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Deep Dive with Ali AbdaalKrissy Cela On Finding Your Vision, Mission and Why
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Do This For You: Prioritising Yourself
Krissy explains that Do This For You means putting yourself on the list rather than last, since students, mothers and workers tend to put others or tasks first. She describes how she protects her mornings with a 5:30 wake-up, the gym, reading and emails before meetings start.
- •People prioritise others, studies or jobs and end up too exhausted to do anything for themselves
- •She told her team no meetings before 10:00
- •Her morning routine covers the gym, breakfast, emails and reading
- •Her commute is used for podcasts and mentally preparing for her team
Leading with Empathy and Patience
Krissy says too few leaders admit they don't have it all figured out. Early on she took everything personally and let emotions affect the team, and she has learned that the mission is bigger than her own feelings.
- •Her companies are about the people who drive the mission and vision
- •Her emotional outbursts caused a real division in the company
- •No handbook exists for leadership, but empathy and patience are essential
- •She had to step back from taking Tone and Sculpt and Oner Active personally
Finding Her Vision, Mission and Core Values
Ali asks when she worked out her vision and mission. Krissy describes how she was always certain she wanted to help women, driven by the problem of women lacking confidence, and explains the community-first values of Tone and Sculpt, which don't include profit.
- •She saw women's lack of confidence as a problem and Tone and Sculpt as the solution
- •She believes health underpins every other area of life
- •Tone and Sculpt is community-first, fitness-led second
- •The five core values are the mission for women, team integrity, community, customer support and innovation
Early Growth on Instagram and Brand Deals
Krissy recounts how her authentic, vulnerable posts took off while she was a waitress and law student. Women's Best funded her to quit her job and Gymshark later came knocking, and she explains why she no longer chases growth or does paid collaborations.
- •She stood out in a bodybuilder-dominated YouTube scene with simple, genuine posts
- •Women's Best approached her at about 120,000 followers
- •She rejected Gymshark's first contract before later working with them
- •She hit a million followers in about two years and now has 2.5 million
- •She was not chasing numbers until about 300,000 followers, and regrets growth-led decisions
Not Caring What Others Think
Ali asks about the pressure of sudden growth as a young woman. Krissy describes being a loner at uni, her strict father's disapproval, and how an earlier relationship taught her never to let others dictate who she is.
- •University was her escape from the platform she was building
- •Her father asked her to stop posting, but she refused
- •A previous partner dictating her life made her vow never to allow it again
- •She says nobody should be judged for trying to put good into the world
Building Confidence and Dropping Fear
Ali relays that confidence and fear of judgment are the top challenges for aspiring creators and asks how to get past them. Krissy says fear sets you up to fail, urges people to try something extraordinary, and explains why she skipped a law career.
- •Fear as a main emotion means setting yourself up to fail
- •There's one of you and life is short, so do something extraordinary
- •Judgment will come, so be prepared for it
- •Creator careers are now real jobs
- •She never hesitated over giving up law because her duty was to help women
Building the Tone and Sculpt App and Fighting for Ownership
Krissy explains how she qualified as a personal trainer and moved from PDFs to an app built by a third party. When the developer claimed ownership of the app, she fought a costly legal battle and eventually settled with Tone and Sculpt owning everything.
- •She earned level two and three personal training qualifications
- •The developer's contract gave them everything and her only the content
- •She stresses owning the data, code and interface, not just the content
- •She was ready to sell her house and spent about 50 grand in legal fees
- •The case settled and Tone and Sculpt is now fully owned and self-funded
Launching Oner Active and Values-Driven Decisions
Krissy explains why she launched a clothing line after the app: she wanted to help women look extraordinary as well as feel it. She describes the colour formula, inclusive fits and how she identified core values by asking why.
- •A woman creating clothing women want to wear felt powerful
- •The color formula makes palettes complement every skin tone
- •A double XL range is planned for December
- •Core values come from asking yourself why you're doing this
Why Starting With Your Why Matters
Asked about Simon Sinek and starting with why, Krissy says anyone who doesn't know their why shouldn't start a brand and that profit should never be the core driver. She uses the example of a bride wanting to lose 10 pounds to show how repeated whys reveal the real motive.
- •Never start a brand to make money, as profit-led decisions make you plummet
- •Keep asking why to find the deeper reason
- •The bride's real why is confidence on her wedding day
- •Chasing money or views leads to sadness and comparison
Consistency Over Motivation, and Physical Goals
Krissy argues that motivation is overrated and that consistency and discipline matter more, personifying motivation as a sassy diva. She also says a physical goal is fine because it builds consistency, as long as the routine is sustainable.
- •Motivation is either-or, while consistency means doing a little on low days
- •She personifies motivation as a diva and consistency as a humble helper
- •Her own tired morning ended with a sleep-in, which she says can't be daily
- •Physical goals are fine because they build habits over about three months
- •Sustainability and consistency beat intensity
Billboard Bodies and Being a Woman in Fitness
Ali asks about the comments she gets on before-and-after photos that men don't. Krissy explains the concept of billboard bodies and says the comments no longer affect her, and that being a woman is an advantage for building her community.
- •Billboard bodies means using your physique to promote a product
- •Few people read captions explaining the mental side of her transformation
- •The comments used to affect her but no longer do
- •She sees being a woman as an advantage in building a women's community
- •She replies to every Instagram tag
Writing Do This For You and Using Why as a Tool
Krissy describes the book as a thinking book rather than a diet or training plan, written with community member Zahara because she is dyslexic. She explains how every chapter ties back to the why and suggests a coffee-shop free-writing exercise Ali could use to find his book's title.
- •The book is a help book and reminder, not a biography
- •Zahara, a community member with a teaching and writing background, helped her write it
- •The chapters build on one another, all returning to finding your why
- •She suggests a day alone in a coffee shop listing all your whys to find a title
- •She asks her team why to spark thinking
Leading, Hiring and Growing the Teams
Krissy discusses treating the team as people who need empathy, respect and purpose, and the mistakes she made early on. She covers promoting from within, hiring slowly, assessing culture fit, and the different stages of Tone and Sculpt and Oner Active.
- •Her team challenges her and doesn't flatter her
- •Her mistakes included being too much of a friend, taking things personally and shouting
- •Oner Active made 10 million revenue in its first year with five people
- •She prefers to nurture internal talent, hire slowly and fire fast
- •She interviews candidates in the open-plan office to test culture fit
A Day in Krissy's Schedule
Krissy walks through her workday of back-to-back meetings, evening document review and about six hours of sleep. She describes her rules for keeping meetings short, her 3pm crash and her Friday creative days.
- •She works from 10:00 to about 7:00 with minimal breaks
- •She reviews documents from 9:00 to 11:00 PM
- •She sleeps about six hours and crashes at 3pm
- •She aims for 30-minute meetings and keeps Fridays as a creative day
Relationships, Public Life and Rapid-Fire Questions
Krissy talks about her partner Brett, how they met and how they handle privacy, plus the public breakup with Jack. The episode ends with rapid-fire questions and thanks.
- •Brett has no social media and respects her work, and she brought him to set to show it
- •They agreed he could decline videos
- •The breakup with Jack was respectful despite the public pressure
- •She offers Ali advice on introducing a nervous partner to public life
- •Rapid-fire answers include journey over destination and Built To Last as a book pick
Publisher timestamps
- 0:00Intro
- 1:08Prioritising yourself
- 5:00Being a leader
- 6:12How did you figure out your mission?
- 10:35The early daysRead this chapter
- 21:58Building confidenceRead this chapter
- 25:57Building an appRead this chapter
- 32:32Starting a clothing lineRead this chapter
- 35:45Finding your whyRead this chapter
- 37:20Goals & MotivationRead this chapter
- 44:32Billboard bodies
- 47:34Your Book - Do This For You
- 56:56Leading a teamRead this chapter
- 1:09:00Your daily routineRead this chapter
- 1:13:01Relationships
