High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 103: How to Focus on the Possibilites

Episode Date: April 28, 2017

“If you think you can or think you can’t, your right.” Henry Ford High performers focus on the possibilities. They think big and dream about their future. They do not put limits on their ability or achievements. Instead, they defy limits. They don’t settle for average. Today's Affirmation today: I choose to see the possibilities for myself and my future. I stay gritty, believing I can do the impossible. I see all the ways I can make it happen.

Welcome to High Performance Mindset with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Do you want to reach your full potential, live a life of passion, go after your dreams? Each week we bring you strategies and interviews to help you ignite your mindset. Let's bring on Sindra. Time for High Performance Mindset today with Dr. Sindra Kampoff in studio with us this morning. Good morning, Sindra. It's great to be here. Welcome back. And congratulations on

another Boston finish. Looks like it was a nice warm day out there this year. It was a little bit warmer for runners than people would like, but it was an amazingly beautiful day. Still a very nice day. Good day for spectators, for sure. Congrats again. I know we're going to focus a little bit on some of the Boston Marathon stuff here this morning to talk about. It's good positive stuff that people can use in all walks of their life, not just when it

comes to exercise or running specifically, but we're going to talk about how to focus on the possibilities today. I'm going to start about how to focus on the possibilities today. So I'm going to start with a quote by Henry Ford. He said, if you think you can or think you can't, you're right. I love that one. That is a good one. Okay, so you have a story from the Boston Marathon weekend last weekend. So last Monday, about this time, I was getting ready to run the Boston Marathon at the camp

where we all head before heading out to the 26.2 mile course. And there's a few things that really, really inspired me throughout the race. One of the things I wanted to do was just really enjoy it this time around and not be so focused on my time. And one of the things I did through Wellesley College, there's like hundreds and hundreds of women through Wellesley College. And I decided to slap every single one of their hands. That's cool. Probably 300 hands through Wellesley College. But there was a lot of people who really inspired me throughout the race. I saw amputees, you know, were running.

I saw blind runners who were running with guides. I saw one person at the beginning of the race who was actually running with crutches. Wow. Those are some sore armpits when you get down in the Holy Cow. That's going to be a long 26.2 miles. Yeah. And one of the women who really inspired me is a woman named Catherine Switzer. Yeah.

So if you saw a little bit about her story, 50 years ago, she ran the Boston Marathon before any other women had run the Boston or any marathon in general. This is just a men's race. It was just a men's race. So 50 years ago, we believed that women could run the race. Right. And she registered right under her initials, right? It was something like K.T. Switzer or something.

Yeah, K.B. Switzer. K.B.? Yep, K.B. And what actually happened was, so people didn't know that she was running as a woman, and the race director saw her about halfway through the course and tried to push her out of the race. Right. And her boyfriend stopped him, pushed the race director back out of the race, and Catherine finished. So this is 50 years ago.

Isn't that amazing? It is. But 50 years ago, we thought that women couldn't run 26.2 miles, that they were too fragile. She talks about how people just thought in general that women's uteruses would fall out. Yeah, they wouldn't be able to have kids. It's ridiculous. And how relatively not long ago this stupid knowledge was. And if it's really with what we're talking about today, because that's a lot of restrictive thinking.

But Catherine really saw the possibilities. So, again, she ran the race this year with her charity 26.1 Fearless, you know, to make it through 26.2 miles and through the training and the actual race and then to do this despite the things that are against you, that you only have one leg or that you're on crutches or 50 years ago when you were a woman, it takes a lot of possibility thinking. I think it's awesome they retired her bib number after the race this year too. Isn't that amazing? 50 years later, they put that one away for good.

She was the keynote here a couple few years ago for Mankato Marathon. It's always cool to have these legends come through here like that. So very awesome for her. So tell us, Cyndra, exactly what you mean by the possibility thinking that we're getting into today. So high performers, those people who are working to reach their greater potential, they are focused on the possibilities. So they stay energized and passionate about their work, their sport, their life. And they choose a dream about their future, visualize what they want to happen, even if it hasn't been done before. So they're focused on the opportunities. And they're open to keep their mind open. They move past the

status quo. They just don't settle for average. And they strive really for their best consistently. And that's a key part of success in general. So what is the opposite of this type of thinking then? I'm imagining fairly negative. Yeah, I call it restrictive thinking. You know, where you think like no one's done it before. I don't even see it as an option. Where you think small about yourself or your future and you just kind of see the excuses, all the reasons you can't or other reasons people can't.

And it really comes from a lack of faith in maybe yourself or others and also fear that can really take control of your mindset. So are there examples you can use on both sides here? Yes. Okay. Yeah. So I've got one example of possibility thinking where you might think like anything's possible with enough hard work and grit. Or the possibilities are endless for my life or what I want to do. I can do anything, even though it

hasn't been done before. Whereas restrictive thinking is like, oh, there's no way I can do that or she can do that or he can do that. That's impossible. No one's ever done that. A lot of can't in that one. You hear that quite a bit. Or never or won't, things like that. So what's another way that we can consider possibilities for ourselves? Well, you notice when I talked about restrictive thinking that I said the word impossible. And I like this quote by Aubrey Hepburn. She said, nothing is impossible. The word itself says I'm possible. And so, you know, when you're thinking to yourself, that's impossible. I think the key is to just change it around. Instead, say I'm possible. Watch me. I can do it

because high performers, they really don't put limit on their ability or their achievements. They defy the limits. They move boundaries. And they consider all the ways they can make it happen. So how do you change your thinking so you can move towards possibility focus? Yeah, how do we do that? Yeah. So a few weeks ago, I used an acronym called CAR. I'm going to use it again. And when I think about CAR, I want to drive. I want to be in the driver's seat of my car, of my mind. So CAR, the first C just means catch it. Just notice when you have restrictive thinking.

Just notice it non-judgmentally. A reason to beat yourself up. But then address it. Either just let it move out of your mind like you don't need to pay attention to it or talk back to it. That's the A, address it. And then R, just refocus your attention on what you have to do next. So that's the R. So catch it, address it, refocus it.

All right, give us an example. Well, as you're listening, I want you to think about something that you think is impossible for yourself. Maybe you think it's impossible to go to college or start a new career or maybe you run a marathon or write a book or give a speech. Or if you're a high school athlete maybe you make it to state so you got to catch it you got to notice it and then address it tell yourself all the reasons you can make it happen and then refocus it decide what your next step is going to be to do that and do it so uh you sent a link to uh some boston marathon signs

we haven't really talked about some of those, but you see these along the route at marathons. And I imagine there's just every one you can imagine at one like Boston, where there's people on the course from start to finish all the way. Some really good ones. What was your favorite this year that you saw? My favorite that I saw was run like someone called you a jogger. I did see that one. A jogger. You don't want to be called a runner i was a shuffler yesterday i'm not gonna lie about that uh there's a good one here too that leads off this story with the link that this isn't a book club you have to finish it nice it was pretty good and then of course for the boston marathon it's a good one because you're in boston and you've obviously got the uh well

there's always the very clever keep calm and try not to poop yourself. That's a pretty good one. But there's the Boston lingo that you get out there, right? It's wicked. Wicked awesome, the way they talk out there. So this one is wicked hot. Wicked hot, but you got this. I like it.

Those are some great signs. Good job. Yeah, pretty amazing race. And 30,000 runners, and it's just like lined with people amazing did you see the nearly naked caveman while you were there i did awesome yes that was good that guy ran barefoot and looked good doing it it's crazy how do we summarize today's topic cindra so high performers those who are working to reach their greater potential they focus on the possibilities they think big and dream about their, and they don't put limits on their ability or their achievements. Instead, they defy the limits.

They don't settle for average. And we like to wrap up every day with an affirmation to start the week with. What is that today? I choose to see the possibilities for myself and my future. I stay gritty, believing I can do the impossible, and I see all the ways I can make it happen. I'm noticing a lot of positivity revolving around the High Performance Mindset podcast and a lot of people replying, I just discovered this, it's so great. It's teachers and coaches and athletes

and all kinds of great people that are discovering the podcast. If you haven't done it yet, there are over 100 of them to listen to and mounting and building. So if we want to learn more about you, Sandra, and what you're up to and find out when you're ready

to release the book, which has got to be pretty soon. It's coming. All that stuff. How do we follow along with you? All right. You can head over to my website, DrCindra,

so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A. And you can find the High Performance Mindset episodes on iTunes just by searching High Performance Mindset or on Stitcher Radio if you have an Android.

Cool. Dr. Sindra Kampoff with us today. Thanks for coming in. Congrats again on the Boston Marathon. Thank you. Thanks for having me. She brought her medal in, and I got to hold it before you leave, so don't go anywhere.

Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. Are you signed up for Sindra's weekly email with free mental tools and strategies for high performance? Why the heck not? Text mentallystrong, all one word, to 22828 or visit syndracampoff.com.