High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 126: How to Have Present Moment Focus

Episode Date: August 10, 2017

“Life is available only in the present moment.” —Thich Nhat Hanh High performers know that their mind can be in three places: the past, present or future. Next time your focused on the past or future in a negative way, remember that these are the places where negative emotions live. Your success is determined by your ability to stay in the present moment. To stay focused on the here and now, commit to staying aware of your focus, moment by moment. It’s all about awareness first, choice second. What is this week’s affirmation? "I live and play in the moment. I can do anything and be anything right here, right now."

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 now for High Performance Mindsets with Dr. Sindra Kampoff, who is saddled up in studio with us this morning. Good morning, Sindra. It's great to be here this Monday morning. It is a nice day. It is. And the week looks pretty good. And so here we are getting a little motivation on a Monday on the Country Club, as we often do with High Performance Mindset. The topic today is present moment focus.

And this is good. I've seen this kind of come up in a couple of different places lately. So it's a good topical topic. And we always start with a quote. So what do we have going on here to start with today? This is a quote from Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. He said, Life is available only in the present moment. Alright.

So, live in the present. And it's the moral of the story, I guess. So there's an example to start off with. Yeah, the example is actually in professional baseball. There's a New York Yankees rookie right fielder. His name is Aaron Judge, and he uses the dirt to clear his mind. Let me explain what I mean.

So when he's at bat, he actually reaches down to pick up some soil around home plate. And he does it subtly so none of his teammates really even notice. It's part of his routine to help him focus on the next pitch so he doesn't agonize over the last pitch. And this is what he said. For me, it's just a way of slowing things down, taking an extra two or three seconds to grab some dirt. He says, for me, all of my negative thoughts that I have about, you know, how did I miss that pitch? Why did I miss that pitch? You shouldn't have missed that pitch. I just kind of sit there and kind of crush it up with the soil. And once I'm done doing that,

I toss it aside. So he said, for me, that's basically tossing all of my thoughts out like, hey, I'm done with that. That's over now. He starts fresh, gets back in the box, and gets the positive thoughts I need to get back to my approach and stay in the present. Very much like that flush it technique we've talked about many times with you before. I like the quote in the story. I read through them, and I noticed when it said mental game, that's where I took the most notice because I thought, here's what we'll be talking about. The mental game is what separates the good players

from the great players. So anything I can do to get that mental edge to help me stay my best, I'm going to try and do it. Absolutely. And you know, this is an example in baseball, but we all use just the analogy and the importance of staying in the present. And that's why he uses the dirt to stay in the present. So he's not focused on the last pitch, which is the past. So we're obviously talking about a very good baseball player and we're familiar with him because it was down to him and Sano in the home run derby this year. And so a lot of Minnesota Twins fans were watching. And this guy's a beast, man.

He's a big guy. And he hits the snot out of a baseball. So we're talking about a professional athlete here, and most of us are getting up and making sure the kids are settled before we go off to work today. So how does it apply to us on a regular basis? You know, we might not be professional baseball players, but the story emphasizes the importance of staying in the present.

And really, the present is the best place where our best performance takes place. It's the only place where we can actually be at our best and really where we thrive. And so your best performance can't happen if your mind is focused on the past or the future. And that's what the story really emphasizes. Kind of dwelling on the past is something I think a lot. Well, I shouldn't say a lot of people because I'm just that person, but I'm like trying not to dwell on the past is something that is hard to do. So is there a way to kind of paint a mental picture for us to explain what that is?

Yeah, I have like a line with two arrows on the side and your mind can really be in three places. The past, which is on the left hand side of this arrow, the present, which is in the middle and the future, which is in the right hand side side of this arrow, the present, which is in the middle, and the future, which is in the right-hand side. Like a continuum. Like a continuum, exactly. And the present is in the middle. That's where your best occurs. And you can do anything or be anything in the present. Whereas in the past, we can experience negative emotions like anger, frustration, maybe even regret, depression. So when Aaron was saying things like, when he says, why did I miss that pitch? Gosh, I shouldn't have missed that pitch.

He's thinking about the past. All those words you just said are negative, but they could even be longing. They can be, exactly. Like thinking of something that I did, I did it really well back then. Sure. Instead of what's going on right now.

And maybe that could be hurtful in terms of, how come I can't do it now? Right. Whereas in the future, we tend to experience, that's where we experience fear or anxiety or pressure, or we're focused on the outcome. So you can kind of think about it as, you know, when we're focused on the future, we're thinking, what if instead of in the present where we're saying like, let's go. And you know, this applies to all parts of our lives obviously all pro athletes know this and they work to master it but we were even talking about how this applies to everyday life you know in parenting if i'm focused on you know what what happened at work when i get

home i can't be fully present in the moment or when i was writing my book there was a lot of times where i was thinking about you know what if so and so doesn't like it instead of just you know being at my best or what logan said before we got on air, which is a great example, when people are at a concert and they're Snapchatting the whole time, instead of just listening and enjoying it. And I think those are all examples of how we can really be more often in the present. So we need to train ourselves to be more present in the present moment. How do we do that?

It's absolutely something that you can train. And there's two key parts of training your present moment focus. First, awareness, and then a choice to bring your mind back to the present. So kind of let me explain. So just first, it's about being aware of your focus, knowing where your mind is.

And a few questions you can just ask yourself, where are my thoughts right now? And are they in the present? You know, if not, you have a choice to bring it back into the present. So you're not focused on the past or the future. So really at the base of this is, you know, present moment focus is all about awareness first and then a choice second. This really happened at my house yesterday. My daughter, it was something as simple in parenting as my daughter wanted me to paint her toenails.

Okay. And I had other things that I had to do. Sure, absolutely. I told myself, calm down, let's do this right now. Pay attention. We had a really good conversation while I was doing that. That's something I might have missed if I would have said, oh, just give me a minute. Let me do it later. Right. And those are the moments where they become magical at home, right? Yeah, it was really cool. Painting your toenails. Really great example. So the second part about choice, let me give you some examples of how to bring your attention back to the moment. Once you notice that it's not there, you could take a deep breath. And a lot of pro athletes maybe even ask this question, like, what's important now?

Or does acronym win? What's important now? Or just notice what's going now? Or this acronym WIN, what's important now? Or just notice what's going on around you. Notice how you're feeling. Notice the pulse of your body or notice your emotions. Take a deep breath. So those are all things that you can do just to get more fully in the present. Notice the things around you. And so the choice part, take a deep breath, refocus. What happens when we get distracted? Because we do. We do, absolutely.

And I think the key is that we should use these strategies to really get in the present more often. When we do that, that's where we really experience our best. Because the awareness part is what you need. I can stand here and tell you now that, yes, I sometimes dwell on the past. You sit there and say, you know what I should have did? You know what I should have said? You know what I, you know, or the, oh, I got to do this and it's going to suck. It's going to be terrible.

I don't want to do this. It's going to be awful. And then of course you build it up to be so bad that it can't possibly be as bad as you're thinking it is. Instead of just living in the moment. I do that more often than I should, but it's being aware. I can tell you right now I do it, but when it's happening, that's where I struggle. That's where the awareness needs to come in. Absolutely. And that's where you can ask yourself these questions.

I like that. Take a deep breath because yes, it does refocus your attention and it's okay to take a second before you answer or react in situations. Absolutely. And it's actually better if you do. This was a lot of good, useful information today, but we like to kind of condense it a little bit as well. How would you summarize today? So high performers, those people who are working to reach their greater potential, which they know is people listening or they wouldn't be listening, they know that their mind can be in three places, the past, present, or future. The next time you're focused on the past or the future in a negative way, remember that's where

negative emotions live and your success is determined by your ability to stay in the present. So to stay focused here and now, commit to being aware and then making a choice second. All right. And the affirmation for this week that goes along with this great topic. I live and play in the moment. I can do anything and be anything right here, right now. Nice. We should almost revisit this on the first day of school

or the first day of the school year. This is really good. I have a question quick before we wrap things up. Yes. Is this book week? I think so. All right. That seems like a kind of a wild question,

a wild answer, but I'm supposed to get them this week. So yeah, they're supposed to be delivered to my house, but you know, I won't believe it until I actually see them. You have to believe. We want to hear as soon as they show up. Oh, no, I will bring some for sure. But hopefully by next Monday I'll have them.

If not, it'll be early next week. Isn't that amazing? Yes, there's a book that a lot of these topics will be in that you can get from Sindra. There's also the website, all of the great podcasts, which I am quickly falling behind on. I i got to get my butt in gear on that and of course every monday here on the country club and if we want to follow along with you what's the best way to do that you can head over to drsyndra.com and then you can subscribe to the high performance mindset on itunes or stitcher radio all right good topic today with the present moment focus with dr syndra kampoff and high performance mindset today on minnesota 93 thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

Yes, have a great week. It looks like beautiful weather. Going to Ribfest at all? I'm not, but I'm going to training camp a lot. Yeah, there's a lot of that going on, too. Yes, and it'll be a nice week for that as well. We have trivia from McDonald's coming up next on Minnesota 93. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset.

If you like today's podcast, make a comment, share it with a friend, and join the conversation on Twitter at Mentally Underscore Strong. 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.