High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 28: Pressure is a Privilege

Episode Date: February 9, 2016

Payton Manning, the Denver Broncos quarterback said, “Pressure is something you feel when you don't know what you're doing.” In this episode, we explore Payton Manning's quote and discuss the 3 specific ways to deal with pressure the next time you experience it.    

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 Podcast. This is your host, Sindra Kampoff, and thank you so much for joining me here today. If you are new to this podcast, I'd like to welcome you. And if you're back, thanks so much for coming back. So yesterday when I was watching the Super Bowl, I was thinking quite a bit about Peyton Manning and Peyton Manning's mindset.

And I was thinking about all the insightful things that he has said over as many years in the NFL. And one of my favorite quotes that Peyton Manning has ever said is this one. He said, pressure is something you feel when you don't know what you're doing. Man, it's so good. Because really what he's saying here is that you will experience pressure if you're unprepared or you're unconfident. But really there's no reason to feel pressure if you're prepared.

There's no reason to feel pressure if you're confident. And there's no reason to really feel pressure if you're focused on what you should be doing or the process. The times that we do feel the pressure are the times where we focus on how unprepared we are or we focus on the outcome. You know, pressure is really just in the mind of the beholder. It is our perception on if we feel pressure or not. You decide how you see the situation and what you think and feel determines the pressure that you'll experience. You know, we all experience pressure. As an athlete, you can

experience pressure during a really important play during the game, be the game-winning field goal or game-winning touchdown or the game-winning shot. We can also experience pressure as an athlete or a team during the playoffs. As an entrepreneur or business leader, you might experience pressure because of a really important presentation or a meeting coming up. We can experience pressure every day, the pressure of making it to work on time or making it to a meeting on time, especially for running late. We can all experience pressure daily, but we must learn to perform under pressure to not only be successful, but to be effective. You know, and pressure can happen naturally. So the key is, is to manage ourselves so that we don't risk falling behind those who do

manage themselves and those who really rise above and rise to the occasion. So today we're going to talk about three ways that you can use to deal with the pressure next time you experience it. Three specific strategies that you can use to dominate pressure. So the first strategy we're going to talk about is this, is to really see pressure as a privilege, not as something is going wrong. So the key is, is to see the great opportunity that you have and really to see it as something as, gosh, if you weren't doing something meaningful, you wouldn't be experiencing the pressure. So, for example, during a playoff game, you could say, yeah, we're a great team. We wouldn't even be in the playoffs if we wouldn't be here. If you have an important meeting coming up, you could say, yeah, it's an important meeting.

But if I wasn't great at my job, if I wasn't great at getting in front of people, I wouldn't be making the sale. I wouldn't even be here. So the key is to see pressure as a privilege, something that you've earned. You know, Russell Wilson, the Seahawks quarterback said this, I love it when the game is on the line, when everyone else is nervous and I am excited. I think really what he's meaning there is that he is seeing pressure as a privilege. Everybody else is nervous and their heart rate is increased and they're feeling anxiety, but he is interpreting his anxiety as something that means that he's excited.

His nervousness is a good thing. So the key is, is to see the moment as something you can thrive in. To see the pressure as your opportunity to stand out. And the key is, is to work to have positive thoughts during that situation and positive emotions. Reframe the situation. See the pressure as a privilege. See it in a positive viewpoint instead of a negative viewpoint. The first strategy is to see pressure as a privilege. The second strategy is to stay cool, calm, collected, and in control and confident. And the way to do that under a pressure situation is to manage your self-talk as well as to manage

what's happening with your body. When I think about managing what's happening with your body, I think the deep breath is magic here. If you take some several deep breaths in, even if you count while you're taking a deep breath in, you can't be thinking about the pressure. You can't be thinking negatively if you're counting and breathing at the same time. Because many times when we feel the pressure, we're thinking of the worst case scenario,

the worst possible outcome, and our heart rate tends to increase. Our voice can get shaky. So the key is, is not only slow your heart rate down with a deep breath, but also manage your self-talk. Start thinking about the best possible outcome instead of the worst possible outcome. Last year at this time, I was asked to dance in a competition called Dancing with the Mankato Stars. Now, it's a competition in my town, much like the TV show Dancing with the Stars. But here we raise money for the American Red Cross.

And I was asked to dance dubstep in this competition. Well, I'm a marathoner. I've never danced hip-hop or dubstep in my competition. Well, I'm a marathoner. I've never danced hip hop or dubstep in my lifetime. And when I was asked to do this, and even the first several weeks where I was learning the dance, I had so much anxiety. I had so much pressure building up in my mind and in my body. And one day after practice, I was driving home and I actually imagined myself freezing on stage, freezing in front of 5,000 people. And oh man, I had to stop myself at that moment. Cyndra, think about what you do for a living. You help people get unstuck. You help people imagine success. And here I was imagining freezing on stage.

I was imagining the worst possible outcome. So there's two things that I did to intervene with myself at that point. I worked to manage my heart rate. I worked to manage my body. And I also worked to manage my self-talk. I started imagining how awesome I would do in the competition. I started imagining success. I started imagining how it was an incredible opportunity to show people that you could do anything that you put your mind to. I started seeing it as a privilege that I was in

this competition to really introduce people to the power of your mind, to show people that you could learn dubstep in six weeks. And I started seeing it as an opportunity. And then all of a sudden, I started thriving. I started learning the dance. I started mastering dubstep. And on competition day, Wade and I crushed it. We got a 29 out of 30 from the judges. And the best part of my whole night was the Vikings cheerleader, who was one of the judges, said, Syndra, I love to watch you dance. Well, believe me, no one has ever told me that they love to watch me dance. What I really learned from that situation is that you can do anything you put your mind to. And if you want to learn dubstep in six weeks, you absolutely can. What I also learned is that

when you see pressure as a privilege, it helps you. And when you learn to manage not only your body and how your body's responding to the stress, but when you learn to manage your self-talk is really absolutely key. The third strategy is this one. Next time you feel pressure, trust your stuff. Remind yourself of why you're ready for the situation. Why you know that this is your time. I have a girls hockey team that I've been working with this season and doing mental training with them. And they're in the playoffs right now. If they win this week, they're going to state for

the first time in many, many years. And this week, what I did is I reminded them of the thousands of hours of preparation. And we talked about trusting that we have what it takes. So the key is when you trust yourself, you're reminding yourself of your past successes, you're reminding yourself of why you're ready. And then the key is to imagine success in the future. Focus on what you want to achieve rather than what you don't want to happen. All right, my friends, there we go. We got three strategies that if you use

will make a difference the next time you feel pressure. The first one is see pressure as a privilege. Number two, work to stay calm, cool, collected, confident, in control of yourself, in control of your body, and in control of your self-talk. And the third one, trust you have everything you need. Trust you have everything that you need. As Peyton Manning said, pressure is something you feel when you don't know what you're doing. Next time you feel pressure, remind yourself it's not something that you need

to feel. You feel pressure when you're unprepared, unconfident, or focused on the outcome. Instead, choose confidence. Choose to focus on how prepared you are and choose to focus on the process or what you need to do right now to be successful. Thank you so much for joining me today, my friends. I hope you found this message useful and helpful, and I'd love to hear from you. So let me know what stood out to you about this message today about pressure and how pressure is a privilege. You can send a tweet at mentally underscore strong.

Would love to hear from you. Love to hear how you're applying this information with yourself or with your team or your group. And I'd also love to hear any ideas you have, any questions you have that you'd like me to answer on this podcast. So shoot me an email at cindra at cindracampoff.com or you can also send a tweet.

Let me know what topic or what questions you have that you'd like me to answer. Again, Twitter is mentally underscore strong. All right, my friends, have an outstanding week and be mentally strong. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. Are you signed up for Cindra'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.