High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 176: Finding Your Next Level

Episode Date: April 25, 2018

“You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” Richardo Parente High performers find the next level by putting in the work. They realize they won’t feel great all of the time, but stick with it knowing they will feel better in a mile. They help others because they know that doing so releases positive endorphins and they generally care for others. They adjust their goals when needed – and stay focused on the process of being at their best – not the outcome. My High Performance Power Phrase:  “I put in the work necessary for success. I stick with it knowing it will feel sweet at the end!” 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. She coaches athletes, CEOs and executives one-on-one to help them learn and apply the mental tools that lead to success. Cindra also speaks to and works with businesses and organizations on how to gain the high performance edge while providing practical tools 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 or learn more about her one-on-one coaching, visit: cindrakamphoff.com For more information about Cindra's book, visit: beyondgrit.com

It's time for High Performance Mindset today with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Sindra is in studio with us today. Good morning, Sindra. Good morning. It's great to be here. What a gorgeous morning it is, too. I know. Holy cow.

I'm fired up to get done with work and get outside today, finally. I was in such a happy mood yesterday, all day. I'm just like, this is amazing how beautiful it is. Did you have your windows open at home and just letting the breeze come in? I'm like, it has been so long. So yeah, it really feels great. Something to talk about today, which I think is a good one when we head into this time of year where people are going to be getting outside and maybe they're going to try the run thing. Maybe they're getting on their bike or maybe they're just looking to make some life changes in general. Whatever it is, the topic today is finding that next level. What's the

quote we're starting with today? This is a quote by Ricardo Parente. He said, you can't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pocket. That's good. That's good. So what's our example to start with today? So my example is from last Monday from the Boston Marathon and Desi Linden became the first U.S. woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years. So it was the 122nd Boston Marathon and it took place in a torrential downpour, colder than normal conditions, about 40 degrees and with winds in her face between 20 and 30 miles an hour. That's crazy. Crazy. And I think what the cool thing is about her story is last year, she actually was the most confident going into the race.

This was her sixth Boston Marathon that she ended up winning. And so last year, she felt more confident. She had actually just come off a seventh place finish at the Rio Olympics, and she had been a runner-up a few years before. But then after last year's race, she felt really burnt out. She almost was thinking about retiring, but instead she took five months off to kayak and fish and read. And I actually think maybe that's why she came back stronger. Nice. All right. Well, so there were a lot of people that took those conditions that they

couldn't control and just decided to kind of fade away and not finish or didn't finish as well as you maybe would have expected them to do. But some people did do very well on Monday in those conditions. So who did end up doing very well in the race on Monday? Yeah, the Boston Marathon in general, I think is ideal for people who thrive in adversity, given that it's like 13 miles downhill and then, you know, six miles uphill. But particularly, you know, Monday, it really was ideal for people who thrive in adversity. And so even if you look at the top spots for both men and women, they went to the runners who could juggle like, you know, these non-ideal circumstances, maybe that they were balancing work and family and they stuck with it in the race.

You know, even the men's winner, Yuki Kawasaki, you know, was a full-time administrator in Japan. So I think that's just really cool. I saw a quote from him that said, these were ideal conditions for me. I mean, he wasn't like joking, but he was saying, you know, not ideal, I would say, but they were not conditions that bothered him. He didn't mind running in the rain and the cold and the wind. Yeah.

And even Desi said that, you know, like, hey, this is ideal for me. That it's like all these, you know, this terrible weather. It would be worse if it was perfect weather. Yeah. Is there something extra special about this race that you can tell us about? I know you've run it a few times. Yeah. You know, I think the really cool thing about this particular race was what happened in the women's race. And so there was this, what people have been calling like a historic collaboration of American women, because they wanted an American woman to break

the tape. And so Desi Linden actually said like between mile three and four, she felt really horrible. And she was thinking about dropping. And she gave Shalane Flanagan, another US woman, a tap on the shoulder. And she just said, you know, there's a good chance I'm probably going to drop out today. So if you need anything, like need somebody to block the wind or adjust the pace, like let me know. And so Shalane actually took like this bathroom break around halfway through.

Poor girl. He saw it all over TV for like three days afterwards. I was like, heaven forbid, someone should take a bathroom break. But you usually don't see the elites do that. No, you don't. So she took this bathroom break. And so Desi hung out, you know, by back by her. And so that they both kind of caught up to the rest of the elites together.

And this is what Desi said. She said, you know, when we work together, like you never know what's going to happen. And she said, actually helping Shalane helped me get my legs back. So I think it helped her like regroup and, you know, gave her that surge to keep on going. That's amazing, too, because I don't think that a lot of people would be able to hang back, wait and then catch back up with the elites who didn't stop. So, you know, what did she say then about helping others along the way? She said, you know, everyone was pretty selfless on the day. And, you know, that's, you know, we were just looking at what is going to help us to give ourselves the best position to be successful.

And, you know, she said we all wanted to win. But by the end of the day, it wasn't just about the individual. It was about getting the win for America. I don't think a lot of people realize how much help goes into some of that stuff. I was, in fact, talking to somebody about the Shields Spring Half Marathon just this weekend and how windy it was on part of the course. And they said a big, tall, broad-shouldered guy

came barreling by him as he was running into the wind. And he's like, I just said, alright, dude, you're going to do that? I'm going to tuck right in behind you. And you're able to draft behind that guy. And he's kind of a windbreak for you as you're going. You save some energy, maybe have a little bit better finish down the the road and that's cool to see that uh the americans were working together like that through conditions and and i think you can take that kind of mindset and

transfer it over to business if you've got like a team that you're working with yes and and helping others can in the long run help you. Why is that? Absolutely. So there's a really great article this week in Runner's World where they quote one of my colleagues, Nicole Detling from the University of Utah. And actually she's been on my podcast. And this is what she said is that your brain releases endorphins, dopamine and serotonin when you help somebody. Okay. So what does this really mean? Like endorphins or like sort of like morphine, a way of like reducing your pain and dopamine increases your motivation, focus and serotonin boosts your mood. You know, and said, you know, I think this is one of the reasons why Desi was able to turn it around, because, you know, this bond really helped her, you know, increase her motivation or focus.

And then I think she also could see that like other people were hurting, were hurting too, that she wasn't the only one who was struggling. And she even said, you know, today was bigger than one person. It was really about us pushing each other. I thought it was really cool because when Shalane Flanagan won New York and Desi congratulated her on social media, Shalane's response was

you're next. And then somebody had screen captured that and said, Shalane Flanagan can predict the future or something like that. Oh, that's awesome. And I'm like,

that was really neat to see them work together. I also saw like, Shalane tweet this week something like, my legs, this is the worst my legs have ever felt

my whole entire life, but Desi won, so my heart is full or something like that. So cool. So give us another explanation of why Des helping her competitor actually helps her.

Yeah, so I think another reason is this idea of called Des helping her competitor actually helps her. Yeah. So I think another reason is this idea of what's called disassociation. And, you know, what that means is we can have disassociative thinking or associative. Associative means like when we're thinking about ourselves and what we're doing and our pace and how we're feeling. Whereas disassociation is actually when we're distracting ourselves and we stop thinking about it. And so I think actually Desi helping Shalane, she stopped thinking about how much the race sucked. And she started not thinking about the pain and discomfort. And she was able to really kind of shift her focus, not just to winning the race, but to help Shalane.

And I think this helped her reduce how she was feeling in terms of her perception of pain. So what does it take for people to finish that race, in your opinion? I think it took a lot of things. I think it took controlling the controllables, right? Like not focusing on what you can control. And I think in the moment when there's so much adversity coming at you, you have to adjust your goals. And I think that's what they did is they weren't focused on their outcome goals like winning or PRing, but instead on the process. What are the small things I could do to be successful and maybe actually helping somebody else could really help me.

I think sometimes we get so overcome by the outcome and focused on the outcome that it creates pressure. I just want to clarify PRing personal record for those that don't know. There's some runner lingo right there, right? So how do we apply this? Since that's runner lingo, how do we apply it to our life? Absolutely. You know, I don't think we're all in the position to help Shalane Flanagan, you know, but there are ways that we can get similar boost in our performance.

And so, you know, just think about how can you help other people today? And this will also boost your mood, boost your performance. And I think, you know, kind of what Nicole said in that Runner's World article that this hormone surge, it's temporary. So it only lasts about six seconds, but you can capitalize it by continuing to feel positive emotions and like positivity after you help somebody. So I think that's the main point to help your positivity keep going is to help somebody today, help somebody. So I think that's the main point to help your positivity keep going is to help somebody today, help somebody every day this week.

Other than that, which I think is important, what's another take-home point today? I think the other take-home point is like, if you listen to the whole segment, it's like these people were thriving through adversity, right? And to do that, they didn't think too much about themselves. They helped other people and they did have to adjust their goals.

And I think Desi helping somebody else in the race speaks a lot about her character, but just makes it sweeter at the end. We have talked many times, and this has nothing to do with running a marathon, but it is kind of a marathon if the weather is bad when we go to Winstock, right? The weather's terrible all weekend long and there's nothing we could do about it we just have to wallow in the mud from thursday to sunday and get out of there all of our best stories come from when the weather is like that we have to deal with it nice and the same we're all stuck in a camper we're all running from place

to place look at all of the great stories and all of the all of the things that can be learned from a race like this that wasn't ideal. So how do we summarize this topic today? Yeah, you know, and I also think like everybody's dealing with something. And so just the idea that, you know, high performers, you know, I know that's you because you're listening. They find the next level by thriving through the adversity. And they realize that maybe it's not going to feel great at the time, but they're going to stick with it knowing it's going to feel better. And they help others because it does release this positive endorphins.

And they adjust their goals when necessary to stay focused on the process of being at their best. So when I go on social media later and like the power phrase for the day, because I know I love this topic, what is it going to be? I thrive through adversity. I stick with it knowing it will feel sweet at the end. Nice. All right. Well, if we want to get in touch with you, maybe get a hold knowing it will feel sweet at the end. Nice. All right.

Well, if we want to get in touch with you, maybe get a hold of the book or subscribe to the podcast and listen. I listened to a couple of good ones on some runs last week. And they just keep popping up. I know. There's more and more and more and more. And there's always good stuff to listen to. Where do we catch up with Sindra Kampoff? You can head over to DrSindra.com.

And that's the book information is over there in the podcast. And you can always find the podcast just by searching High Performance Mindset on iTunes or Stitcher Radio or iHeart Radio. Finding the next level is the topic this morning with Cindra Kampoff here with High Performance Mindset. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Yes, good to have you in. Every Monday morning at 7.30 on Minnesota 93.