High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 192: How to Be More Productive

Episode Date: July 3, 2018

“People think that focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means staying not to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Steve Jobs   High performers train their focus. They know that busy doesn’t mean they are doing the most important work. They know their human nature is that you are not disciplined and nor have self-control. So, train your mind to focus on what’s most important for them given their mission and purpose. They decide to focus on one thing – put the distractions away. High performers say no so they can say yes to the most important things. Power Phrase this Week: I train my focus to stay lasered in on my purpose. I do what is uncomfortable not easy!   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 in the house with us today for High Performance Mindset on the Country Club. Good morning, Sindra. Good morning. Thanks for having me today. Yeah, thanks for coming in. Holiday week here, and I like this topic because of the holiday week, because this might be where we struggle this particular week slash month slash summer on the three strategies to be more productive. I know that this, especially with the holiday landing on Wednesday.

Absolutely. I feel like everybody's week is kind of like. Like this is a throwaway week. Yeah. Exactly what I was going to say. I am going to get through the motions. I'm going to get to Wednesday and we'll see where we go from there. And it's not always the best case scenario.

Maybe for a week in the summertime it's okay, but maybe not all the time. Certainly not all the time, right? So let's start with a quote. We like to start with a quote every time and then go into a quick story. So this is Steve Jobs' quote. He said, People think that focus means saying yes to the thing that you've got to focus on, but that's not what it means at all. It means staying focused or saying no to the hundred other good ideas that are there. And you have to pick carefully.

All right. So what's important at the time, I suppose, right? Absolutely. What's the task at hand? So let's start with a quick story. Yeah. You know, we all have important things to do in our day. And at the end of the day, you might look back if you're anything like me and you are busy but not productive.

And, you know, one of the things I'm working on right now is I'm developing an online course to go with my Beyond Grit book and workbook. And what I find is, okay, so I have to have all these video outlines done by next week, Thursday. And I might get to the end of my day and I was busy, like responding to emails or following up on other things or, you know, doing other things. But I'm not getting the most important work done, the vital work, the most important work that I need to do in that day. And I bet you can kind of relate to what I'm talking about. Oh, for sure. There's times, yeah. In fact, what did I just say this morning? I was like, oh, I told my I'm talking about. Oh, for sure. There's times, yeah. In fact, what did I just say this morning? I was like, oh, I told my dad I was going to do something for him.

Yeah, I've got to get this done. And I know it's really important to him, and I have just not had the time, but I need to prioritize and get that done. So let's take your story or mine or whatever and connect it to this being more productive. And how does that work? Yeah, so I think we think that busy equals productive and we've become just an overscheduled and overworked society.

And so, you know, I read this one stat that said 89% of us don't get the three most important tasks done in a day. So like when we get to work, we, you know, maybe we think about the what are the most important things that we need to do, but only 89% of us don't get those three things done. And so I think we're distracted by the work that really doesn't matter. That's not important to our mission.

That's not really essential to our job. That's not like this vital work we were talking about last time. And my story kind of relates to that. It's like, OK, I got to do the vital stuff first. What then are the distractions or what's the biggest distraction that keeps us from our productivity? I think the most important killer of productivity is multitasking. And so if you look at the research, you know, studies show over and over again that we think that multitasking is maybe a good idea, right?

But really, when we multitask, we get things done slower And with lower quality than just kind of focusing On one thing at once That is crazy for me to think of Hold on I'm calling my wife Wait a minute I've had this conversation with my husband I told you I told you I can only do one thing

At a time My husband said no no no I'm doing this I can only do this at one time. I'm like, why can't you do both? I can do both. And he's like, well, I can't. So if he's listening, he's going to say, I told you so. Oh, no! But we can't think about two things at once.

So that's why multitasking doesn't work. That is really a myth. And really what we want to do is kind of be fully present on what we're working on. So obviously this is important to being a high performer. How does that, why is it so important? When I think, you know, when I think about high performance, I think it's about reaching your potential and not comparing yourself to anybody else,

but continually being your best. And you can, you only experience peak performance when you're focused on the present. And that's why, you know, it doesn't work to multitask. It doesn't work to be working on multiple things at once. We want to be focused on a single thing to get it done with the best quality. And I think that's going to help us in our job and our family and like our happiness, too, because we can be overcommitted and overscheduled. Sure. Trying to do too many things at a time. Listening out there, moms. I know. A lot of times. I'm talking to myself. Yeah. So what do you think prevents us from being productive?

Well, I think, you know, I go back to my story and I think it's about doing the easy things. I was looking at this, like looking at research about how often we look at emails in one day and one study said that we look at our email 40 times in an hour. Oh my goodness. Really? I often catch myself thinking, I should do this, but I'd rather do this right now. Yeah, and maybe do the easy stuff.

Yeah. Yeah, and so the stuff that's most important to us is really uncomfortable. And so meaning like it's going to be the hard stuff. That's maybe why we put it off is because do we do the easy things first instead of doing what's uncomfortable first? And the things that need most of our attention is the things that are really going to push us that are uncomfortable.

All right. So you've got some strategies. I do. Okay. So should we jump into the first one? Yeah. Okay. So decide to do one thing at a time.

I think we are in this age of crazy distractions, epic distractions. So we have to train our focus and our attention. And so that means, you know, focus on one project, one objective, turn everything off, maybe even your phones and putting it away. So you're not distracted by checking your email on your phone like 40 times an hour. So the first strategy would be decide to do one thing at a time. One thing at a time. All right. So what's the second strategy? I think we need to say no more often. Something that I've been working on trying to do, because, you know, I go back to the Steve Jobs quote that, you know, you need to say no to say yes to the things that are most important, the things that are connected to your mission and

your purpose. And I think more and more we're distracted by maybe things that really don't help us. I was listening to this video by Darren Hardy, the editor of the Success Magazine. And he said, you know, busy is a weakness. Busy means you're out of control and busy is just poor prioritization. I was like, whoa, that's what I thought. All right.

Okay, what's the third strategy? Decide on a goal and write it down, like a big goal and write it down. But I think the key is, is like, decide what you can do today to that towards that big goal. That's really the most important work. And when I was writing Beyond Grit, for example, you know, it's a really big project. So it was kind of hard to start at the beginning because it was so big. And even the middle, I didn't write for a little while because it was so big. And so, you know, we want to know where we're going. But

today, just focus on the next easy step, because that's going to be easier than like thinking of this big goal that seems so overwhelming that you don't end up doing it. So I think that's what you have to do to achieve like the impossible is to break it down. All right. So you've got a big question for us to consider. Kind of the same as last week. What is that? So this is the same question I asked everyone last week. You know, what are you willing to give up to get what you want? And we have to train our focus and our attention. We have to give up some things that aren't important so that, you know, we can be focused on our purpose and our job the best that we can. We have to do the hard, hard things first. I have a tough time with that because I feel like I'm letting other people down sometimes. Saying no. Saying no. Yeah, me too. Me too. I have a tough time with that because I feel like I'm letting other people down sometimes. Saying no.

Yeah, me too. I think it's a muscle you've got to train. Right? I feel like I'm the kind of person that does take a look at what I have to do, and my son and I are similar in this way where my daughter and wife are completely different, but my son and I

will be like, okay, this is the list you left me of things to do. What sucks the most? And then we'll just do that one first, and then that way the chores get better as they go. I like it. I don't always do it that way, but that's a great strategy, because that's like doing the uncomfortable first.

One of my sons is like that, definitely. And it's not a terrible way to live, but sometimes you do it and people look at you like, oh, I often admire my son

that eats the frog. Yeah. He does. The tough thing first. Right. So let's summarize today. This is a good one. And I know that some people

are like, yeah, but I pretty much survive on the multitasking thing. And I think maybe they're thinking, okay, you've got a lot of things going on and you're handling a lot of things, but it might be all related to the same task at hand. You know what I'm saying?

For sure. Instead of, you know, well, I don't want to get too deep into that. I'm not the expert. So let's summarize this today. So high performers train their focus. And they mean, you know, they know that busy doesn't mean that they're doing the most important work. They know they have to train their discipline and focus and focus on the most important things that are connected to their mission and their purpose.

And they say no to the things that aren't as important so they can say yes to the things that are important. All right. Let's package this up in a power phrase for the week that will help us all remember to do those one things at a time and not necessarily be all over the road all the time.

Power phrase. I train my focus to stay lasered in on my purpose. I do what is uncomfortable, not easy. There you go. That's good. And then you get it done and it's over with. I like that. It's behind you, right?

It's good stuff. If we want to learn more, and you mentioned the video series that's coming to go along with the book and the workbook, there's just so much going on and so many great ways to improve ourselves or our offices or our teams with Sindra Kampoff. How do we get in touch with you? You can head over to Dr. Sindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. And this is always posted on the podcast High Performance Mindset by tomorrow. So you can re-listen if you'd like. Just go into iTunes or iHeartRadio or Stitcher Radio. And this is always posted on the podcast High Performance Mindset by tomorrow.

So you can re-listen if you'd like. Just go into iTunes or iHeartRadio or Stitcher Radio. Excellent. Sindra Kampoff with us for High Performance Mindset. Good to see you. Have a happy 4th. Thank you. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset.

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