High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 161: Mentally Preparing like Olympians

Episode Date: February 28, 2018

“You can have all the talent in the world, but it takes a special person with the right attitude to succeed.” Olympian Brenda Martinez High performers mentally prepare. They spend the majority of their time in the present – not in the past or the future. They accept what they can’t control instead of fighting it. They interpret their nerves as excitement and fly their butterflies in formation. Week’s Power Phrase: I accept what I cannot control instead of fight it. I gain control by keeping my mind in the present. Dr. Cindra Kamphoff is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant, Speaker and Author. She provide mental training for the Minnesota Vikings along with many other championships teams. Cindra speaks to and works with CEOs, 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 with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Good morning, Sindra. Good morning. It's great to be here. It is great to have you in.

We've got a great looking week here. Things are bright, sunny, mild as far as temps go, and gorgeous with the snow clinging to everything. And now the Olympic Games, we closed them down last night, but our topic today really has to do with the Olympics, and then kind of putting it into your

everyday perspective as well. The topic is mentally preparing like Olympians. And I love this, because if you watch the Olympic Games, you saw and heard a lot of, I think if you were paying attention, about the mental game when it comes to the Olympic Games. So perfect topic. We like to start with a quote. What do you have for us? This is from Olympian Brenda Martinez.

She said, you can have all the talent in the world, but it takes a special person with the right attitude to succeed. And you have some examples for us today? You know, like you, I saw a lot of examples this year about the mental game and just about the importance of training your mind. Last week, we talked about Michaela Schifrin and how she's been so open with her self-talk and her nerves and her own kind of self-doubt. And I think it was really eye-opening for people. You know, she threw up right before her first run in the slalom race. It sort of got

everyone talking about, should that be something that you do? Should you throw up? Should you not? And then, is that okay? It seems like a weird thing you would talk about. I mean, if it happens, it happens, but I wouldn't try or seek an opportunity to vomit before I compete. We're going to talk about something that relates to that and just how to handle nerves, how we can learn that from them as well. But then last week I saw an article towards the end of the week about the women's hockey team who won the gold for the U.S. And Clean Hacker is the sports psychology person who works with the women's hockey team. And this is what she said in this article. She said, there's not an athlete or team, Olympic or professional, that isn't utilizing the services and expertise of a mental skills coach.

Woohoo. Yeah. So that was pretty cool to see. And so what I thought we could do today is talk about three things that we can learn from the recent coverage of mental training in the Olympics. And then how does this apply to our lives? Because we aren't Olympians, but we can think like them. Okay. Well, that's good to know. That's what I was going to say. What makes the Olympics so unique in that, you know, this being our topic today? Well, it is so unique because, you know, Olympians train for four years. So put it another way, they only get one chance every four years to really, you know, be at

their best. And so it's 340 million people watching. You know, I read this article that Bodie Miller, one of the ski greats, said, there isn't anywhere lonelier than at the top of a ski hill with the world watching. I saw some criticism on Bodie just because of his delivery, but I think he did a great job at the Olympics as a commentator this year. He is kind of a little bit monotone or whatever, but he delivered the straight info, and he has excellent insight into some things we don't know about skiing.

Absolutely. Yeah, and he talked quite a bit about the mental game and all those kind of things. Yep. It was very nice to see that. So as we maybe head out to work today and think, I want to tackle my career like an Olympian, how do these Olympians mental train? Well, like Colleen Hacker said,

they all have somebody that they're working with, either individually or with a team. And really what mental training helps you do is prepare for events like this, big events. And so we know Olympic athletes obviously push their bodies. They train really hard. They have incredible talent. But what really separates them is training their brain. And just like they can, we can train our brain for a big event that we have coming up or even daily really is important.

But that big event might be an interview, a speech, a project you're working on that's really important. State tournaments coming up. Right. Yeah. Massive snowstorm probably, too, because that goes hand in hand with a basketball tournament. But train your brain. Why should we do that? And I guess we'll get into how we do that as well.

You know, Clean Hacker in this article, the hockey team said, you know, the physical differences between athletes and teams at the elite level are so small. But what separates the good from the great and the great from the greatest is really the psychological component. And that separates us in all of our professions. You know, you can think about people who are really strong in your profession. You know that they've mastered the mental game. Okay.

Yeah, you're right. And when you think about that. This profession, maybe just. Just, yeah. Yeah. Just the crazy part. Let's dive into this a little bit more, though. Okay.

Because I like where you said that at the elite level, you know, teams physically are pretty fairly matched up. It's that mental game. And we've seen that, right? MSU football. Oh, for sure. We've seen mistakes happen. And those guys are like, okay, it physically are pretty fairly matched up. It's that mental game. And we've seen that, right? MSU football, we've seen mistakes happen. And those guys are like, okay, it's done now. Burn it. And they move on. And the teams that don't, well, they don't win. So tell us the first thing we can learn from some of the recent coverage of the Olympic Games. So the first thing is, you know, that many of these articles talk about the importance of being where your feet are, and that we can learn to be in the present, in the present moment.

And there's so many distractions in our world right now. I think about my phone is my biggest distraction. It's just in my pocket all the time. And so this article suggested that 60% of our thoughts are in the future. 30% are in the past, leaving only 10% in the present. So do we want to try to be more present then? We want to increase that 10% number? Absolutely, because that's actually where our best is.

Our best lies really in the present moment. And the only place our best is, is in the present. And so, you know, 60% in the future, 30% in the past, 10% in the present. And, you know, when we're not in the present, our performance really suffers. And so what we want to do is just gently notice where our mind is and then bring it back to the present to train ourselves to get that get that number higher. So besides being in the present and training ourselves to be in the present, what is the second thing that we can learn from the recent coverage? So the second thing that they talked quite a bit about was accepting what you

can't control. You know, Olympians, there's a lot of things that they can't control, like the conditions, the competition. The wind. The wind. Yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. And how even the events got moved, right? The media coverage.

But they can control how they respond. And like the Olympics, and just like us when we're in really high-pressure situations, it can seem like danger. But what we have to do is really focus on what we can control. You know, Caroline Sibley, who is a sports psychologist for the U.S. It can seem like danger. But what we have to do is really focus on what we can control. You know, Caroline Sibley, who is a sports psychologist for the U.S. figure skating team, said the athletes who tend to have performance problems are those that don't hold themselves accountable to some sort of positive action. And instead, they kind of go through the motions with their body just kind of competing without their mind connected.

And so what we have to do even in our lives is like, accept what we can't control, not fight it. Because if we fight it, we're going to be further away from our best and really stay, stay connected to our body. And sometimes, you know, we can just not be fully present. What's another thing that we can learn about how Olympians mentally train? So I go back to the Michaela Schiffer, an example, the skier. And, you know, she was really nervous before she did the slalom. And so I think the thing we can learn is that anxiety is something we generate. And but we can we can be taught to manage it. And we talk in my field quite a bit about like getting our butterflies to fly in formation and being nervous and anxious means that you care. But we have to reframe it as something that's normal and to really gain control to be in the present.

I like that. Butterflies in formation. I like that. Because it's going to happen. You just have to be able to manage it. I like that, too. But the big point is most of us aren't taught how to manage those butterflies, how to get them in formation. So what do we do? I mean, what would you say to us in this short time span that would lead us in that direction? I think the most important thing is to take control of your breath. So when you're getting really nervous, that's what's

going to help you calm down and clear your mind. And so I talk about a 15-second power breath where you might do four or five in a row, but you just count in six seconds and breathe in through your nose and hold it for two and then count out seven. And we want to count with it so our mind isn't thinking about anything else, like what we're nervous about. And this past month, I had two high school athletes that I was working with, and they came to me because they were really struggling with anxiety. And this was the main thing that really helped them, just working to realize that anxiety is normal and natural, but they have to manage it. So this power breath really made a difference. And they both qualified for state.

Yay! That's awesome. So it's pretty fun. Very good. Sweet. 6-2-7. Remember that when your boss is yelling at you at work today. Just take a breath and regroup and move on.

Nice. And live in the moment, I guess. This is good stuff for us today. Great stuff to start the week with. How do we summarize today's topic? High performers, those people who are working to reach their greater potential, they mentally I guess this is good stuff for us today. Great stuff to start the week with. How do we summarize today's topic? High performers, those people who are working to reach their greater potential,

they mentally prepare and they spend the majority of their time in the present, not in the past or the future. They accept what they can't control instead of fighting it. And they interpret their nerves as excitement and fly their butterflies in formation. Awesome. This will end up on social media when we're all said and done here. It's the power phrase for the week, and it's a good one to have handy.

Make sure you follow along with Cindra. What is this week's power phrase? I accept what I cannot control instead of fight it to gain the high performance edge. Perfect. If we do want to follow along on social media or listen to any of your podcasts, which these episodes turn up on there, as well as several of the best in the business that Sindra interviews, maybe even get the book.

I mean, there's so much going on as far as training the mental game with Sindra Kampoff. How do we get in touch with you? You can head over to beyondgrit.com, and that's where you can get the book and workbook. And then you can head over to Dr. Sindra, and that's where you can find the podcasts and videos and everything else. Mentally preparing like Olympians. Sindra and that's where you can find the podcasts and videos and everything else. Mentally preparing like Olympians. Sindra Kampoff with us today. Thank you very much.

Thanks for having me. 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. For more inspiration and to receive Sindra's free weekly videos, check out DrSindra.com.