High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 111: How to Have More Courage

Episode Date: May 30, 2017

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the decision that something else is more important than fear.” Ambrose Redmoon High performers know that growth happens in their Courage Zone. They act with courage and bravery. They play big! They take risks and try new things. They live a life continually pursing their dreams. Affirmation this Week: I choose my Courage Zone. I will play big, try new things, and act with courage and bravery.

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. It is time for High Performance Mindset today with Dr. Sindra Kampoff in studio with us. Good morning, Sindra. Good morning. Great to be here. Good to have you in. Talking today about courage and having more of it, as a matter of fact. And we usually start with a good quote to get us off and running. So courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the decision that something else is more important than the fear.

This is by Ambrose Redmond. All right. And so you have an example for us to start out today when it comes to courage. So what got me deciding to talk about this this morning is this weekend I went to the Women in Sports Ecology Conference and keynoted at it. It was in Tampa, Florida, and the organizer asked me to kind of just share how I've got to where I have with the podcast and with other things, working with the elite athletes. And so as I was thinking about this, I was like, you know, I think the key factor was me choosing to act courageously even when I didn't want to. And so at the end of the presentation, I had them write activities in their courage zone and in their comfort zone. And that's what got me thinking about doing this today and sharing this message about having more courage. All right. So what do you mean by courage zone? And then we'll get to comfort zone in a little

bit. But these are two different zones that we can kind of exist in, right? Exactly. If you look up the definition of courage, it's just the ability to do something that frightens you. And really what your courage zone is, is when you're developing and expanding yourself, when you're trying new things, when you're connecting with new people, conquering your fears and acting with courage and bravery. All right. So and then our comfort zone. I think that's a lot of people commonly use the term comfort zone.

But what do you mean by that? Yeah, I mean, it's like when you're not growing, when you're playing small and living small and you're just kind of surviving, you're settling for less. And can you let fear and doubt and regret and insecurity get the best of you? And the key is, is our comfort zone is entirely of our own making. So most people kind of live there. But you know, the the best don't high performers don't they choose their courage zone. And I've heard a lot of people talk about your comfort zone, too. And I think people are probably pretty familiar with that. But the key is, you know, it's like, what I find is helpful is the thing about what I want to do what I don't want, or I don't want to live

my comfort zone, but I do want to live in this courage zone and to act with courage and bravery and really go after my best every single day. Is it something that we might move in and out of from one to the other from time to time? Is that something that we can do? Like, okay, so right now I'm in my comfort zone. Obviously, I'm at work. This is what I do every single day. But then something might be coming up and I'm like, all right, time to move into my courage zone and take that on. Exactly. And I think it's really a decision to be more courageous and live more in your courage zone because that's where you grow. Whereas like in your comfort zone, you hold yourself back. All right. So why is this so important for us to think about? Obviously, a lot of people just live in their comfort zone kind of subconsciously and

don't even realize it. They're just getting by every single day. But if you take a good look at it and really pay attention to getting in and out of that comfort zone into your courage zone, how can that be beneficial and important for us? So the comfort zone is really where you hold yourself back. But with courage, that's really where your full potential happens, where high performance happens. And honestly, it's the only place where true happiness occurs because it doesn't happen. Happiness doesn't occur when we're not growing and we're not learning. And so we're most happy when we're growing and we're learning and we're trying new things. So I'd say your full potential lives in your curd zone, not in your comfort zone.

Okay. So do you have examples of how we hold ourselves back? Yes. So I want to give you an example. Okay. And you think about how baby elephants are trained. Okay. So this is something interesting you might not have thought about. But from birth, they're confined to really small spaces.

And a trainer wraps a rope around their leg and attaches the rope to a wooden pole. But the baby elephant isn't strong enough to kind of snap the rope. But, you know, you can try day after day and the baby elephant wouldn't be able to snap the rope. But when the elephant grows into adult size, sometimes like five tons, the elephant is perfectly capable of breaking the rope, but it doesn't. Okay, so this kind of shows you just like when you do the same thing over and over and over and over again, you don't break free from the rope. So this puny rope confines the five-ton elephant. That's kind of your comfort zone in action. So what are some examples of the two zones? Okay, so yeah, this weekend, I'll give you some clear examples of what people did,

because I've never had people write these activities in their comfort zone and their courage zone before. I've done it personally, but it was kind of cool to see like other people's examples. So one person said the difference between their comfort zone and their courage zone was when their comfort zone is like exactly what they're doing right now, where their courage zone is what they could be doing to grow. Okay, some some clear examples where, you know, like a comfort zone is kind of this person was a PhD student, and the comfort zone was kind of like just believing that she wouldn't get a job and believing what other people would tell her. But her courage zone was actually going after her specific job that she really wanted, her dream job.

One person's comfort zone was kind of just sticking with the job that she has, but she wasn't very happy with. Her courage zone is actually finding a new job. So your courage zone is like kind of being persistent with an opportunity, asking for a salary that you're worth. One person actually said she was going to take the year and decide to like live in her courage zone. So any opportunity that came up, she was going to decide to go for it. Oh, wow.

Yeah. Yeah. This weekend, I was watching Gustavus tennis play and they were playing the team that's sixth in the nation. They're 21st in the nation. And they had to have a lot of like courage just to go after that and to believe that they could. So I think, you know, in sport, it's like believing that you can you can win against the underdog. And they did it. So those are all examples of kind of just choosing your courage zone. So how do we embrace our courage zone, even if it's difficult for us? So the next time you get to a table, I tell you to take out a

piece of paper and write out your courage zone and your comfort zone activities. What are the ways that you're playing small? That would be your comfort zone. And I think just by giving yourself a gift and writing these two areas out would help you gain more awareness. And then, you know, choose to decide your courage zone. Maybe you can be like the person I just shared with you who said she was going to, you know, every single time this year that she knew she was kind of in her comfort zone, she was going to try her courage zone. So could you, you know, could you decide maybe this week to choose your courage zone or maybe this month or this year to go after building yourself more courage to build that muscle? All right.

Okay. All right. Okay, well, get in your courage zone and try to live there a little bit more often. Step outside the comfort zone that you've been just kind of getting by in. Treading water is what I'm picturing. Nice. Just kind of sitting there. So how do we summarize today's topic then, Cyndra? So I'd say high performers, those who are working to reach their best, know that growth happens in their courage zone. They act with courage and bravery. They play big. They pursue happiness and they live a life continuously pursuing their dreams. Nice. And then we always wrap up with an affirmation and you find

this on social media to start the week with as well with this topic in studio on Mondays. So this week's affirmation? I choose my courage zone. I play big, try new things, and act with courage and bravery. That's a good one. That is a good one. That's a post-it note on the mirror in the morning kind of thing right there, folks. So grab that one, jot it down, and if we want to follow along with more of what you are up to, I was right in the middle of some of your podcasts yesterday on my run when things went awry. So I stopped and panicked and sent you a text message, but I'll get better. And you're choosing your courage zone this week to believe, right? I believe that I will get better and I will be okay in less than five weeks at Grandma's in June.

Yes, it can work. It's going to happen. I'll be fine. It'll be good. But it was nice to get some words of wisdom from you. And I also, the first person I got in touch with was I sent a text to my wife and she said, It's going to be okay. It'll be fine.

You know? Yeah. I'm like, I need people like that once in a while to talk me off the ledge. So if we want to get in touch with you and want to listen to the podcast,

which help out greatly with that kind of stuff and follow along on book release information when it becomes available and get all of this useful info, how do we get in touch with you? So you can find my website,

Dr. Sindhra. So D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A. I'm always on Twitter, mentally underscore strong. And then if you'd like to find more information about the podcast, just search High Performance Mindset on iTunes or Stitcher Radio. That's a good podcast. I have listened to every single one of them. That's awesome.

I'm all caught up now. I've got to find something else to listen to for a little bit next time I get out on the trail when I'm feeling better. Dr. Sindra Kampoff with us today. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. If you liked today's podcast, make a comment, share it with a friend, and join the conversation on Twitter at Mentally Underscore Strong. For more inspiration and to receive Sindra's free weekly videos, check out DrSindra.com.