High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 190: What You Need to Give Up

Episode Date: June 27, 2018

“There is no passion to be found playing small- in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” Nelson Mandela  High performers are say yes to vital work. They do the hard things first and stay focused on the work that supports their goals and purpose. They rid themselves of trival work – work that doesn’t support their goals and purpose, and drains their focus, energy and positivity. They say yes to the work that matters and no to the crappy stuff! Power Phrase this Week: I stay focused on my purpose and doing the vital work to support my mission. I say “yes” to what matters most!   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. It's time for High Performance Mindset on The Country Club today, and Sindra joins us in studio. Good morning, Sindra. Good morning. Thanks for having me today. Absolutely. Always good to have you in on a Monday.

We appreciate you bringing a little positivity today. And I like this topic today. This is one that if you listen to this segment every Monday and you're like, OK, sometimes I get some things, sometimes I don't. Or I kind of just tune it out and it's in the background. Focus in on it a little bit today, because this could be a huge start to something new for you. Maybe as you're going into the workday today. Absolutely. Something to think about here. What you need to give up is the topic. And I like it. It's good. I think it's going to be an eye-opener for a lot of people. So let's start with your quote. So my quote is by Nelson Mandela.

He said, There is no passion to be found playing small and settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. All right. So let's start with a story that involves you and what's going on and how this topic revolves around that. Okay, perfect. So I recently saw a video where Mark Parker, the CEO of Nike, was talking about a phone

call he got from Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple. I think this was around 2006. And they were working on collaborating on a new project called Nike Plus, like something that they're bringing to the marketplace where both companies were working together on. And he said to Mark, like, congratulations. And then Mark asked Steve if there was any advice that he had for him. And Mark, you know, was new to the position. And Steve said, no, no, no. But then there was a pause. And he said, you know, he said, Nike makes some of the best product in the world, some of the most stunning product. But you also make a lot of crap.

And he said, you know. He's not lying. No, no. So he said, you know, get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff. And he expected Steve Jobs to laugh, but there was no laugh. And so what Mark said, like he took it in and he was like really reflecting on what Steve Jobs said. And he made it out.

He's making it a focal point in his job as CEO and president to stop making the crappy things. All right. Well, Nike Plus is a pretty big dang deal right now. I mean, if people utilize it and they know what it is, it's pretty awesome, you know. So that's something that's worked out well for them. Now, let's talk specifically about, that's a good story, but let's talk about your story as well, because I know that over the last week you were very, very busy.

I was busy. It was pretty awesome. I was doing a lot of vital work. So something we're going to talk about today, I had five keynotes in three days. So it was outstanding. Wow. I spoke at Nationwide on Tuesday and then Grand Casino at their National Leadership Development Conference. And then AgriVantage Software and General Dynamics on Thursday.

Isn't that a cool day? That is a busy week, yeah. Yeah. And in each of those talks, I talked a little bit about purpose and doing your vital work. Like the importance of living on purpose, doing the vital things that support that and not doing the crappy things. And I think that's what Steve Jobs told Mark. You're not focusing on the most important products. You're kind of focusing on too many things instead of making yourself and your company world-class at one thing. And I think that one

thing, when it's connected to your purpose, that's really when you thrive. All right. Let's talk about purpose then. Why is purpose important? You know, our purpose gives us a deeper meaning to our lives and why we're here. And one of my favorite books on purpose is a guy by the name of Richard Leiter. He's actually from Minnesota and he wrote a book called Power of Purpose. And he said, you know, only when our purpose is larger than ourselves can we see that we're becoming the best version of ourselves. And how today is connected to like what we need to give up is, you know, when we're really working on purpose, when we know what our purpose is and our goals are, we're able to

really focus on what's most important, what's the most important work that we're doing. So the topic is what you need to give up. So what do, well, let's talk about what we have to give up to live with purpose. Tell us a little bit more about that. So we have to give up trivial work so we can do vital work. And that's what Steve Jobs told Mark Parker is that he needs to give up the crappy stuff. And so what I ask you to think about is like, what is the crappy stuff you're doing that you need to stop doing? So what are the things that you don't need to do that you're doing? That's the trivial work. So what I found myself doing is like my trivial work is like social media or maybe other people's

trivial work or like when you go on YouTube and you spend your waste time doing that. Or maybe you have a habit of watching TV every night, you know, or, you know, think about your trivial work. What's really not important that you're doing? Those are some pretty big ones. Are there other examples of trivial work? I mean, I think it's pretty easy to get distracted in 2018. It is really easy. I think when it's getting to work at 8 a.m. on a Monday and you look at the emails and check all the emails, maybe those aren't the most vital work that you're doing.

But I think when we get sucked into responding to emails instead of doing the hard stuff, and typically the hard stuff is the vital stuff. I was listening to this program by Darren Hardy. He's the author of Success Magazine or the editor of Success Magazine. And he said, don't give all tasks equal attention. Like he said, don't major in minor things. Oh, okay. Isn't that super good?

That's great. Yeah. And so he's saying like, don't submit to doing the small stuff first, right? The mistake is kind of doing the loudest things first. And your email might be the vital things or the loudest things, but they're also sometimes the trivial things, not the most important things. And I think we get stuck in doing things that don't matter instead of doing what really matters to us.

So how do we make sure that we're doing the vital work? So I think the first step is to think about, you know, what is your purpose? In my book, I have some really good exercises about writing a purpose statement and finding your why. And then I think it's like, you know, deciding what are the two or three goals that are most important to you. And if they're, you know, not connected to that, then saying no is really important. If you think about the most successful people, they're the best at one thing,

right? They're world-class at one thing. And we have to actually say no to some things to say yes to others. And the things that we have to say no to are the trivial work, not the most important work. Because I think we're wasting our time on kind of these unworthy activities. And like TJ said, more and more distractions, like we've never been more distracted in our world. Absolutely. What else can we do? So I think the other thing is you just start paying attention to where you're spending your time because your time is really valuable.

I think sometimes we don't realize that or recognize that. And so, you know, like we think like social media or YouTube is free, like it doesn't cost us, but actually it does. There is a cost, isn't there? Because it's like a time suck. It's a time suck. It's a tension suck. It's a distraction.

And I think sometimes it's a distraction on our positivity. And we get, at least when I notice myself, you know, stuck on it, I like all of a sudden feel more negative than positive. So this stuff can distract you from your goals and your purpose. And, you know, Danny Gabriel, a coach in town, I love one time I heard her say that, you know, whatever you say yes to, you're saying no to something else. And so I try to keep that in mind, especially when you're kind of sucked into this trivial work. So you have a big question for all of us listening to consider. So my big question today is, what are you willing to give up to get what you really want?

And that's the importance of doing the most important work to you. Not doing the things that are just easy, that kind of provide this dopamine hit, right? Social media provides us a dopamine hit. That's why we get addicted to it. And so, you know, instead of doing the things that are most important to your goal and your mission. So what are you really willing to give up to get what you really want? All right.

Give us an example. So one of the people that I'm working with is an elite runner. And so, you know, her vital work or things that are going to help her get to the Olympic trials, which is her goal. You know, so running core work, learning how to eat healthy foods and cook healthy foods, whereas maybe her trivial work is like Facebook. Like that's important to her image to post on Facebook, but she can get too caught up on it. Right. And so that's like athlete wise. How about like somebody in the business world or, you know, the rest of us?

Absolutely. So like, let's say a CEO, somebody I'm working with, his vital goal is to understand how his team works, to set goals and hold his people accountable and setting a vision for his future. But his trivia work are tasks assigned to other people or doing tasks other people could do. He's the CEO. He needs to do CEO work. Okay. And myself, I'd say my vital work is like speaking and coaching and writing and teaching. That's all, right?

Everything else is just trivial work, things that I can get sucked into doing. And so I go back to what Mark Parker or what Steve Jobs said to Mark Parker, right? Is we have to clear our lives of the crappy things to be great at our purpose and to live for the reason that we're here. This is pretty good stuff, too. And I think it's good Monday stuff for people driving into work right now thinking, yeah, you know what?

Mondays are a great day to start something new. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. And really work on it for those five days and then the next maybe five or if you include the weekend in that depending on what it is. So let's summarize the topic today because it's a good one. High performers say yes to the most important work, their vital work, and they do the hard things first and stay focused on the work that supports their goals and their purpose. And they rid themselves of this trivial work, work that doesn't support their goals and purpose and drains their focus and their energy and positivity. They say yes to the work that matters most.

And so one of the things we like to say is that we have a power phrase every week that pertains to this topic. And if you did what we said and you listened close and you thought, all right, I'm going to go for this. This is the one you're going to put on the post-it note and put on the bathroom mirror and remind yourself all week long or maybe on the laptop or whatever it is. That's going to help you remember to stay focused on the most important stuff. What is today's power phrase? Yes, you can write this on your sticky note. I stay focused on my purpose and doing the vital work.

I say yes to what matters most. Nice. If we want to follow you on social media. I know. Only go on there just a little bit. Just a little bit. Just to, you know, like the power phrase so you can go back and look at it once in a while. I know that sometimes you're going to be there anyway, but you have the time for it, right?

Yes. Okay. If you have the time for it, if we want to follow you on social media or hit your website or get a copy of your books, any of those things. Social media might be vital work. It could be. Yep. I keep the brain right.

That's for sure. But how do we get in touch with Dr. Sindra Kampoff? You can head over to my website, drsindra.com. That's where the information on the book is, Beyond Grit. And this is always posted on iTunes and Stitcher Radio, iHeart Radio. So you can head over to there if you want to re-listen. It's always posted by tomorrow. All right, good stuff.

What you need to give up. What is it? Figure it out. Dr. Sindra Kampoff with us today for High Performance Mindset. 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.