High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 151: Starting the New Year with Mojo

Episode Date: January 12, 2018

High performers spend time at the beginning of the year reflecting on where they want to go. They write their goals down and keep their goals posted where they can see them. This increases their chances of success and keeps them going for the year to come. Dr. Cindra Kamphoff is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, Speaker and Author. She provide mental training for the Minnesota Vikings along with many other college and high school sport teams. Cindra speaks to businesses and organizations on how to gain the high performance edge while providing practical strategies that work. Her clients range from Verizon Wireless to Mayo Clinic Health System. Cindra's first book: Beyond Grit: Ten Powerful Practices to Gain the High Performance Edge was published in August. Her Ph.D. is in sport and performance psychology and she is a Professor in Performance Psychology at Minnesota State University. To book Cindra for your next speaking event, visit: cindrakamphoff.com For more information about Cindra's book, visit: beyondgrit.com 

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's time for High Performance Mindset today on The Country Club with Dr. Sindra Kampoff in studio with us for the first time in 2018. Everything's coming up. Purple, Cindra, good morning. Welcome back. It's great to be here. Thank you. Got everything squared away and ready to go with the Vikings. Of course, they'll host the Saints coming up Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium. That's exciting. Saw your article

in the Star Trib. Also very cool. That's good to go. And kind of a ringing endorsement for you with a guy like well, let's just say, we'll start with Adam Thielen in the Minnesota Vikings and a former Maverick, of course. But there are two former Mavericks still in the NFL playoffs right now. Chris Reid for the Jacksonville Jaguars. So it's really kind of a fun time to watch the playoffs from afar and know what kind of effect the past and the present has had on them

and see how that's all coming together. And today we're talking about something. It's interesting that here we are on the 8th of January and you're here. We've sort of talked about this topic with a couple of different people already in regards to like going to the gym and working out. Like say Anytime Fitness and stuff like that. For sure. And I also find it interesting that, and we'll get into this in a moment, the difference between resolutions and goals. And very, very few people are using the word resolution anymore.

Right. And I think that is because people like you are kind of directing us in another way to achieve that resolution or that big goal. So starting off the new year with mojo is the topic. It's one of my favorite words. Mojo is just a good word. It's a good word. It makes you just want to have some energy. Yeah, some swagger, right?

So we start with a quote. What do you have for us today? I have a quote from Og Mendino. He said, The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting and achieving goals. Nice. All right. So tell us about why these New Year's resolutions are not really that effective.

Well, you know, resolutions tend to be just more about our dreams or our desires, maybe some fun things we want to do. We think about them at the beginning of the year, but they tend to be vague. You know, like we want to exercise more, eat better. And sometimes we bite off things that aren't realistic. Try to go from like not doing anything to doing like everything, right? And you fall off the wagon. Exactly.

And I think this is a good time to really think about, okay, on January 8th, what did I think about last week that I wanted to do and what do I want to recommit to? And the difference, you know, why resolutions or why goals are better than resolutions is just because, you know, because of all these reasons, they're vague. They're, you know, we bite off too much. That's probably one of the reasons why as few as 8% of people who make a New Year's resolution actually keep it. Eight. Only 8%. Yes. 92% of us out there falling short of that resolution, I think because there aren't goals

involved maybe. So what do you suggest we do instead? So I suggest that you, instead of resolutions, that you set some goals this year. You write them down. You write down why you want to achieve them. And about three or four is a really good number. More than that, we have a little too much to achieve them. And about three or four is a really good number. More than that, we have a little too much to focus on. And again, this is a great time of the year to really think about not only what do you want to do, but who do you want to be this year and how do you want

to show up? And so what do we know about goals and success? Because a lot of times people will say you got an ultimate goal, but there's a lot of small goals to get there. Absolutely. And this is really clear in terms of in the research that successful people are goal oriented. So they have a vision for where they want to go and they have a vision for themselves. They know what they want to do each year and then how their goals every single day connect to that vision and what they want to do for the year. So and they also keep their goals and their vision in focus throughout the year, not just the first couple of weeks of January. And I think that's really important as you're listening to think about, okay, what do you want to do? How do you want to be? But then

how are you going to remind yourself of this throughout the year? You've mentioned before the importance of writing those things down, whether it just be a post-it note on the mirror in the bathroom or on your computer at work or, you know, on your phone. So when you open it up every time and there's a number of different ways you can write this down. But there are some tips that come with writing our goals down. What is your first tip? You know, my first tip is, you know, maybe something you don't consider, you know, typical related to goals. But I think the first step is to really think about, like, what would make you a better you this year?

What would really help you be the best version of yourself? And you know, what if you what if you focus on would make all the difference this year. And I think when you think about that, that helps you frame, okay, what is it that I want to do? Who do I want to be this year? And you know, these goals that you're going to write down should be exciting. They should ignite your passion, they should give you energy. And that's why we call this segment starting the year off with some mojo. You know, just like we should like make you excited to get up out of bed. Sure. So we should write that down. Consider what would make you a better you. Absolutely. And at least reflect on it as you're as you're writing these. What's the

second tip? The second tip is, you know, try to be as specific as you can and make sure that the goals are just slightly difficult. And so what I mean with this is just like slightly out of your comfort zone. So you want something that's going to push you and you want to make sure they're specific so that, you know, to keep you really focused throughout the year. So if I just said, you know, I want to exercise more, it's kind of vague. But if you said, you know, I really want to exercise. How about I will? Because that's even a stronger statement. You know, I will exercise three times a week this year.

And so you want to keep them just slightly out of your comfort zone to really push you. And, you know, you might be thinking, well, I haven't done that in the past. You know, I haven't been able to stick with something in the past. My son just said to me yesterday, Mom, I'm not concerned about the past. I'm only concerned about the past. I'm only concerned about the future. How old is he? Eight. Oh, man. Way more together than I did at eight, for sure. That is great. Oh, man. What's your third tip? The third tip is to not only write down what you want to do, but why you want to do it. And so people are more successful when they write their

goals down. And they also write down why. And so here's more successful when they write their goals down. And they also write down why. And so here's a few pieces of evidence. There's a research study called the Harvard Alumni Study that asked Harvard students 30 years ago how many of them had their goals written down. And what's your guess? You think how many Harvard students? Pretty smart. I don't know. Maybe I was going to say 50, 50, 50 percent. Yeah, you'd think about half was only three percent. Oh, my God. Actually had them written down. Yes. OK. And what they found is 30 years later that those three percent made more money combined than the 97 percent. Wow. Write it down, people. So you got to write it down and you want to write

down kind of why you want to achieve it or why you want to move forward towards it. And your why is what drives you. So as you're writing it down, even ask yourself, you know, why multiple times. Maybe there's multiple reasons why, you know, that's really important. And you want to write down your why because that connects at a subconscious level. And what's your fourth tip? The fourth tip is to maybe the more boring one. And that's, you know, how are you going to move forward towards this goal? So, you know, how are you going to,

can you plan out what you're going to do to accomplish the goal? This is really important. I think that the step that most people miss and why resolutions don't really work, because we tend to think about what we want, but we don't necessarily write it down. We don't plan it out. You know, so as you're thinking about, you know, how you want to move forward this year with some mojo,

write your goals out, write your why, and then what's your plan? What are you going to do to move forward towards that? And then I think the key is to decide today to move forward. Awesome. I like it. Write them down, people. There's proof right there for you. How do you summarize this topic for us today? Because there's nothing wrong with if you hit the first of the year

and made a resolution and have already fallen off the wagon. You can set goals at any time. It doesn't have to be the beginning of a new year. So maybe today is the day. You can do it every day. Summarize this for us today. So I'd say high performers, those people who are working to reach their greater potential, they spend time at the beginning of the year reflecting on where they want to go.

They write their rules down. They keep them posted somewhere they can see them, like you said, TJ. And they also write down their why so that they can really stay motivated and excited for the year to come. And all of this increases your chances of success and keeps you excited. All right. And our power phrase to wrap up with for this week. So I know where I want to go, who I want to be, and what I want to do. Each day I stay focused and motivated to go after my goals. Excellent. All right.

Well, if we want to follow along with you, I know that, like I said, there was a Star Tribune article. Maybe people have checked that out in the business section about Sandra and some of the work that she's been doing. But the book is a great way to go about it. I noticed, I think it was on social media this weekend, too. Well, it was in that story where you, too, where, well, it was in that story where you said, you know, you might take one chapter a week. Ironically, there's 52 chapters, right? Yeah.

And, you know, you can take your time with it. You can motor right through it. You could, you know, there's, did you say there's a workbook coming out that goes along with that pretty soon? Yeah, so I just came out with it over a break. Okay. So it's there now. So a few weeks ago.

There's a lot of options and opportunities with Sindra here to help you get going where you want to go and reach those goals that you're setting. The ultimate goal, obviously, is where you're aiming at and the little goals to help you get there. If we want to get in touch with you, how do we do that? So you can head over to Dr. Sindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A, and the book is called Beyond Grit, 10 Powerful Practices to Gain the High-Performing Edge. And you can get that at beyondgrit.com or Amazon as well. 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.