High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 324: Let’s Level Up Our Language

Episode Date: March 31, 2020

During this time of uncertainty and change, we want to focus on the controllables and watch the words we use to explain our experiences. The words we attach to our experiences becomes our experience. Replacing one word can help us shift our thinking during COVID-19. We can use words like “opportunity,” “purpose,” “mission,” “goals,” or “grounded” to stay positive and focused on what we can control. Today’s Power Phrase:  “I choose to level up my language. I notice the words I use to describe my experiences because those words become my experience.”

Hi friends, my name is Dr. Sindhra Kampoff, a national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. Every week I'm on the local radio sharing my top tips on exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best, so you can accomplish all your dreams. Get ready for a jammed, packed episode focused on practical tips to help you get after your goals and step out of your comfort zone. Let's go. Blake Shelton, every time I hear that song, Minnesota 93 Mornings, Lisa Kay in studio with

Logan and we are getting ready to head down the phone lines to get a little positivity on our Monday. Cinder Kampoff on the phone with us. How are you doing, Cinder? I'm doing great. How are you doing? I'm kind of nervous. Today is the first day of this e-learning thing, right? We have to get our kids on some sort of regular schedule. I know you have kids at home, too. So what have you done? Have you set up a space for them?

We're starting today. Yeah. It's hard to balance it all, isn't it? I'm just wondering. I'm not going to be home, you know, this morning to make sure that they're up and maybe doing what they need to be doing. So the time frame is going to be different for them going to school. Of course, being online. And I've got an elementary kid who's not doing it online.

So we're going to have to make sure that she's putting in the time doing what she needs to do. But I do have to say that the information that I got home from the school made it really easy. They showed me exactly what needed to be done every day. So let's talk about what we're going to be putting out there into the public today. Let people know. We're talking about, what's the topic? So we're talking about leveling up our language. And I have a quote to start. This is Lewis Hayes.

She said, the thoughts we think and the words we speak create our experiences. So true. What inspired that topic? Well, I was really thinking a lot about how much change that we've experienced the last couple of weeks. Some people are staying at home, not socializing with their friends and face to face. We only go to the grocery store for necessities, kind of what you were saying as well, Lisa, that we're teaching our kids at home now or helping them with their curriculum. Some people are laid off or their hours are cut at work. People are asked to work from home. And so there's a lot of uncontrollables

right now. I think this is the ultimate test in balancing the uncontrollables. And there's also some fear and anxiety that people are experiencing with the virus. So talking about leveling up the language, I love the alliteration, by the way, but leveling up the language, what do we actually mean when we say that? So we have habits in our language and they control how we feel. And the words that we select really make a big they control how we feel. And the words that we select really make a big impact on how we feel. So we create meaning from our words and the meaning creates emotion. And so have you ever, Logan, been at the same place or experienced the same event where you explained it really differently than a friend? Yeah. Yeah. So the words we use to

attach to our experiences really do become what we experience. And so what's so interesting about our words? Well, there's like 170,000 words in the English language. We tend to use the same words over and over again, like only about 11 or 17% of those words. And there are about 3,000 that describe emotions. And interesting, two-thirds of those words describe more negative emotions than positive ones. Oh, wow. And really, yeah, just by changing one word, you can change how you experience a situation.

And just by changing and replacing that one word helps you transform your experience. And I think this is a perfect time to really think about how we're using words and how we're using words to explain what's happening in the world. So how does somebody go about kind of relating what we're talking about here to the coronavirus-related craziness that we have going on right now? Right. Well, the words we use create how we see it. And so this applies to everybody and everything, but I think specifically to the coronavirus, we could use words like hardship.

Or we could use words like opportunity. And that helps us see what can come from this. We can use words like hysteria or terrible or crisis. Or instead, we could use words like, you know, I'm more focused on my purpose or my mission at work or home, or now I'm more focused on a new goal. Even the word like lockdown, that feels like we're stuck, right? Instead of quarantine or lockdown, why not just use the words like I feel grounded at home? And maybe lockdown makes you feel trapped, whereas grounded can make you feel more centered and in control. So when we use more like these positive words instead of these really more negative words, they lower the intensity

of the words and they don't control us as much. And ultimately, there are so many things we can't control right now, my friend. So it also helps us, you know, stay focused on what we can control. Like we can't control how much toilet paper is out there, right, Logan? I do need some at my house, though. Good luck to you with that. Sandra, how do you summarize this today for us? I would say that during this time of uncertainty and change, we want to stay focused on what we can control. And one of the things we can control is the words we use to explain our experience.

So using more words like opportunity or purpose or mission or goals or grounded can help you stay focused on what you can control and just help you stay more positive. And so what is today's power phrase as we head through a Monday? I choose to level up my language. I noticed the words I use to describe my experiences because those words become my experience. Very good. Cinder Kampoff, where do we find you? More information on Beyond Grit, your book? Yeah, you can head over to drcindra.com. And Lisa, I did a really awesome webinar for free last Friday. Yes. 400 people came. You won't believe it. They just got online. So people can actually go and find that webinar

for free if they want to learn more just about different strategies you can use to stay more positive and on purpose. So that webinar, you can go over to cindracampoff.com slash webinar. Very cool. You'll be able to catch that even if you didn't catch it live. Hopefully you'll do more of those, and thank you so much for being around and helping people out and for the good advice today.

Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Logan. It's Cinder Kampoff on Minnesota 93. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe. And you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and to join my exclusive

community for high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindra. That's D-R-I-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.