High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 308: What to Do When You Feel Pressure

Episode Date: February 4, 2020

High performers in sport, business and life use pressure to be at their best. They use natural tools inside of them to see pressure as a privilege. They POP the Pressure: (P = Power Breath, O = Opportunity, P = Process). This week’s power phrase: “ I see pressure as a privilege. Pressure leads me to greatness.”

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 is time to get a little positivity. Sindra Kampoff in studio. Good morning, Sindra. How you doing? Morning. It's great to be here. Well, we're glad that you're here. What do you have for us today? We're talking about pressure.

We are. And I was thinking a lot about this yesterday. I was watching the Super Bowl. So we're going to start with a quote. Ed Jacoby said, Pressure comes from within and so must be mastered from within. Pressure comes from within and so must be mastered from within. You've got the example of the Super Bowl to start with. So I thought it was really interesting just watching the game last night. The Chiefs won, even being doubled down by double digits. The quarterback had two interceptions, so I thought that was really interesting in terms of how he overcame that. And I think that it's a big stage with millions and millions of people watching, so it's really easy to feel the pressure.

I could see the pressure sometimes on their faces. But in the end, the Chiefs didn't let the pressure really impact them, and they were able to win the game. Right, right. And pressure in multiple senses, not only the pressure of the moment, but literally the pressure from San Francisco's defense. That was very good. Nice. They managed to get to Patrick Mahomes four times last night.

But since we're not dodging 300-pound defensive linemen in most of our work settings, why is this important to us as just everyday folks? Well, first of all, pressure is really a perception. And what I mean by that, it's how we perceive it. And so at work, we might feel pressure when we're given a presentation or have a really important meeting. In sport, it might be before a game or during the playoffs, which I know winter sports are coming up. And if we don't learn to really deal with pressure and change our perception of pressure and manage ourselves during it, we can really fall behind and not be able to do our best when we really want to and not be as consistent as we desire.

So how should we be looking at pressure? When we feel pressure, what should we be doing? So the world's best really see pressure differently. They see it as a privilege. They see it as a challenge. And they don't avoid pressure. They use it. And for example, you know, they know if they wouldn't have accomplished whatever they've done to get to that moment, if they wouldn't have accomplished something meaningful or experienced success in the past, they wouldn't be in that situation. So it's really about how we view the situation that

impacts if we feel pressure or not. So then what should we do when we experience pressure in our everyday lives? So I got a really easy acronym to remember. And really, you know, I think about we have natural tools inside of us to be able to deal with pressure. And so I call it pop the pressure. So POP. So the first one is you could take some power breaths, take some breaths. You can count with it in your mind. If you count, you can't think about two things at once. And the power breath that starts with a P, the first P, it really gets your attention back to the present.

What is a power breath? How do we do that? So I use it where I count six counts in through my nose. I hold for two, and then I count out for seven. Actually, I'd count with it like one, two, three, four, five, six. Fold. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. If you're counting, you kind of reset whatever

is frustrating you or creating pressure. So P. What's your O? O is what's the opportunity? And asking yourself what's the opportunity here to show your skills and to show what you've been practicing or how you've prepared really well. And the second P?

The second P is you got to focus on the process. That means the small things you have to do to be successful. Sometimes we can be so focused on the outcome or if we're going to win or what will the judges think or what will people think at the meeting that we're not really focused on how can we be at our best. So Sandra, how do you summarize today for us? I'd say high performers in sport, business, and life, they use pressure to be at their best, and they use these natural tools inside of them to see pressure. As a privilege, they pop the pressure.

And then today's power phrase that you're going to leave us with? I see pressure as a privilege. Pressure leads me to greatness. All right. Reframe the pressure. I like that. All right. Different way to look at it. Cinder Kampoff, how do we get in touch with you? You can head over to Dr. Cinder, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A. Check me out there.

All right. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Always appreciate it. We'll see you again next week. Have an excellent one. 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.