I found myself in the hospital and with , you know I was , I ended up in super ventricular tachycardia and so one night , my heart's racing and , you know , can't get it to stop , and I'm breathing and reminding myself of everything I know .

Kellie Risse 4:01

And it was really . It was really the stress , it was really the . I was someone who was like overdoing everything and if you look to me , I was living a very healthy life , I was taking care , I was prioritizing myself , I was exercising , I was eating well . I was just taking everything to the extremes and that kind of bit me in the butt and had me do a little bit of a wake-up call , which now is one of the reasons that I work with entrepreneurs who are leaders leaders of organizations and teams to really help them manage their stress well and recognize the symptoms and the signs so that the same thing doesn't happen to them , right ? We only have one body to live in , we have one life , and we just want to do the best of it .

Kellie Risse 4:49

So that was kind of my leadership and my stress story all wrapped into one . Wow .

Dr. William Attaway 4:55

You know I love that you have taken something that happened to you . That was not something you would have chosen , but you've learned to leverage that and use it for the benefit of other people so they don't have to experience what you did .

Kellie Risse 5:07

Yes , yes , and you know , like everything is hindsight right , we learn our lessons from . Oh , if I can teach people these lessons and for them to be able to see the signs , the symptoms , to really recognize things ahead of time , then they can course correct as they go . You know , based on you know , my lessons . So , yeah , it's really important and empowering .

Dr. William Attaway 5:33

So you you draw a very strong connection between mindset and stress .

Kellie Risse 5:40

Why do you do that ? So , as I said , looking back , it was my mindset . That was really where my mindset was was causing the stress , and so it was the mindset of thinking I had to do everything . Thinking I had to do it on my own , thinking I had to be perfect at it , you know . Thinking I needed to get from point A to point Z , like as fast as possible , almost like not appreciating the journey , you know , and so just just recognizing that in my mindset patterns around it , and really looking at where did those beliefs come from , Are the beliefs still true , where did they come from and is it time to let some of them go ? And so I feel like stress is definitely related to the mind and our mind . I call them mind patterns because they're patterns that we continue to run Right Until we need to snap out of it . Or someone such as a coach , as yourself , like I do , is able to see the blind spots for people , so that then they can stop and recognize and really become aware of it .

Dr. William Attaway 6:49

You know , we both , we both work with leaders in this field and it's fascinating to me how many people don't make that connection that you just made so well between stress and mindset . But they don't just like stress doesn't just come from your mindset . This , these two things can affect your productivity . They can affect your whole life , your focus right .

Kellie Risse 7:10

Yes , yes , I feel like , you know , when we look at that , it does affect , you know , focus and it affects follow through , it affects relationships , it it affects even , like , our relationship with ourselves .

Kellie Risse 7:23

So not only relationships with others , even like our relationship with ourselves so not only the relationships with others , but even our relationship with ourself as well , and can really just I feel like it can hinder the energy that we can spread into the world and the impact that we make because of the stressful energy . And I think the interesting thing is we are also conditioned in the mind pattern of if you're going to be a business owner , you're going to be stressed . If you're going to be a leader , you're going to be stressed . Now I feel like the work and the mindset work that I do , the strategies stress is going to be around it's . Are you aware of it and can you respond to it ? And do you have specific strategies that can really help you quickly ? Because you know your stress personalities and I do feel like there are some some stress management techniques that are better for one . You know one way it's causing stress than another way that's causing stress .

Unpacking Stress Personalities: Understanding for Success

Dr. William Attaway 8:25

That's . That's interesting . You know you's interesting . You mentioned a term in our first conversation that I had never heard before . You talked about stress personalities . I never connected this idea , this concept . I would love for you to talk a little bit about that .

Kellie Risse 8:42

Yeah , so stress personalities , the most common that I talk about when I'm out speaking .

Kellie Risse 8:49

One is the overachiever , and so as an overachiever that is a stress personality , you know , for us , another one is perfectionist right , because that causes stress . It can be the stress of over analyzing things , making sure everything is perfect . Then we're , you know we . The best thing for perfectionists is deadlines , because then you no longer be perfect , you just get it done . Another one is the compare right , and I feel like social media really brings out the stress personality of the comparer . And we get on social media and we can immediately start comparing ourselves to either how we're being better than someone or how we're less than someone , and so to me that's a stress personality . Another one that I found for myself was a rule follower and you know when you're a rule follower and you know when you're a rule follower and everything is black or white and there's .

Kellie Risse 9:48

You know when really , in reality , there's a whole lot of flexibility and a whole lot of gray in there . But I feel like those are some of the some of the big stress personalities identified as I continue through life and continue the analyzing about . You know , I'm probably up to about 15 by now at least , but those are some of the top ones that I see .

Dr. William Attaway 10:11

You know . As you say those I think oh , that's me or oh , that's somebody I know , like somebody immediately comes into mind for each one of those .

Kellie Risse 10:19

Yes .

Dr. William Attaway 10:20

Do you find that there's a lot of misconceptions or myths around this whole idea of mindset and stress and learning how to manage this in your work ? Do you ? Do you see a lot of misconceptions ?

Kellie Risse 10:33

So the misconception ? So one of the misconceptions that I see is that stress just has to be a part of our life , like , like . Again , it's one of those , well , like , unless I completely leave my job or my spouse or get rid of my kids , or you know what I mean Whatever I just have to be in this stressful place when , really , what we focus on grows , and so when we focus on the stress and all the things we have to do , then that grows , that tension grows , instead of looking at it and thinking about the more peaceful , positive aspects of it and that the work that we love to do . So , yes , I have a lot of work to do , but I love this work and so it's all going to be okay and I enjoy doing it and the people that I'm out meeting and that you know . Just , however , you can change that that automatically , like just saying that from here's my to-do list to the opportunities that I have because of my children , my spouse , my job , you know anything that that carries that stress of just changing the way that you look at it .

Kellie Risse 11:49

And you know another thing that stress can do . That , I think , is a , is a is a misconception . Is that it's so . It it can be dangerous for our body if we don't address it Right . But at the same time , there's some . There's some good things about stress . If you you can use it to come together with other people . You know what I mean . You can . If you ask for help , if you're like , if you then go out and let's say you know that was strategy for you , is the whole attitude of gratitude , and then you're going out and serving other people , like that can really be good . So you're taking you know you're stressed , but you're taking that and now doing something with your stress by serving other people in a way that maybe you wouldn't . You know , not necessarily with your job , but something outside of that and that can bring people together in community . Does that make sense ?

Dr. William Attaway 12:42

Yeah , it does , and I'm thinking about that in different environments that I'm in and , how you know , adversity and stress do , and not always , but they can bring people together like that , yes , in a really strong way , and can strengthen relationships . Yes , that's so true .

Kellie Risse 13:01

Yeah , and so I yeah . So I think that's important for people to look at . It is that . And not all stress is bad . There's good stress .

Kellie Risse 13:10

For example , in my early 20s I went skydiving and I jumped out of a plane by myself . It was static line , so I knew my parachute was going to open . It was static line , so I knew my parachute was going to open . But that was a good stress . Was there stress there ? Heck , yeah , I'm getting ready to , just like you know , dive out of the plane , but that's that good stress that we have .

Kellie Risse 13:34

And so not all stress is bad there and the good stress is called eustress it's spelled E-U-S-T-R-E-S-S . And there is good stress , then there's acute stress . That in the acute stress , our body is designed to handle acute stress , and this goes back to way back in the day , when you know you needed to hunt for food or there's a predator coming up like . Our body is meant to help us run away from those situations , survive those situations and our blood pressure everything like increases muscle tension , and then it just returns back to normal . What's happening is now we're living like a lion is always chasing us , which puts us in chronic stress , and that's the stress that's dangerous .

Dr. William Attaway 14:22

Wow , you see clients interpret that their circumstances in unhealthy ways , like you described the predator and the idea that you're being chased by a lion . Do you see people who respond to stimuli that are not even close to that kind of life or death , but they respond in that same way ? I have to speak in front of people or I have to get on a cold call with a prospect . Do you see them like amp up to that same level of stress ?

Kellie Risse 16:10

Yes , and I think a lot of that comes from . I'm going to go back to our beliefs , right , and what we've been programmed , and we've been programmed for things like that . Then you automatically , like it , becomes so heightened .

Kellie Risse 16:27

And so that's where I say , you know , there's a couple things when working on mindset , I think it's also so important to not only clear mental clutter . I think it's so important to clear emotional clutter , because it's the emotional piece wrapped around that that sends us into that fight or flight based on our past and usually it's based on things that happened when we were ages zero to seven , right , like so young that and then we've been programmed and then things have happened on top of that and you know , someone made fun of you way back , you know , in kindergarten , when you went to stand up and speak .

Kellie Risse 17:05

And now you're like I can't speak in public when you know , and so , however you interpreted it and you carry that in you now , it is just , you know , grown and grown and grown to where it's kind of unreasonable , as you said .

Dr. William Attaway 17:20

And sometimes , like those things that are formed early , we're not even fully aware of right Correct . Yes , I've watched entrepreneurs have incredibly unhealthy views around money , based on stuff that happened when they were kids .

Kellie Risse 17:35

Yes , yes , that is something that I work with clients on is that whole money mindset because I think that's so important of really looking at what are your beliefs , that you are carrying around , that you may not even know that you're carrying around and you know , as an entrepreneur , we have to be willing to invest in ourselves , invest in our business . We have to be willing to spend money you know what I mean and depending on your relationship with money and , at the same time , we have to know our worth . And if you , if you , struggle with that , then you're always going to be keeping your prices low and playing on the small side instead of going big .

Dr. William Attaway 18:16

And that communicates your value as much as anything else . Right , when you price yourself low , you're pricing your value low .

Kellie Risse 18:24

Correct . Yeah , so there's a lot of mindset stuff , you know , and something that I have learned along the way through my journey and I went through this one day deep dive myself and in that one day deep dive we looked at anger , sadness , fear , hurt and guilt , where those originally have showed up , and we clear that up and looking at things that have happened in a whole different way , more really in a positive light . And although sometimes people are like , how can I look at that awful situation in a positive light , well , you can empower yourself to do that , clearing up limiting beliefs . And then back to the money thing values .

Kellie Risse 19:07

Your unconscious mind and your conscious mind , your values , aren't always aligned and so typically we're working from our conscious mind right , what's right in front of us instead of the programs running in the back . And so you're trying to hit these goals , you're trying to do things , you're trying to live a certain way , and you're not getting there at all and you feel like you're , like you know , hitting a brick wall , and that is because your unconscious mind and your conscious mind is not aligned . And so the work I do helps align that so that then you can really be on your way . Um , it faster , easier , it's just more natural . I'm going to say , instead of the fight or the grind , it's just easier .

Dr. William Attaway 19:54

You know , one thing that is a big topic in the entrepreneurial world is this idea of work-life balance , which , for too many

Achieving Work-Life Harmony: Strategies for Entrepreneurial Success

Dr. William Attaway 20:01

, is a laughable concept . Right , there is no balance , it's just work , work and more work , and then life fits in the cracks . Yes , and you talk about this like you teach techniques to help entrepreneurs in this area . What are some of the techniques that you talk about ?

Kellie Risse 20:21

So I'll share . One of the big things that we have to reframe in our mindset is we need to get rid of work life balance . Frame in our mindset is we need to get rid of work-life balance Because if we think about balance , you're thinking about that balance scale , that it is going to be 50-50 . And there's not even enough hour in the days if we want to sleep to really have it be 50-life if you work Unless you are really structuring your business now around the four-hour work week .

Kellie Risse 20:49

And you know , then we might be able to talk about a little bit more balance . But let's just say you're the normal business leader , entrepreneur , and you know , I think it's really . First of all , let's scrap the word balance . I do use the word balance because I feel like it's a term that if you were going to search for something , that's what you should be searching for , and it's time we start looking at harmony work-life harmony .

Kellie Risse 21:12

And in that work-life harmony . You know what , sometimes it's going to be days where there's more family and less work , and sometimes it's going to be a day where there's a little bit more work and a little less more family , and it could also be seasons , depending on the type of work that you do . And really , just what is the harmony for you , for you to feel that peace that you're like ? Okay , I had quality time with my family , I prioritized myself . You know I I got a workout in . You know I slept , like things like that , and I'm still able to work this much .

Kellie Risse 21:49

And that is different for everybody . I don't feel like there's an exact formula . It's really what is that ? What is that peace of mind for you that you're looking for ? And if you don't have enough of that , then it's really about then how do I help you get hours back into your day ? Because if you're not doing that , we have to figure out where to get hours . And you know , is that a focus problem ? Is that a systems and processes problems which I am not an expert at right , but like what ? You know what needs to happen to get more hours so that you can have more harmony ?

Dr. William Attaway 22:25

I love that term and I love that you said that there's not a one size fits all for this for everybody , that everybody has to fit in this thing . I think sometimes , especially with entrepreneurs , there is this idea well , I should be here , I should be at this , I should be able to . And that's a dangerous word when it comes to your mindset , because you're comparing yourself to something yes , exactly , and I think it's is what you're comparing yourself to .

Kellie Risse 22:57

Realistic , yes , right , because you know you also , we don't know what is going on , for maybe the people that are living this way that we're comparing ourselves to , we we have no idea really the , the backstory , or maybe all the details of your life , of their life , to be comparing ourselves to .

Kellie Risse 23:14

You know ? Uh , another um thing that I do with my clients is anytime there's the should , I , should . You know how can we change that ? Is it I get to ? Is it ? You know what I mean ? But like just little words that you can change so it doesn't feel so should and judgmental and comparing it is which creates tension and stress .

Dr. William Attaway 23:37

Absolutely . I had a counselor once tell me that I used that word way too much should . She said you have to stop shoulding all over yourself and I thought it was so brilliant . I love that , but I hear it all the time in the entrepreneurial world . I hear this all the time with business leaders and business owners . They're comparing their every day to somebody else's highlight reel that they see online .

Kellie Risse 24:01

Yes .

Dr. William Attaway 24:02

And that's so unhealthy .

Kellie Risse 24:03

Or you're looking at , you're comparing you know your first five years of business and you're comparing yourself to someone who's literally been doing this for 20 years . Right , you know .

Podcast Intro 24:14

I should be here .

Kellie Risse 24:16

Hang on . What were they doing back here ? You know , and it is really dangerous because I feel like it can put us into some traps , into some stress , into mind patterns that are not healthy for us at all .

Dr. William Attaway 24:31

Absolutely yeah . So if you're a business owner , you're a leader . You have people who are working for you that are in various stages of stress and in various places . With this harmony that we're talking about , Are there things that leaders can do to help their team members to reduce their unhealthy stress ?

Kellie Risse 24:51

So let's start with first of all . I think it's really important for the leaders to make sure they're addressing their stress .

Dr. William Attaway 24:59

Go first .

Kellie Risse 25:00

And looking at boundaries , and what boundaries have they set up ? You know , one of my clients had she was working for someone that was emailing and texting at all hours of the night expecting immediate responses , and you know what I mean . So that that leader , that boss , did not have boundaries for themselves or their

Transform Your Life: The One-Day Breakthrough Experience

Kellie Risse 25:25

team team , which then created a whole host of resentment and just unhealthy , an unhealthy team , and so she ended up leaving that team and went and worked , you know , somewhere else and like the difference . So I think it's so important for leaders to make sure that they have a coach , that they are doing the internal and I'm going to call it very much internal work on themselves so that they can be the best , and when they are the best they have boundaries in place , they have healthy habits in place , great communication . Then it will trickle down into their team and I also think they can also recognize it more when they've done the work themselves . You can't expect someone else to do the work if you haven't done your own internal work first .

Dr. William Attaway 26:18

So good Leaders , go first . You're not modeling the way . You cannot expect it from somebody else . That's so good . You know , in a previous conversation , you and I talked about something that intrigues me . Ok , you mentioned that your clients regain time , focus and control through a one day breakthrough experience . Yeah , tell me about that . Tell me what this looks like . Who is this suitable for ? How does that ?

Kellie Risse 26:45

work . I tell you what this the one day breakthrough is suitable for leaders , business owners , entrepreneurs . Honestly , it's suitable for anyone that will invest in themselves . Okay , you know you have to be in the mindset of , when I invest in myself , the possibilities of the world opening up for you Right , and having that different level of energy that then brings in new opportunities for you . And you know , in that , in that one day , as I said , there are so many things that are released in your mind Like we literally make your , your , like your neurology go and like almost nap it into , like a new way to . It's really like reprogramming it and like we have to make it . We have to look at it in a whole new way and reprogram our brain to truly move forward . And you know , as I said , that when you have mental clutter , focus is not clear , follow-up is not clear , your day gets away from you . You know just things like that , as well as emotional clutter , because that whole EQ piece I mean I think that's another big thing for leaders is you know , have you done the emotional intelligence assessment and where are you ? Are you self-aware ? Do you know how to regulate your emotions ? And if so , awesome . If not . That's an area to work on . And then how are you in a like , if you're leading a team , you have to be good at reading the room right , knowing the temperature of the team , we'll call it . And then , if it's not good , do you know how to regulate that ?

Kellie Risse 28:28

And I think that when you go in for yourself and do a deep dive and get those negative emotions anger , sadness , fear , hurt , guilt , like how many people do we know that are so quick to anger ? Right , and that anger we go back and happen from events way back in their childhood , or maybe it was even something that's just generational , an anger piece that's generational , and you carry that and all these events compound and compound on top of each other . And then the next thing you know you're flying off the candle with the littlest thing and when you can bring that , I call them leveling off . It's not that you'll never be angry again , it's not that you'll ever have angry again , it's not that you'll ever have fear again . It's leveling it off so that it's appropriate . You're having anger at an appropriate time , fear at an appropriate time , and it never just like blows up , and that's important , especially when you're in .

Kellie Risse 29:24

Well , I feel like that's important for everyone , whether you're a parent , whether you're a leader , whether you're an entrepreneur like just it's huge . And if we think about today's world , how much better , how much better place it would be if we , like I , just know the difference that it has made in me . You know my , my , from generational . My anger was higher than it should have been . I had some fear that was higher than it should have been , and that was from my childhood and things that you know , just things that I grew up with and then guilt also in those . Just leveling those off , it can change your whole day and can change how you relate with other people and , as I always bring back to just the energy that you're releasing off , you know that's so insightful , Kelli .

Dr. William Attaway 30:20

I often talk about this in terms of a tea kettle . You know , this stuff is going to build up inside of you yeah and if you don't learn how to release the pressure yes it will release .

Kellie Risse 30:32

It's going to come out sideways usually right , exactly , and you know , it's interesting because I , my , my clients that come in and do this , they have often had therapy Okay , and therapy great , like that's in yourself , do some therapy , like all for that . And they have also said that they're like , wow , like my therapy didn't touch this in a way that we did today . And remember what I said , looking at it things in like that positive light , you look at it so differently and so so it is like therapy on steroids , because there's also like , when I talk about one day , I'm talking about eight hours , right , like so it is a , it is a one day deep dive .

Kellie Risse 31:18

But if you think about , you know , typical therapy sessions 50 minutes you're like , okay , see in two weeks , whereas because we have so much time to dig into this and I have very specific modalities that do make your neurology go and like , realign , in a new , different way . It's , it's huge , it truly is life changing .

Dr. William Attaway 31:44

Wow , that's . That's so powerful . Yeah , I want to . I want to talk about you for a minute . I want to

Leading at a Higher Level: The Continuous Journey of Personal Growth

Dr. William Attaway 31:51

talk about you as a leader . You know your business needs you to lead at a different level today than it did a year ago or five years ago . Yes , and that same thing will be true a year from now and five years from now . You're going to have to lead at a different level today than it did a year ago or five years ago . Yes , and that same thing will be true a year from now and five years from now . You're going to have to lead at a different level . How are you leveling up ? How do you stay on top of your game ?

Kellie Risse 32:10

Yeah , that is a great question . So , just like I do the internal work with my clients , I am always doing the internal work with me , with myself , right ? So I am always doing that internal work with me , with myself , right ? So I am always doing that internal work . I'm always trying to figure out what is the thing that is hidden back here that can come up to the front and I address it and go oh , you know what I mean and and we all have those hidden things that are back there , and so I'm always continuing to do that .

Kellie Risse 32:40

You know I do a lot of reading , that you know just what's current and and and or what did I miss that ? Oh , that was out five years ago and that would be really helpful for me right now , don't ? I don't know about you , but I always feel like the right books come along at the exact right time . Even if it was written 20 years ago , whatever , or if it was written yesterday , it usually comes along right at the right time . The other thing I do is I continue to surround myself with other leaders , you know , because we know that surrounding ourselves with those people also helps us grow , also gives us a sounding board . That you know that we feel safe . I think that's important is having those people that you can bounce things off of and really be your true , authentic self . Yes , because that will make a difference also , love that you know .

Dr. William Attaway 33:37

some of the people listening may be looking at you and saying , wow , Kelli's got it all together . Like her entrepreneurial journey has just been up and to the right . Like she's never faced the struggles that I faced . She's never had the challenges that I have . You have anything you'd like to share ? Oh yeah .

Kellie Risse 33:54

Okay , okay . So it's very interesting because you know , I was on a really good trajectory and you'd think , with someone who was I was a life coach and you know , and stress and the pandemic hits , wouldn't you think my everybody would have been like I need a Kelli ? Oh no , people were like , they were so stressed , they were so almost like just trying to keep their forehead above water , much less their whole head above water , right , and so it wasn't even on the radar of them really taking care of their self . We were truly in survival mode , right , depending on where you were and you know your work , people are working from home and now they got kids . I was lucky , my kids were older at that time . Now you've got kids , trying to find them computers and put them . I mean you know what I mean .

Kellie Risse 34:42

So my business , I did not do a lot that year , so then I had to go back and rebuild and then this past year I've been scaling my business , which is a whole nother challenge , let's just say right , and so I find myself doing a lot of the stress management techniques that I teach my clients .

Kellie Risse 35:07

The same thing about that inner work Um , like I do that inner work so that I can keep , I guess , myself in the healthy space that I need to , so that I'm not either like trying to run through things like a cheetah , because that's burnout , or I'm not like retreating like a turtle into a shell .

Kellie Risse 35:29

Just leave me alone and I'll come back in a week . You know what I mean . So , really , just using those techniques that I use and , and you know , as we know , one of the easiest is just breathing , is just stopping and taking deep breaths , right , that's the easiest to at least bring some awareness and remind our body that , hey , we're not being chased by a lion , like right now , in the present moment . Right now , in the present moment , I am okay . And right now , in the present moment , I am okay , yeah , and right now , in the present again , this present moment , this present moment , I'm okay , I'm okay . And so , um , I I find myself using a lot of my own techniques as I move through things that in the past , before I did all this work , I would have been back in the hospital , and so I have learned through that and through my research and now I apply it to myself .

Dr. William Attaway 36:26

I love that . Is there a book that has made a big difference in your journey ? You know , with continual learners , we're just constantly reading and you've talked about that already but sometimes there's a book that really resonates . That is just the right thing at just the right moment . That really stands out .

Kellie Risse 36:46

So one of the books that I refer back to the most that is , like always readily available , is you Can Heal your Life by Louise Hay , and in there she talks about all of the different symptoms , and all of the symptoms that we have in our body come from our thoughts . Right , we know this from neuroscience , that our thoughts can can change the chemistry of our body , and so I'm constantly with my clients , with myself , whatever , you know , ooh , grabbing that book , looking to see what it says and then and then looking at like okay , now , what do I need to do to address that ? Right , what mindset do I need to change to ? What do I need to let go of that I am doing way too much of ? What do I need to bring in that I'm not doing right now ? You know it , just it is . It is a very powerful book and it's probably the one that I reference the most .

Dr. William Attaway 37:51

Thank you for that . I'm not familiar with that book . Now I have to check it out .

Kellie Risse 37:54

Yes , it's powerful .

Dr. William Attaway 37:57

You know , often people will leave an episode like this , Kelli , and they'll have one big idea that kind of stuck out to them . You know , often people will leave an episode like this , Kelli , and they'll have one big idea , that kind of stuck out to them . You know one thing that they carry with them If you were to define what that one big idea is that you would like people to walk away with . What's that idea ?

Kellie Risse 38:15

I think the I think the idea is recognizing your stress is important and you can make big shifts in your mental and emotional clutter in one day . It does not have to be this long , overwhelming , dreadful process that takes time . It can be done . In one day you can make significant gains that will truly help your stress level decrease in general . I love that .

Dr. William Attaway 38:52

I know people are going to want to continue to learn from you and stay connected with you . What is the best way for them to do that ?

Kellie Risse 38:59

You know , I think , like I love LinkedIn , I feel like as professionals , as leaders , you know , business owners , linkedin is our spot , and so you can connect with me on LinkedIn . My first name is Kelli with an I and last name is Rissy R-I-S-S-E . And from there , you know , I always give a complimentary call because I think it's so important , and so I do offer that . It's called a strategy call . It's complimentary 30 minutes just to deep dive and you'll . Everybody walks away with an aha , whether you choose to move forward or not . Um , and my business is called rise up and Live Wellness Because I thought when I started my business , really , from the place that I used to be , I knew I needed to rise up , I needed to get myself in a higher energy place instead of the running ragged , and so that's where the name of my business came from .

Dr. William Attaway 39:58

That's so fantastic . Well , I'm going to encourage everybody listening to connect with you and to continue to learn . This has been fascinating and I'm so grateful for your generosity and sharing so freely today , Kelli .

Kellie Risse 40:12

Well , thank you for having me . It's been a joy . I just know from our conversation before we could probably talk for four hours on things .

Podcast Intro 40:19

At least .

Dr. William Attaway 40:20

at least I have learned so much , and I know our listeners have as well .

Podcast Intro 40:29

Thanks for listening to Catalytic Leadership with Dr William Attaway . Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode . Want more ? Go to catalyticleadershipnet .