High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 205: Think of the Possible

Episode Date: August 29, 2018

“If you think you can or think you can’t, your right.” Henry Ford   High performers focus on the possibilities. They think big and dream about their future. They do not put limits on their ability or achievements. Instead, they defy limits by using CAR!   Power Phrase:    I choose to see the possibilities for myself and my future. I stay gritty, believing I can do the impossible. 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. All the sounds worked that time around. Nice. The different computer though. It's the other computer. Oh, you know, there's that. Dr. Sindra Kampoff with us today for High Performance Mindset. Good morning, Sindra. Good morning. It's great to be here. Great to have you here. We have a good topic today and something that I think a lot of people will be able to kind

of work into their current situation, I would have to imagine. Yes. Think of the possible is the topic today. We'd like to start with a quote. What do you have for us? This is one of my favorite quotes by Henry Ford. He said, if you think you can or think you can't, you're right. I love it.

That's a great one. Story to start with. So Saturday night, I drove up to Minneapolis and I spoke at the Moms on the Run banquet. And it was over 300 runners, many of them who had completed their first 5K or 10K that morning. And it was so incredibly inspiring. Before I talked, there were like six or seven women who told about their stories and how they got involved in running and why they got involved. And many of the reasons were like to lose weight. And they ended up finding themselves through

running and finding this community. And I kept on thinking about just, you know, how it takes so much courage to try something new and put yourself out there and connect with new people. And I kept on thinking about kind of this word impossible. And actually what it means is I'm possible, which is something that we're going to talk about today is like possibility thinking and not restricting yourself on what you can do. All right. So what do you mean exactly by possibility thinking? So I would say that high performers and what I mean by high performer is, you know, those people who are listening, who are working to reach their best, their potential, and

they're focused on the possibilities and that helps them stay engaged and passionate about their work, about their family, about their life, about the activities they participate in. And they choose to dream about their future and visualize what they want to happen. They really open up their minds to all the possibilities, like pushing past the status quo and pushing past what they think their limits are. Seems like pretty good advice. Why is that so important? I think it's so important because this possibility thinking is a key factor in our success, and it's something we should engage in every day. But our automatic negative thoughts don't

always help us do that. And so we kind of settle for average instead of just striving to be at our best and striving for our potential. I think right now, this Monday I'm thinking about all the people going back to school and for myself and how that can seem really overwhelming

or your summer's ending. Right, because most teachers go back to school today to start their work. Workshops and stuff like that. Maybe they're driving there right now. So hopefully they're listening. Right.

And some of them are probably a little grumpy about it. And others are looking towards the opportunity and the possibility of the school year. Right. So you've got two different frames of mind. And depending on which one you're in here, you might be going, yay me. I'm totally in line with what Cinder is talking about. And the rest of you are going, all right, teach me how to Dougie here. What is the opposite of this type of thinking then?

So for those that are kind of in the negative mindset right now. So I would say restrictive thinking, you know, where you think, well, no one has ever done it before. I don't even see that as an option or there's no way I can do that. You know, when you're kind of thinking small about your future or your year or yourself and you see the excuses, the reasons that you can't or others can't. I think this comes from a fear, kind of fear sometimes of the unknown or a lack of confidence or faith. Okay. So do you have some examples that you can use? So some possibility oriented thoughts would be things like, you know, anything is possible with enough hard work and grit. Or the possibilities in my life or, you know, my sport or activity are endless.

I can do anything that I haven't done before. So those are examples of possibility thoughts. Whereas, like, the opposite, restricted, would be like, oh, there's no way I can do that. Or this is going to be a terrible year. I have so much to do. I can't think straight. Right? Or, you know, that's impossible. No one could ever do that. So easy to get caught up in that way of thinking.

Even if you've done it before, that whole thought of like, yeah, I've done that before, but that's hard work and I don't want to do that. I get caught up in that. Yeah, I don't want to do that. For sure. For sure. That's going to take too much effort. Right. Right. So what's another way for us to consider the possibilities? Well, I really like this Audrey Hepburn quote, another one of my favorite quotes. And she said, nothing is impossible. The word itself says I'm possible. So it's kind of cool how it's just the same word, but it's changed differently. And I think, you know, possibility thinking is really helping you think about what, you know, what's maybe what you might think is impossible,

and how can you turn it around to that you're possible, or that it's possible. And I think that's what the best do is they're not putting limits on their ability or achievements. They're, you know, moving past what other people think. And when people say, well, that's impossible, you know, they take it kind of as a challenge. You're like, okay, I can do it. Watch me. So that's an example of possibilities. It's so funny. I was having that conversation with Kevin this weekend And somebody told him, our team's never going to make it to regions And they did And he told me, I just went back and said, don't ever bet against me So how do you change your thinking so it's more focused on the possibilities?

So I use an acronym called CAR And this is what it stands for So it's catch it, address it, refocus it. And this is like three steps to address when you're thinking in a negative way or limited way or destructive way. So you want to catch it. You just want to notice it non-judgmentally. Like no reason to beat yourself up. Everyone has these automatic negative thoughts.

And then you can address it either by letting that thought move by like a car, like a racing car. So the acronym is car. Or you can really talk back to it. And that would be really helpful if you need confidence. And then refocus means get out of your head. So you stop overthinking it like we can just get in this overthinking rut. So go focus on what you have to do next or go focus on, you know, what you're doing. What's most important now? Just to stop that overthinking. That catch it part is the first. I mean, the first step is. It's hard. It's always the hardest.

But it's not impossible. In all step programs, the first step. Right. And, you know, and this isn't easy. I have to do this every single day. And I know this. So, you know. You're like the expert at it.

So do you have an example? So sure. I have a couple. So I think about the catch it might be like, you know, there's no way. There's no way, you know, we can like the expert at it. So do you have an example? So sure, I have a couple. So I think about the catch. It might be like, you know, there's no way. There's no way, you know, we can have a winning season this year. There's no way, you know, I could start a new career. There's no way I could go to college or stick with college this year.

And so the way you address it is tell yourself all the ways that you know that you can make it happen. It's just your mind talking. What do you really know to be true in your heart? And then the refocus it is, OK, what's your next step? So you get out of your head. Okay, what's another example? You might think, well, Ash, will I ever be great at this? Especially maybe starting a new season or a new school year, right? Right. Or a new habit. A new habit. That's an excellent, good example. And so you could address it by saying, well, each day I'm growing, I'm learning, I'm getting better. I'm going to trust myself, you know, and that I got it, that I'm on the right process.

And then the refocus it is like, get out of your head, decide what you got to do next. And I was thinking maybe another example would be for teachers today, right? Oh, man, I got so much to do. It's so overwhelming. That's how I feel. So, okay, I'm going to say, well, my work is really important. And so I'm going to focus on what I have to do right now. Right?

And then go do it. Get out of my head. And there's only so many hours in the day, so you do what you can do, right? And then you pick up the next day and just keep plugging along. Just keep plugging along. I also think a lot about, you know, you were mentioning the back-to-school year. So you've got a lot of kids maybe going to, you know, their ninth graders going to school for the very first time in high school. And they're nervous about that. Yeah. They have yeah their sports and how many times do kids just go

i suck at this and then they just give up absolutely and it's like yeah how many times can you say if it was easy everybody would do it you know there's there's nobody out there that is just immediately and instantly good at the one thing they want to be really good at they all work hard at it because it means something to them. So to get rid of that negativity and look at it more like thinking of the possible, I think it's a great topic for us to start here this week, especially for teachers going back to work today. I know it's kind of a downer when summer comes to an end, but you got an awesome school year ahead of you and you know it's going to be great. It's going to be a great year. So how do we summarize all of this today? So high performers, those people who are working to reach their greater potential,

they focus on the possibilities. And they think big and dream big about their future. They don't limit themselves and their abilities and their achievements. And instead, they defy the limits with CAR, right? Catch it, address it, refocus it. Refocus. All right. And a power phrase for today?

I choose to see the possibilities for myself and my future. I stay gritty, believing I can do the impossible. Wonderful. Will you be on the sideline Thursday night? Are you going to be in town? Yes. It's going to be awesome. I'm excited for the start of Maverick football season, and I know that Sindra works with

them. They have a great mindset. They are poised to have an excellent year. Yes. And I think they are fired up about it as much as their fans are. So that'll be fun. We'll see you there. If we want to get in touch with you and learn more or listen to some of your podcasts, any of that, what's the best way for us to connect? Easy way is go over to Dr. Sindra. So D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. And you can find the podcast information and the book information there. Always good stuff. Thank

you very much. Thanks for having me today. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. If you liked 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.