High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 23: How to Adopt a Challenge Mindset w/ Dr. Ian Connole, Director of Sport Psych @ Kansas State

Episode Date: December 16, 2015

Dr. Ian Connole, Director of Sport Psychology for Kansas State Athletics, teaches us how to keep our focus and the importance of engaging in the now. He motivates us to be authentic and when we do so, this allows our success to come much easier and more likely. He says that a life worth living is being in the present moment, and a life worth sharing is about being authentic and showing up as yourself. So good!

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. Welcome to the High Performance Mindset. This is your host, Sindra Kampoff. And today I am absolutely stoked to provide an interview with Dr. Ian Canole. Dr. Canole is the Director of Sports Psychology with Kansas State Athletics, where he provides comprehensive mental training and performance-based services for all 16 teams. That equates to about 435 athletes.

You know, Ian discovered his passion for sports psychology while playing basketball at Skidmore College. He then attended Cal State Fullerton's master's program, and he received his doctorate degree from West Virginia University. He is a certified consultant with the Association for Applied Sports Psychology and member of the United States Olympic Committee's Sports Psychology and Mental Training Registry. You know, I think you're going to be hard-pressed to find somebody more passionate about people helping strive for excellence, and there are so many golden nuggets that Ian provides in this interview. Man, if I had to list all of them, that would be the entire podcast. But what I really loved about this interview was the importance of pursuing excellence.

Ian talks about what that means at the beginning of the interview, how mastery and getting better every day is essential. And then he talks about how the nation's best performance take no little things for granted. He provides a focus and refocusing strategy that all of us could use. And at the end of the interview, he talks about living a life worth sharing and how to bring the best of you to serve the rest. Love it. And I think you're going to enjoy this podcast with Ian. At the end of the interview, we encourage you to post a tweet and tag myself at mentally

underscore strong, as well as Ian in the tweet. And his Twitter handle is sport psych focus. We encourage you to post a tweet about what stood out to you about this interview to start this discussion about the podcast so we can all work to apply these high performance mindset traits at a mastery level. So without further ado, let's bring on Ian. Welcome to the high performance mindset podcast. This is your host, Cindra Kampoff, and today I am excited to provide you an interview with

Ian Canole. Ian is the Director of Sports Psychology at Kansas State Athletics. Welcome, Ian, to the podcast. Thanks, Cindra. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited that you're here as well and that you're here to provide value and provide some insights into those who are listening. So, Ian, tell us a little bit about your passion and what you do.

Great. Well, I think it's funny you say passion because I consider that what I have is a passion, not a profession. I absolutely love what I do. I'm dedicated to the tireless pursuit of excellence and I help athletes and performers really develop the psychological processes to compete at their best. So at Kansas State University, I work with our athletic department. So I have 435 student athletes, 16 teams, and dozens of coaching and administrative staff that I have the opportunity to work with, to learn from, and collaborate with on a daily basis, and really that pursuit of excellence. Awesome. What do you mean by the pursuit of excellence? And how do you define that for the athletes and coaches that you work with? That's a great question. By pursuit of excellence,

I look at the mastery process, how we're getting better every single day, improving our craft. So for me, my craft happens to be sports psychology and understanding and teaching the mental skills to enhance athletic performance. For our athletes, for most of them, it's their sport. So how they are becoming the best basketball player, best football player, best track athlete, golfer, tennis player, rower that they can possibly be. And so really working to develop the skills that are going to allow them to thrive in that area, but not only thrive on kind of the playing field, but bring that into other life areas and well beyond sport. You know, I look at it might be a little bit shallow if everything I did was just for the

benefit of four years where they get to be competing for K-State. But I really hope that in those four years that they're competing for K-State, they get to develop a lot of skills that really become life-enhancing for the remainder of their lives and the relationships they go into, the professions they go into, and if they have the opportunity to be continuing to compete in this sport or other sports, being able to bring those into those domains as well. Yeah, so you really see it as bigger than athletics and that it can really apply to other areas of their lives. Absolutely. So, you know, Ian, you have such an opportunity to work

with some of the best college athletes and some of the best, you know, the nation's best performers. So what do you think that really separates those from, you know, that are really, really good, are great, maybe that can take it to the next level, compared to those that are just, you know, maybe just not thriving or not really reaching their best at K-State? Well, I think the one thing that stood out more and more to me with every top performer I've worked with is looking at the concept of they take no things for granted. And I've always said there are no little things. And I took that initially from John Wooden, who would teach his players to put their socks on on

the first day of practice, because if they knew how to put their socks on perfectly and they wouldn't bunch up, they wouldn't have blisters. If they didn't blister, they wouldn't be laboring or nursing their foot and they wouldn't cause other injuries or loss of productivity in practice. And so the idea of just looking at all of the little things and how we can be doing each of those to the best of our ability is something that amazes me about a lot of the top performers I work with. In know, in Manhattan, we have this little kind of track and field mecca, the people coming from all over the world to train here, which I would have never known coming from Maine, spending time in California and West Virginia and upstate New York,

who knew in the middle of Kansas was this really amazing training ground for Olympic athletes. And so in learning from and working with that group, it's just all those little things that separates them from the others, from that ability to look at, okay, nutritionally, what are the real precise things that I can be doing to put my body in the best shape possible, not just for competition, but for making the most out of my training, to getting the discipline to get up at, you know, 5 a.m. and go through the kind of neuromuscular exercises that's going to activate their body to allow their body to then be in prime conditioning for actual practice to begin. So the idea that practice and every aspect of that began so far before the actual practice, that sleep, nutrition, the mental training, the physical training, and then all

of the little pieces in between are really taken with that idea that I'm doing this to the best of my ability and I'm not taking it for granted and I'm not just relying on what got me here, but I'm really kind of working to figure out all of those little things that can take me to the next level. And you have to have a lot of motivation and excitement for what you do and be passionate about it to do all those little things that you see them doing. Absolutely. I think that combination of passion and discipline is an amazing combination that really can feel a lot of people. And it's

easy to, when it feels really good and it's the things we're really good at, to put that extra time in and focus on all those little details. But then there's the times where no matter who we are, whether an elite athlete or a professional in a business world, that idea to be able to do that at the same level because those are the habits that we develop and the system we create to allow ourselves to be successful. I think that's what separates a lot of people from being a little bit of a roller coaster where there's days where they perform and days where they don't to being able to be consistently at the top of their game is being able to have that consistency in the discipline

and connect back to that passion and the drive of why they're doing it in the first place when they need that kind of extra motivation to get themselves out there and doing it. Absolutely. So I heard you say passion, motivation, discipline. They're willing to do the small things, if the small things you know aren't enjoyable like get up really early and do the neuromuscular activities that you're talking about so Ian what do you see that the athletes that you work with struggle with you know if there's one thing that you can you know pinpoint what do you see them really having a difficult time with I think one thing that stands out is being in the moment and getting right here right now.

And even if they're able to do that during periods of training and practice and in competition, it doesn't happen so much in today's society. And that we're all connected and there's stimuli coming at us from all directions and all times and our phones are always going off. And there are just so many things going on that we develop these really distracted minds. And I think to be elite, to be an excellent high performer, we have to be able to really be fully engaged in that moment. And so a lot of time I find athletes that just struggle getting themselves to that level of engagement in each of the moments, not just big moments.

And so really that ability to get themselves fully present and fully locked in is one thing that I see a lot of our athletes struggle with. And I know that I struggle with it. And so I work to kind of bring in daily practices to help me get more fully present in what I'm doing as well. Ian, I liked what you said about, you know, that it's each of the moments. You know, it's easy to get up for one big game or, you know, the shot that you need to make at the end of the game, the game-winning shot, but it's each of those moments. I like that you really emphasize that. So can you tell us a little bit about, you know, maybe how you might teach that and how you might help your athletes stay in the present moment. Yeah, absolutely. You know, one thing that I learned

from Ken Reviza that I started doing when I first started taking classes with him at Cal State Fullerton, my master's program, was that ability to refocus, you know, and okay, first we have to be able to notice where our mind is and then we have to be able to notice where our mind is, and then we have to be able to bring it back to this moment and choose what to put it on in this moment and really make that a habit that we can develop that mental discipline to notice where my mind is and bring it back and bring it back and bring it back. Starting through my master program, one of the things that I would do is I would keep a little checklist right on the top of my paper of each time I noticed my mind, I'd put a tally mark, I refocused, I refocused, I refocused, because I was thinking about the team that I was going to be working with

later, or what I was having for dinner, or each time I'd catch myself anywhere else, I'd bring it back, and bring it back, and bring it back, and I noticed that, you know, through the class, there's a period where, you know, first of all, then I started noticing more and more and more and more. So I was thinking, wow, I must be getting more and more distracted, but I was actually getting much better at catching myself. And so I started getting more and more tally marks. And then toward the end of class, started getting less and less and less again, because sitting even in that class, I started noticing that I was able to maintain my focus and attention for longer for longer and extend it more and be less distracted along the way and so I work with a lot

of our athletes on just practicing that skill anywhere they can so whether it's whether it's having a conversation with a significant other or whether it's sitting in a classroom or whether it's on the conversation with a significant other, or whether it's sitting in a classroom, or whether it's on the playing field, can we notice when we're now lost in our thoughts, and can we bring ourselves back to engaging in what we're doing right now? You know, analogy I use is if we're sitting here on a front porch having this conversation, and there's a busy street, and all these cars going by, it makes sense that if a car goes by and they honk their horn or their muffler pops, we're going to look and we'll notice it. But that's where we have the choice that are we saying in the way that we approach it that

that's more important than this conversation? By now watching it drive down the street and talk, oh my gosh, did you hear that car? What are they thinking? This is a neighborhood, you know. And then we've taken ourselves completely out of what we're doing and what we're engaged in. And so if we can just notice that, yeah, we saw it, but we come back and pick up exactly where we left off, that's where we can really develop that skill to stay engaged in what we're doing rather than lost in the distractions or pulled away from the moment of what we're doing.

Ian, that's excellent. So really how you do it is you help people refocus, help them notice where their mind is, and then have them choose to refocus to bring their attention back to the moment and what's going on right now. Absolutely. Excellent. them back, bring their attention back to the moment and what's going on right now. Excellent. So Ian, do you have a signature technique, something that you use often in your work with athletes? I would say related to kind of being mindful, getting into that moment.

I spend a lot of time both with, you know, I'd say there's three things that come up quite often. One of them is that, that art of focusing and refocusing. And one way to practice that is very in the moment, things like we just talked about refocusing. Another way is through some form of mindfulness meditation. And whether that's a sitting meditation where we're sitting and focusing on breathing, or whether it's a walking meditation where we're just aware of where we are and what we're doing and experiencing that, or in eating meditation, just being fully focused on what I'm eating, or if it's a less formal practice of, okay, as I'm putting on my pads today, just let me feel myself putting on my pads. As I lace up my sneakers today, just rather than being focused somewhere else, let me be focused in the feeling of lacing up my sneakers today.

And so really working in the daily practice of being mindful and being engaged in the present moment is one of the areas I spend a lot of time. Another area is understanding the stress response and how we really maximize our performance through utilizing that effectively rather than allowing that to get in our way. And through that, I think about how our body responds so differently to a challenge or a threat. And our appraisal of that situation in a challenge situation dictates our ability to thrive under this stress response. That realizing our heart pumping, the butterflies in our stomach is actually the blood rushing away from our digestive system because we don't need it there when it's time to perform. And for our athletes, it's an incredible thing because more blood being pumped and oxygen flowing into your legs and your arms, allowing you to run faster, jump higher, respond quicker is what athletics is all about. And so really working on understanding those skills, but then being able to make

choosing a challenge a choice. So that's something that we practice that I don't just allow myself to either feel like I'm ready or I'm not ready based on what I see when I show up on a day of a competition. I allow myself to look at the things that have prepared me to get here, to actively have a routine that allows me, as I'm really narrowing my path down to throughout the day, getting more and more ready to compete. Now, when I'm getting ready in my physical warm-ups, my physical training, what am I doing mentally to make sure that I'm adopting a challenge mindset, that I'm bringing that challenge into what I'm doing? And through the research, they show the difference in that challenge mindset is our blood vessels open up

and they allow more oxygen to be flowing through our body because about six liters of blood per hour is pumped more through our bodies in that challenge mindset than in the threat mindset. And so being able to really understand and make that shift and make it an active shift. So it's not something that we're left up to on game day to feel like whatever happens, happens. But it's something that we're taking control of. Well, Ian, you provided us so many golden nuggets right there. So can you tell us a little bit more about how you might help athletes develop this challenge mindset? One of the things that I think it starts with is understanding that we can embrace the stress response

and embrace nerves we're feeling and really walking through how we go about doing that. Another piece is having the mental aspects in our our routines that every athlete has a routine that they go through to get themselves ready to perform a lot of those are just dictated as how the team warms up and what the team does at this time and that time when the coach talks to them and all those things but within that where where am i making it a choice that I'm focusing on what I have the opportunity to do today. And I'm noticing that there are some thoughts about self-doubt or me not being ready or anything that's not productive that will come in. And I just treat those like those cars that pass by as we're having this conversation. And. I can allow those to just go on by, but then I can really focus on the things that I know

feed into me feeling focused, ready, prepared. That's going to differ for each athlete. Sometimes that's breathing exercises. Sometimes that's more positive self-talk or being able to be really focused on their preparation, the things they've done to get ready for this moment. You know, I think one of the activities I love doing is sitting down with athletes and just counting up the hours they spend in their sport. Like literally like looking at since when they're first a little kid to today, you know, how many hours do they train per week?

And just looking at this massive number that we don't really think of a lot of times when we're stepping in the moment and competing. But if you've done this for 8,000, 9,000 hours, there are very few college students who've done anything other than sleep and watch television for 8,000 to 9,000 hours. You know, there are very few college students who've done anything other than sleep and watch television for 8,000 to 9,000 hours. It's true. It's a huge source of pride that I think we should be able to celebrate a little bit more. And being able to kind of celebrate the preparation they put in, being able to really look at, in a day-to-day, week-to-week basis, being able to kind of build on that and how much more quality am I building into kind of deliberate practice in my preparation and how am I reflecting on my preparation when it comes time to then compete that allows me to know that I'm here, I'm ready. And then what is the attitude they like to adopt to bring in that final moment?

You know, one of my favorite stories about Muhammad Ali was when he was a 10-year-old, he was given a bicycle and it was like his world opened up. All of a sudden, he could go places he wasn't allowed to go before, places that weren't safe, he could go through them quickly. So he quickly get to the other side where he wanted to be in the first place, but he just wasn't allowed to go before, places that weren't safe, he could go through them quickly. So he would quickly get to the other side where he wanted to be in the first place, but he just wasn't allowed to be before. And within a week, his bike was stolen, and he was heartbroken. And so he would listen for the sound of his tires and the baseball card and his spokes, and he would try to look at every bike that went by to find his bike again. He never found it.

So as a professional, one of the things he would do, the last moment he would be in his ring, he would face his corner, then he'd turn around and look at the guy across the ring from him and say, that's the guy who stole my bike. I love it. That was his way to adopt this attitude, this kind of like passion of a 10-year-old who is so excited, who then had his heart broken, was what he wanted to channel as a professional. And I think we all have the ability to find something in us or from outside of us that we can then put in terms of what is that attitude like that I want to adopt to bring into competition.

And it doesn't have to be this anger of a 10-year-old kid, but it can be something that I know this is where I like to be when I compete. And so what are the things that I do and say to get myself to that point? And so I work with all of our athletes to really identify, okay, what is the attitude that I do and say to get myself to that point? And so I work with all of our athletes to really identify, okay, what is the attitude that I want to adopt? You know, what is my metaphoric stepping into a phone booth and stepping out as Superman? You know, what would that look like and how do I build in a process

that that's what I go to when I get ready to adopt that challenge, to go into competition and be at my best. I love that story about Muhammad Ali. You know, for him, that definitely I can see how in his sport that that was really forget how the success that we've had, or we forget how many hours we've really spent in our, you know, in our sport or in our subject area. One of the sort of the tools I used when I was training for the Omaha Marathon, I ended up winning this race. So it was my best marathon ever, is I wrote the number of miles that I had run for that race. I wrote it on my hand right here, really big.

And so throughout the race, I could see, oh my gosh, I ran, I think it might have been like 1,200 miles just for that race. It was this crazy amount. But once I added that up, I realized I'm the most prepared that I've ever been in my whole entire life. And there's no reason to even doubt that I can crush this 26.2 miles. So that reminded me a lot of what you were talking about. Yeah, that's incredible, Cinder. I love when people in our field are pushing themselves as much physically as they are mentally anyway.

I think being able to really be great is we want to be practicing what we preach. I think that's a perfect example, especially for all your listeners. I really try to practice it every time I run. I just ran a race on Saturday. And, you know, I was really just trying to channel this gratitude mindset. And even though it was hard, marathon is always hard, you know, just being really grateful for the opportunity. So that actually transitions us well into talking about yourself as a high performer. Tell us, you know, why you do what you do and how do you keep that front and center? Because we know just in our field about the importance of knowing, you know, your why. So what's your why? Yeah, I feel, you know, in channeling that gratitude myself, you know, I feel extremely

grateful to have the opportunity to be doing what I do. I'm so deeply passionate about helping people and about the pursuit of excellence that, you know, I've been able to study this, to live this, and to teach this. And so for me, being around people who share that passion to be the best they can be is the most exciting and motivating thing I could ever be a part of. And so from professionally being involved with colleagues in our field to being involved with the coaches and athletes that I get to work with on a daily basis, when they're striving to be the best they can be, and for many of them, it's striving to be the best they can be in multiple places, you know, looking at academics and athletics and then family and relationships and all these different places to try to be the best they can be. That's something that drives me on a daily basis that motivates me and makes me feel so blessed to be in a position to do what I'm doing in the first place. And so for me, it's all about helping people and really being able to invest in that kind of pursuit of excellence, that mastery process. So tell us about a time that, gosh, didn't go so great for you, maybe a failure, because,

you know, we know that you can learn a lot from failure. So tell us a story about a time that you failed and, you know, what you learned from it, how we might be able to learn from it as well. Absolutely. I think back to when I first started consulting. I had so many times where I tried so hard. I tried way too hard. And I was trying to just sound like these guys sound, so they'll listen to me and act like I'm one of them more as opposed to just being genuine and authentic to me and like act like I'm one of them more as opposed to just being genuine and authentic

to me. One of the failures in my career that I actually look on is maybe one of the first moments that sports psychology kind of entered into kind of my paradigm of what could even impact performance was when I was actually a junior in high school. I was on the track team, and we're in our Eastern Maine championships, and we have the opportunity to, you know, if you place in the top six, to move on to states across different events. And Eastern Maine is not known for a track mecca of any kind. It's not like this little Manhattan, Kansas. It was, you know, I was an 800 runner who happened to do

a few hurdle events and was able to be really good at them because no one else could hurdle in maine um at least around me that's for sure and so i i went out in the first race of the day was the four by eight and i was our anchor leg of the four by eight and I'm sitting there running, kind of trailing the leader where I'm just waiting to make my kick because I know I have more of a kick. I'm ready to kind of beat him on the final turn. And as we come around into our last lap, we start lapping part of the field. And so we go out and we go around them and one guy gets spooked and tries to jump out of our way and he jumps up and spikes me all the way up my leg and so I have like a six inch gas from my leg and I just fall and I tumble both of us

fell the two leaders fell and we rolled and I remember as like slow-mo like seeing the baton in the air and like I'm on my knees like going like one two like and I caught it and but then I realized like it doesn't matter if I catch it. I still have to run this race. And so I, like, don't even really think about it. I just get up and I run my butt off and finish fourth. I don't even remember, but we moved on to state. That was what was important.

And so that was the way I started my meet. And after that, I had the 110 hurdles and ran those. Then they realized they'd messed up the seating. And so ran those and made it to semis and had to rerun one of the rounds. So I'd already ran two 110 races, fell in my 800 and was getting ready for the 300 hurdles. And I threw the biggest pity party you could ever imagine. I was telling everyone about my day and how like the story of how horrible it was and giving them every reason to think, oh man, it's okay if he fails. It's okay if he's not, if he goes out there. I was ranked second to my own teammate in 300 hurdles, but I gave myself

every out in the world and was thinking like in that sense, like I'm setting myself up to be a hero because if I do even like remotely okay, everyone's going to be like, in that sense, like, I'm setting myself up to be a hero, because if I do even, like, remotely okay, everyone's gonna be like, oh my gosh, did you see what happened to Ian, and then he went out there and did this, but what ended up happening is I spent an hour and a half just complaining and moaning, and I didn't even prepare to warm up like I normally warm up, because my, well, I'm too sore, I'm too tired, too hurt to really prepare to warm up. I don't need to run. I've run plenty. And so by the time the race started, I dug myself a huge hole.

And so I took off in that race and ran the first three hurdles like it could have been running them. And I hit the fourth one, and I somersaulted and got back up. And once the race started, I was just competing. And so I was out there running. I worked myself back up from falling back to third place in the race started I was just competing and so I was out there running I worked myself back up from falling back to third place in the race again but I got down to the end and I hadn't warmed up right my hamstrings were too tight I couldn't even lift my legs to get over the last hurdle I ran without moving my legs straight into the last hurdle as hard as I could thinking maybe in some way that it might break I might just be able to run through it and make it to the end of this race. And I remember so

vividly laying there on my back on the track, and looking up backwards at the finish of the race and seeing people going across that and thinking not like, what did I do in this race thinking like, I lost this like, in the way that I prepared for this or didn't prepare for this. In sports psychology, we call it self-handicapping, right? Exactly. It's what I was thinking the whole time you were talking. I gave myself every reason to fail with the chance that maybe if I succeeded, I'd be that hero. But all I was focused on was why I wouldn't be able to be successful leading up to that

and so for me as an athlete that was such a powerful lesson because I remember like laying there and it wasn't it wasn't even like the disappointment in my race at all because I actually ran as hard as I possibly could once it started it was such disappointment in like what I did mentally throughout that day that put me in that position to not be able to finish that race and that for me was kind of turning point to really thinking about like how my mind impacted the way I performed and has been I think a big motivator for me to just understand in life like I don't want to set up those metaphorical hurdles in front of me you know you know there are going to be enough hurdles of life put there.

I can at least do what I'm prepared for and prepare for whatever will be there to the best of my ability without making excuses before something even happens. What a great story, Ian. I can see how your audiences and the athletes that you talk with really resonate with that because I can really hear just the passion and how difficult it was for you, especially when you saw those people run by you. So great lesson there. Take us to an aha moment that you've had in your career and what you learned from that. You know, it's funny because I feel like I'm bouncing from personal athletic story to athletic story here. Because I think that was the first aha moment I experienced, without a doubt.

The second one actually came after I'd finished my master's degree. You know, in everything that I try to work with athletes and teach athletes, I want to make sure that I'm doing it with myself. But it's easy to, like, go into something new and not even think about how our mindset is impacting it. And so I've done this master's degree in sports psychology. I'm so excited about my field and what I'm doing. And I go out and I'm golfing with a group of friends that I'm the basketball player trying to pick up a golf club. You know, I've played, you know, I've never played a round of 18 in my life. I've swung a club a few times. I get down in a defensive stance, basically, to swing a driver, and everyone kind of laughs at it, but I was out there playing with

a few guys for one of their birthdays, a beautiful Lakeview golf course in Morgantown, West Virginia, or Cheat Lake, West Virginia, And on the first tee, we'd hit a few balls earlier, and they were all going forward. That's my goal. It was working out. The first tee overlooks water that probably is about 50 to 60 feet long, not yards, feet. And so every driver I'd practiced and I'd hit goes well over that completely irrelevant to this actual shot and three guys hit and they're all laying nicely down in the fairway and my my one focus was don't hit in the water and I know you know the way the story is going to go just by the and so three balls later one skims across the water and rolls out on the weeds in the other side enough that I can hit it for my second shot.

Well, the first two are still sinking. And I remembered walking around, you know, the first hole and going into the second hole. And I'm kind of thinking, like, man, I am not a golfer. Golf's not my game. And then I'm thinking more about, well, what did I do there? Like, why was that so much worse than, than what I'm capable of doing? And I had that kind of that second aha moment of really like, I was focused a hundred percent on that water. I was, all of my focus was on that water. So by telling myself, don't hit the ball there, don't hit the ball

there. I put it there three times. I kind of had that breakthrough of like thinking, going from I'm a horrible golfer to naturally, I may be an amazing golfer. If I only focus on putting the ball where I wanted it to go, what could I be capable of? And so it actually was one of the more fun rounds because I had a lot of balls that went everywhere because I was not a golfer. because I had a lot of balls that went everywhere because I was not a golfer. But I had a lot of them that went, there were pretty incredible shots, enough that really got me coming back and really spending time to, over the next couple years, taking 30 strokes off my golf game and figuring out, you know, how to apply the mental skills we learned to myself in that as a practice too, because I'd only applied it in other more fast-paced physical domains, you know, in terms of basketball and running and being able to then think in this slow-paced psychological game, how can I then adapt those same skills in this area? And for me, just learning how critical it was to stay focused where we want things to happen instead of being focused on what we don't want to have happen was a huge kind of moment for me.

It also sounds like, Ian, you adopted the challenge mindset because you could have easily seen that round of golf and just been like, well, this shows me that I'm a terrible golfer and I might as well just give up. But instead you said, well, look at all the potential I have if I just focus on I might as well just give up. But instead, you said, well, look at all the potential I have if I just focus on where I want the ball to go. Absolutely. I think that's been something that I've embraced since I first got into this, realizing that sports psychology was the thing. The first time I ever spoke in front of a group, it was I had to read a speech in like like outside of a classroom setting you know it's always comfortable in classrooms I'm reading a speech and I remember shaking I remember sweating so profusely and I remember making through it and be like okay I need to practice that I want to be

better at that and so I think that idea that okay if we don't get the result we want it's not going the way we want okay what do I need to do to get better at that? And dive into it rather than run away from it is something that, you know, I've learned through the field of sports psychology, and I've seen that a lot of kind of amazing athletes really embrace that because like what I was talking about earlier, that being able to be focused on there are no little things and doing all the little things well is the idea that we can embrace the messiness that comes with failing.

And that we have to be able to embrace mistakes and failure along the way if we want to be able to achieve anything. Because the only thing that staying inside of a comfort zone guarantees us is that things will stay exactly the same. Exactly. We'll never get better at anything. We'll never change. And it'll just be the status quo. And I'm not a status quo guy. That's for sure.

So, Ian, you know, the top 10 traits of high performers. Tell us which of those that you exhibit the most. We're kind of talking about comfort zones. I think it really relates to what we're talking about. So which one would you say, yep, that's me? Yeah, I think looking at all, I think it's incredible. First off, Sandra, I love that as a resource and looking through each of them, they're things that I work to practice personally and teach professionally on a daily basis. And I think, you know, I talked earlier about how early on in kind of as I was learning about sports psychology and starting to practice it, you know, I was trying to be other people.

You know, first at seeing Ken Revisa, who's one of the most amazing practitioners in the field of sports psychology, and trying to be a mini version of Ken. Then also trying to speak like the language of every sport like they speak it, not authentic to myself. And so I think those things really kind of resonated that pulled me away from that authenticity piece that really now that I've kind of gone through that and experienced that and learned from that, I think it's one of the things that really comes most natural to me and that I enjoy most is just being fully authentic to myself and bringing that into all the interactions that I have and everything that I do on a daily basis. I work with our athletes and teams on that same aspect of how we can be fully true to ourselves. And I work to help celebrate strengths.

So we use StrengthsFinder with a lot of our teams to understand what signature strengths someone brings to the table. But even more so, how do we then encourage each other to bring that and bring everything about who you are to this situation and to every situation? Because it's not just ourselves that hurt if we're putting up a mask and we're hiding ourselves or forced to kind of beat around the bush and not be who we really are. But it's everyone around us that help others try to embrace the truly authentic version of themselves and bring that into everything they do. And Ian, that's when you shine. That's how I make the connection with you, you know, when you're just fully present in yourself. I had a similar experience to you in that when I first started doing sports psychology, I tried to be Ken Reviza or my mentor, Dan Gould, and talk like them, act like them.

But then I soon realized that I make the best connection and the deepest connection with the athletes that I work with when I'm just myself. And plus, I can't be them. Exactly. I'm completely a different person. So super cool. I love that you're incorporating that into your work. Tell us which of those top 10 traits that, gosh, you see yourself still working on. Yeah, I feel like we've come back here a lot, but I think that really high performers dominate the moment is something that I work on on a daily basis.

In terms of my personal kind of mindfulness practice and really just working constantly to bring myself back to this moment, I don't know that any of these are things you ever graduate beyond. I feel like there are many things that we always continue to work, and so I feel like there's days where I continue to work in all these different areas, but that's definitely the thing that I'm practicing most actively is how I really bring, you know, everything I have into this moment and really connect those moments. And I believe that's the way that we create a life worth living is through that engagement in this moment. And then I think that that life worth sharing is through that authenticity. And so I think in connecting those two things,

it's a big part of kind of what I do naturally is that bringing that authenticity now and then bringing it to every moment and really practicing getting into this moment really are powerful aspects of my daily practices. Ian, I love that. So a life worth living is really about being in the present moment. A life worth sharing is really about being authentic and showing up as yourself. And one of the reasons that I asked you that question is because we, I mean, I'm not sure we ever can, you know, all of these traits really fully embody all of the time. So the idea is that

we all are a work in progress. And the key is that we continue to work on these traits related to mental strength and mental toughness. And if anybody would like to get that list, you can get it on my website, cindracampoff.com, just by providing your name and your email. So let's go to the speed round, Ian. We'll just kind of answer the first thing that comes to your mind. So if you could recommend a book or somebody to follow, you know, something that you use a lot, what would you recommend? I know his name's come up a bunch and he doesn't really have as strong of an internet presence as most people, but Ken Reviza and, you know, Heads Up Baseball was really the first sports psychology book I ever read. And I was not a baseball player and it applied in everything that I did.

He's one of the people that I would definitely recommend most. I think there are so many amazing resources. I think your podcast is fantastic. Michael Gervais has another one. There are so many great resources. I think I look back at the person that I try to gain as much from or read as much from or connect most to, I think, is Ken Reviza as well. Yeah, that's a really good book. I completely agree.

And you'd think as well it says baseball on the title. I'm not a baseball coach. I don't do baseball. But there's so many skills in there and tools that you can apply to anything. And Michael Gervais' podcast is called Mastery, if anybody would like to check that out. So, Ian, what's one word that people describe you as? Well, I feel like I should ask you what you would describe me as, because I feel like you'd probably be pretty similar to where I guess most people would say passionate.

Oh my gosh, that's the word that first came to my mind. I should have just asked it and then answered it. But I think I wear my passion on my sleeve, that's for sure. And in terms of doing what I love and loving what I do, I definitely would say passion is one of the things that describes me most. That makes you really, really great at your job. So tell us about the best advice you've ever received. My mother is one of the most incredible mentors and people in my life in so many ways. And, you know, one of one thing she she always Tommy is is idea to just all your passion all your dream and

for for her when when I was born she moved back to Maine from southern Utah my family will back main issues from there my dad is from Utah and she help my grandmother open a bakery which had been my grandmother's dream. And so my grandmother did mostly secretarial work her whole life, and she'd always wanted to open a bakery. And so my mom moved back to Maine to open a bakery with her to help fulfill her dream before then a couple years later, she came down with cancer. Seeing that early on, and then like, so I knew that it wasn't just something that she said. And then she was a teacher and she was so passionate about her teaching.

For me, it was just I never even considered something other than finding a passion and following it. And that, I think, really shaped my life and my career in many ways. And probably one of the reasons that you're really passionate about what you do now, because you followed it. Yeah. And she fostered. I think that's one of the most amazing gifts parents can give kids is being able to just see where their passion lies and help to encourage and foster that in so many areas. And, you know, she could care less about sports. My dad, you know, played one day of high school football. And so my parents were active people, but they did not follow sports. They weren't watching sports if it wasn't related to something I was watching or something I was in. Yet they

allowed me to follow that and encourage that. Ian, give us a success quote that you live by and how it can apply to us. Yeah, well, I don't know if you can see over my shoulder right here. There's actually a poster that I made after my master's program that really connected a lot of quotes and images. And things are really powerful for me. And so I could read you a whole list of them. But the one that I think I practice most actively and think about most actively is that people don't know how much you people don't care how much, you know, until they know how much you care. I think that that's so true in any helping profession. doctor to a sports psych person to business owner and their employees to a coach and their athletes i think across across the board if you're working with other people for me that's been the thing that i try to live my life by that's the reason i think you know i'm up at 6 a.m or up at 5 a.m

to make it to a 6 a.m workout of a team team to just show that I'm there and I'm encouraging them and supporting them in that environment. Or I'll go to graduation ceremonies on Friday night at 8 o'clock to celebrate the student-athletes after they're leaving and they're graduating. So regardless of what it is, I want to make sure that I'm around and present to show that I care. And just being within the athletic department here has been amazing for me to be able to kind of connect to them in so many ways and beyond just being there to deliver a talk, to be meeting with them individually, to kind of work with them, but to actually be a part of their lives and show that, you know, I care. That's been something that I think has allowed me to be successful in what I've done here so far.

And Ian, what final advice do you have for those high performers who are listening? One of the things I mentioned earlier was the idea of being able to live a life worth sharing. And I think a big piece of that, that I work with a lot of athletes on, is how we think about bringing your best to the rest. So making that focus on being internally sound, that I'm bringing my best out, that authentic self, I'm bringing my best, but I'm bringing it to my team and to the others around me in my life. And so I'm really working on bringing my best to the rest. And so in doing that, I think there's that big piece of being able to embrace my strengths, embrace my why, why I do what I do, who I am, what I do best, and what I do worst is all a part of who I am.

But let me really work to bring that to the others around me so that I'm authentic to who I am, but to really bring that with a focus on how am I delivering that to others? How am I helping make their lives better through that? If I'm an extrovert and my teammate's an introvert, it doesn't mean that I have to relate to them like I would relate to them. I can relate to them how they would like to be related to. So rather than calling them out in a big group and saying, hey, come do this or that, like

I can go get a coffee with them. I can go do this to connect to them in a way that they want to be connected to. So I think really embracing our own strengths, embracing our why, then being able to bring that in a way that our focus is now connecting and creating for other people and how we're bringing other people there because that's where, you know, we get the most personal fulfillment is when we're able to help other people, lift other people up, connect other people in the first place. And if we can be doing that, all of us can be doing that, you know, that's where I think that piece of really creating that life worth sharing comes in.

Is it something that we can all love and enjoy being a part of this team together? So that's something that I would share to any high performer, whether it's an individual athlete, whether it's a business person, whether it's a coach, or whether it's a team sport athlete, is the other people that are in your system, how we're bringing our best to that. I was just watching Coach Snyder's Hall of Fame induction in the College Football Hall of Fame the other day, and you'll never meet a coach who expresses that gratitude more openly. From our end-of-the-year ceremony to when he's being inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame, it's all about expressing that gratitude to the people around him.

And that, I think, created this kind of powerful culture here of family and of gratitude. And that's something that started long before I was here and will last longer, long after Coach Schneider is gone here, because it's a part of the culture is that we it's our job to bring our best to other people. But then keeping that focus on them, you know, it's easy to celebrate ourselves in our minor victories. But being able to celebrate other successes, I think, is really important as well. Oh, my gosh. Oh, so good. So good. What I wrote down as you were talking, Ian, was how can you bring your best to others to serve others, to keep the focus on them? That means embracing your strengths, embracing why you do what you do, what you do great at and what you

could improve on, but really focusing on showing up as your best self. And that way you can really serve those around you. So Ian, man, I loved this interview. So many golden nuggets. If I could summarize the things that are most important to me, I heard a lot. We talked a lot about authenticity and showing up as yourself, but helping the athletes and performers that you work with show up as themselves so they can really be the best teammate and the player that they can be. I loved what you talked about related to mastery and getting better every day and keeping things. And that's what the best really do is they do the small things, even though that it kind

of sucks. And I loved our discussion about present moment focus. And it's not about these big moments that you want to be ready for, but it's about each of the moments. So, Ian, thank you so much for sharing your valuable time and your energy and your knowledge with those who are listening. How can we stay in touch with you if it's on Twitter or how would we like to how would you like us to connect with you? Absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you, Sandra. You know, this has been wonderful.

I always enjoy talking with you and sharing in your positive energy and being able to, you know, even share this resource. And, you know, I'm going to be someone who continues listening to it. I didn't know about it until a couple of weeks ago, and I've loved it already. So it's been fantastic. You can reach me on Twitter at Sports Psych Focus. So that's S-P-O-R-T-P-S-Y-C-H-F-O-C-U-S. So Sports Psych Focus. And then you can just Google K-State Sports Psychology.

And my website will be the first thing that pops up there. You can feel free to get me on there. It has my email, my office number, and feel free to reach out to me there. But I'd say Twitter and then the website are kind of the best resources for connecting with me right now. Awesome. And there's so many gold nuggets you provided, Ian. So I would encourage those who are listening, pick out one thing that stood out to you. Tweet it at Ian, sport psych focus, and myself mentally underscore strong. We would love to hear from you and keep this conversation going so you can really apply this content information to your lives and your performance. So Ian, thanks again from the bottom of my heart, man,

for being here. Thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited to hear what people took out of this as well. And I love the idea of pulling that one thing. You know, earlier we talked about your top 10 traits and I think they're all amazing and wonderful. And one of my favorite things about your questions that you ask it to what's the one thing you're working on, right? Because we can't work on everything all day, every day. But if we can bring that clarity into one thing, one thing we take away from things, one thing we're working on, I think that's where we can really hone in on that mastery process. Absolutely. Thank you, Ian, so much. And for those listening, have an outstanding day and be mentally strong. Thank you for listening, so much. And for those listening, have an outstanding day and be mentally strong.

Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. Are you signed up for Sindra's weekly email with free mental tools and strategies for high performance? Why the heck not? Text MENTALLYSTRONG, all one word, to 22828 or visit sindracampoff.com.