High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 357: How Stress Can Be a Good Thing

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

High performers see the upside of stress. They realize it is their interpretation of the stress that matters the most. Dr. Kamphoff shares in this episode how a moderate level of adversity can lower depression and increase greater satisfaction in life. Remember it’s our interpretation of the stress that matters most and we can learn to embrace stress by remembering how we have grown after adversity or setbacks.    Power Phrase this week: “I see the upside of stress. I view adversity as helping me grow and learn.”      “When you embrace stress, you can transform fear into courage, isolation into connection, and suffering into meaning.” Dr. Kelly McGonigal         

Hi friends, my name is Dr. Sindra 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. Checking in with Cinder Campoff this morning. How are you doing, Cinder?

I'm doing great. How are you all doing there? Good. Last time we talked to you, you told us that a member of your family had tested positive for coronavirus. How are you feeling? Everybody's okay? Yep, we're doing great now. We've gone through our 14-day quarantine period, and we're just happy. We can be with each other and spend time with each other, so we're happy about that. Well, good. I'm happy to hear that as well, and hopefully everybody continues to be healthy. We're talking about stress. I'm sure you just went through this stressful time, right? What inspired today's topic? Well, this situation really did inspire

today's topic. I think all of our lives have been impacted by COVID-19 and it can certainly be stressful. And there's also right now a mental health issue since the pandemic, like anxiety and depression is rising. And this is today's topic is what helped me. And I think it can help you too, as well as to know that there's really an upside to stress that stress can be a good thing. So, Cyndra, we hear a lot about wanting to avoid stress and the negative effects that it can have on your health. Can you elaborate on the potential upside of stress for us? Yeah, you bet. So, it's the title of Kelly McGonigal's book. So, she's a health psychologist and a professor at Stanford University. And this is what she says in her book.

She describes like the latest science. And she says the latest science reveals that stress can actually make you smarter and stronger and more successful. It can help you learn and grow. And it can actually inspire courage and compassion. So she talks about how the new science can also show you that changing your mind about stress can actually make you healthier and happier. And the best way is not to manage or reduce the stress, but actually to rethink it and embrace it. And that's what we're talking about today. Well, give us an example of what you mean.

Sure. So one of the studies that you talk about is a study where they asked 2,000 Americans to indicate if they've ever experienced like 37 different negative life events, like a negative serious illness or an injury or death of a loved one or divorce or like surviving a national disaster like fire or flood. And on average, people reported eight of these. So I think that's interesting that we've had in general about eight of them. But one thing that was really interesting is the people who had this moderate level of adversity, going through about eight of them, actually said they reported less depression or less health problems and actually a greater satisfaction in life.

And the people that had no adversity actually reported they were less happier and less healthy. So really the point is that when we experience no adversity, we experience less happier and less healthy. So really, the point is that when we experience no adversity, we experience less satisfaction in our life. So there is an upside of stress. So, Cyndra, when you talk about wanting to embrace the stress and help kind of rethink it, how's a way we can do that? Yeah, I think when we don't embrace it, we can feel victimized by it and helpless. So one way is to think about a time where you've experienced stress, maybe like hardship or adversity or loss and ask yourself, you know, what benefits did I experience just because of the stress? And what people say

is that, you know, because of the stress or adversity that they, you know, maybe have renewed strengths or increased appreciation for life or maybe more spiritual growth or they have stronger relationships with other people or maybe they found a new sense of purpose. And I think that's important when whatever we're going through right now, if you're going through a tough situation, is to remember that there are benefits and tap into that same kind of benefit that you experienced before when you experienced that other type of stress or adversity.

Is there another way to embrace stress? Yeah, really what we're talking about today is our interpretation of stress that really matters. And so what I mean by that is think about a time where you did feel stressed. Maybe your palms were sweaty or you had butterflies. And it's really your interpretation that matters most. Let's say if you're performing in a sporting event or you're going through a job interview. And so the key is you didn't feel that little bit of nervousness. That means you didn't care, right?

But if you did, it means you cared. So one way to embrace the stress is to really see it as that we're ready and interpret it more as like we're excited than we're stressed. And how would you summarize today for us? I'd say that high performers see the upside of stress. They realize it's really their interpretation of stress that matters most. And, you know, this moderate level of adversity can actually increase your greater satisfaction in life. So remember, it's really your interpretation of stress that matters most,

and we can learn to embrace the stress by remembering how we've grown and what we've gone through in the past. And what's our power phrase for this week? I see the upside of stress. I view adversity as helping me grow and learn. All right. So stress can be a good thing. Cinder Kampoff, how do we get in touch with you for more information? You bet. You can head over to Dr. Cinder, so D-indra.com. Sindra continued health to you and your family and we'll check in with you next week. Thank you. Bye Lisa Logan. 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. Sindhra 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. Sindhra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.