High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 183: Be Where Your Feet Are

Episode Date: May 24, 2018

“Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” Mark Twain   High performers know that being present is something we need to practice. Now is the more distracted time in our history and we must practice focusing on attention on what matters – the present. With phones and technology, we can be easily distracted and anxiety. To practice mindfulness, or staying in the present non-judgmentally, we can use a body scan – mental scan, environmental scan, or head to toe scan. This helps connect us with what’s going on right now so we can be the best we can be!   Power Phrase this Week:  "I gently bring my attention to the present moment. Letting go of all worries or regrets. Instead, empowered to reach my best right here and right now." 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    

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. Dr. Sindra Kampoff with us today for High Performance Mindset. Good morning, Sindra. Good morning. It's great to be here. Good to have you in. And I know this is a topic that I know we've said this before. I don't know that we've elaborated and really dug into it as much. But being where your feet are.

So kind of living in the moment, being present with what you're doing right then and there is the topic today. And we always start with a quote. What do you have? Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. Mark Twain. Cool. So first you have a story to talk about about being in the present. This is

a story about me this time around. And this weekend we had a really busy weekend as a family. Saturday was super busy. We had a two hour drive to Blaine, Minnesota to have to watch my son Carter play lacrosse games. How did the games go? I wanted to. It was great. It was fun. It's fun to watch him. And I love lacrosse. It's like new for him and new for us. Sure. And then we went two hours south for graduation for my niece. And normally, like I do work in the car, right? Like it's trying to kind of check things off my list and I have a hotspot. So I connect my computer to the internet, you know, and mostly what this does is I get checked out from this deep conversation, right? Like I'm doing my work and, you know, I'm trying to make use of my time while my kids are doing something and my husband's driving.

But this weekend was different. Eight hours of no work, eight hours of just being there, no looking at my phone, and eight hours which ended up being great conversation and connecting with my family and noticing the gorgeous green grass and how beautiful Iowa is and Minnesota is. And it felt really different and wonderful. Well, a lot of people kind of think this is an opportunity for me to get this done. And, you know, I'm really making good use of my time. And maybe that's not always the case. So why do you think it's important for us to practice being present? Yeah. And hopefully as you've heard that story, you are thinking about yourself in ways that you might do the same, maybe not in the car,

but it's really important because we are more distracted than ever before and we're overworked, we're overscheduled. And I think as a result, we're underperforming. And I think one of the main reasons is because we have this massive distraction in our pocket, which is our phone. Yeah. And so we have to learn to control our attention. And I think it's one of the biggest skills of kind of our century because we're going to get more and more distracted. There's going to be more and more things coming at us. But I think one thing that's really important to just remember is that by human nature,

like we're not disciplined or we're not self-controlled. So we really have to be intentional with that. All right. It's something we definitely need to work at. I can, you can feel that we're getting more and more away from that, too. So why is working to stay in the present so important? Because that's the only place that your best lies. And so we know that negative emotions like regret and depression, we experience that when we are thinking about the past and negative emotions in the future like pressure, anxiety.

And so we're having more and more of this as a society in general. And so we want to practice being present so we don't miss out on our lives. I have to tell you that that just resonated because I did that over the edge for Vine thing this weekend. Yeah, I saw that. That looked awesome. Yeah. Before I went up.

Yeah. Jeff Lang, Stunt Monkey, told me, he said, when you get up there, he's like, do not forget. He's like, you get nervous and everything. He's like, but do not forget to take a moment and look around. He's like, it is the most amazing view. And so when I got up there, I wasn't nervous

until I had to lean back off the building. And I looked at the guy and I said, I just got nervous. And we kind of laughed and he's like, all right. And I'm like, can I look around? He's like, yeah, now look building. And I looked at the guy and I said, I just got nervous. And we kind of laughed and he's like, all right. And I'm like, can I look around? He's like, yeah, now look around. And so you look backwards, you look around.

And you got nervous because you were thinking of the what ifs, right? Right, right. But with the nerves, I might have forgotten to take that time and look around had somebody not said something to me. Like, make sure that you look around. Because I was in my own like this just doesn't feel natural yeah nice it was a beautiful view that's cool you wouldn't have experienced that yeah um so we we talk about a lot

of great topics here on the radio every monday but you also interview a lot of really really good people that have a lot of good advice and techniques that we can use on your podcast. Who'd you talk to recently? I talked to this week, Mackenzie Havy. And so she's the author of a book called Mindfulness and Running. And she's written a lot for Runner's World and ESPN and Self Magazine, Outside Magazine. She has a master's degree in sports psychology. And so we actually talked about using mindfulness and running, but life and business. And so what mindfulness is, it's really paying attention to the here and now without any judgment or wanting it to be different.

And I think that's really hard to practice. So she talked about how 50% of our waking hours, our mind, it wanders. It's like half the time. That's crazy. And so I think Lisa just said, what experiences have you missed out on because you are distracted or your thoughts were in the past or the future? I like that you guys were able. I mean, obviously, she wrote a book about running, but you're able to connect it to life and business and other sports and things like that.

So how does all of this connect to performance? You know, in performance, I mean, you know, everyday performance, not just in sport, but life and in business. And, you know, it connects because it's about paying attention to the process and not the end goal. And it's the, you know, in the present is the only place where you're actually feet are actually the same place as your head is. And so your senses are heightened and you have higher confidence and optimism, which in turn increase performance. And one of the studies that she quoted, which I knew you'd love this, this TJ is she said one study when you suggest that when you practice medics when you do meditation for 20 minutes a day it actually increases your discomfort rating by up to 40% so kind of what this means is that you're able

to handle 40% more discomfort and like when you're exercising when you're running like you actually need to be yeah depending on where you're at in that run it can be very discomforting yes just need to be able to. Depending on where you're at in that run, it can be very discomforting. Discomforting. And being able to kind of sit with that and push with, you know, like not fight it can be really helpful. And so she just talked about how there are changes to the neuroplasticity of your brain. And that's why we need to practice being mindful.

And she shared three ways to be mindful. So what's the first one? So she shared three different ways to do scanning exercises. And she said this is the easiest way to start. So that's why I thought we could talk about these today. So the first one, which I think is perhaps the most powerful, and the one I use the most, is called the mental scan. And this is where you just notice, you know,

what are your top three thoughts running through your mind right now? And what are the emotions attached to those thoughts? So it's not about changing your thoughts. It's just kind of noticing them and just knowing that a thought is just a thought. You don't have to take it as a truth and it can really help you kind of examine the doubt you experience intellectually, not emotionally. So it's not about not having the negative thought. It's just redirecting your mind to the present and noticing what's going on. So what's the second strategy? She talked about an environmental scan to help you kind of heighten your senses. And she said, you know, use your five senses to notice what's happening in the moment. So it might be like, you know, what do you hear right now?

What do you smell? What do you feel? What do you taste? What do you see? So I'm thinking about how people can do this when they walk into work today. You know, just notice all the small things maybe that they haven't noticed noticed before or the smell of coffee or whatever the smell is that they walk into. And a third strategy? The third strategy she talked about is a body scan. And this is where you kind of notice what's happening with your body. You kind of start with your head and your forehead

and just release any tension, paying attention to your breathing and your hands and traveling down your body. That's totally crazy because often we'll do that. Like, I'll do that. And I'm like, you know, you figure out where you hold your tension in your shoulders and your neck. That's where I do right there. And she talked about how we can do this just in everyday life. But especially when we're running or working out, it helps us kind of release the tension. Or maybe when we're performing, like I bet when you were doing the jumping off the building,

however I describe that, like, you know, you didn't want to be tense. No, I don't think I could help it. That first step. I could imagine. That first step. So what final thoughts do you have? So being in the present moment and training yourself does take effort and a lot of effort, a lot of practice, but you want to be mindful, not mindless. And so, you know, not just reacting without thinking. And so thinking,

you know, summer is starting, it's getting nicer out and wondering if just, you know, having this as one of your intentions to being where your feet are, you know, with your family as you're exercising or at work. And I think it can help you reduce your stress, be happier and not miss out on your life. I'm thinking about how people will ask me, what are you doing here? Or can you do this? And I'm like, I don't know. I got to pull out my calendar and look, because if I'm thinking about all the things in that week lined up on my calendar, oh my gosh.

Yeah. Looking at all those things. I really honestly have to go hour by hour or I'll just be stressed about everything all the time. So when I leave here at work, I'll look, okay, where do I need to be next? Okay, now I'm just thinking about that because I'm thinking about what I've got to do Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and I know that's not

always the case. Sometimes you have to be thinking about that stuff, especially with families and work commitments, but it's just a lot easier to just take it, you know, sometimes hour by hour, minute by minute, who knows? So final thoughts summarizing this up today. This is a good topic and a good one for all of us on a Monday. So high performers, those people who are working to reach their greater potential,

they know that being in the present is something we need to practice. Now is the most distracted time in our history, and we must practice focusing our attention on what matters, the present. We can be easily distracted and anxious. So to practice mindfulness or staying in the present non-judgmentally, we can use these scans as a start, a mental scan, an environmental scan, or a body scan, which helps us connect to what's going on right here, right now, so we can be the best we can be. Excellent. And the power phrase for this week? I gently bring my attention to the present moment, letting go of all the worries or regrets, and instead empowered to reach my best right here, right now.

Awesome. Now, if we want to follow along with you, Twitter, website, get the book, podcasts, all of that, what's the best way for us to get all that info? Hey, you can head over to Dr. Sindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A. And I do talk about this topic in my book, Beyond Grit. So you can head over there and check it out. All right. All the podcast episodes are up there or linked to there in some way.

They're good stuff, too. I will load those up and I'll go out for a run and I should probably dial that one up today when I go out because I'm hoping that maybe I can go out for a little bit longer run today. I've been dealing with some injury issues and I'm hoping to be able to kind go out for a little bit longer run today. I've been dealing with some injury issues, and I'm hoping to be able to kind of push it a little bit more, and that'll be a good one to listen to while I'm out there today.

Dr. Cinderkamp off with us today for High Performance Mindset. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Yeah. 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.