High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 36: How to Dream for a Living

Episode Date: March 23, 2016

Stephen Spielberg once said, “I don't dream at night, I dream at day, I dream all day; I dream for living." Most of us are not movie directors like Spielberg, but we can follow his lead and dream about our future for a living. To become a high performer or champion at sport, business and life, we need to dream every day. To contact Cindra with your questions or topics to address on future episodes, email her at [e-mail] or find her on Twitter @Mentally_Strong.

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 I'm grateful that you're here today listening to this message about dreaming for a living. So I really am appreciative and grateful that you're here listening. Today, I'm going to start with an iTunes review. JT00CT said this podcast is positive and inspiring with always a great message. If you're looking to get mentally tougher and boost your positive attitude, this is it. JT, thanks so much for your podcast review and your comments. It means the world to us. And if you would like to post a comment on iTunes or Stitcher Radio, we'd love it.

It just helps us reach more people and spread a positive message. So today we are talking about dreaming for a living and I want to start with a quote by Steven Spielberg. He said, I don't dream at night, I dream at day. I dream all day. I dream for a living. Now most of us are not movie directors like Spielberg, but we can follow his lead and dream about our future for a living. And to be a high performer or a champion at sport or business or life, we need to dream every day. Now I love watching my son Blake dream. He's six years

old and I love watching him dream about basketball. He'll play basketball from our kitchen to our living room and at one point he'll pretend he's Steph Curry and shoot a basketball above the door that goes outside our patio. Well, guess what? There's no basketball hoop there, but he's dreaming that there's one there. And then he'll pretend he's Michael Jordan, dribble to the living room, and shoot the basket between two chairs. There's no basketball hoop there, but he's dreaming about it. You know, somehow we've lost the ability to dream as we get older. Think about what you wanted to do when you were growing up. Maybe you wanted to be a teacher or a firefighter or an astronaut

or an Olympian or a movie star. What did you want to be? And what happens, I think, is we start listening to clues that we're dreaming too big. We start listening to other people who maybe doubt us, or we listen to the voice inside our head that questions if we can really reach our dreams. And then we start following what other people want us to do instead of what fulfills us. And as we get older, we get weighed down with responsibilities. We stop dreaming. But dreaming is so important because if you don't dream it, you won't do it. And to accomplish anything in your life or your sport or your business, you have to dream it first.

What high performers do differently is they create their future in their mind. They get really clear on their dreams because if you believe it and you can see it, that's the first step in achieving it. And the great thing is when you begin to dream big dreams, your level of self-esteem and your level of self-confidence increases. Your self-image improves. You start feeling more positive about yourself and your ability to deal with whatever happens. And I think that's the reason why people become stagnant in their sport or in their life or in their business is because they stop allowing themselves to dream.

They don't allow themselves to imagine the kind of life that's really possible for them. They don't allow themselves to imagine the kind of performance that's really possible for them. And they don't allow themselves to imagine the kind of opportunities that's really possible for them. So today I encourage you to dream for a living. Can you be like Spielberg and dream every single day about your future, about you want, what you want, and what you're going after? Now this is how I suggest that you start dreaming for a living if you aren't doing it already. I would tell you to just pick a date, maybe five years from now. That seems to be a good date because it doesn't feel so overwhelming.

So what if your wildest dreams could come true? What if you couldn't fail? And I would encourage you to pick that date, put that date on top of your paper and spend some time separate from everybody this week. Maybe with a cup of coffee or some music on. If you have kids, make sure your kids aren't around. If you have roommates, make sure your roommates aren't around. Can you spend some time by yourself thinking about what if your wildest dreams came true five years from now? Because that's the first step. I love the quote that says, if your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough. It's something I live by.

And I think that's what high performers do. They dream big. And they don't worry if it's scary because you'll figure it out later. So on the top of your piece of paper, write the date five years from now. Then write your wildest dreams. What could come true? And while you're doing it, turn off your inner critic. Pretend like you're a kid again and forget about the how because you will figure that out as you get going. But the first step is to dream the big dream. And then when you're done consider what will you do

every day to remind yourself of your big dreams. Maybe you'll start a vision board or you'll start looking at your dreams as part of your morning routine. Or maybe you'll post your dreams by your bed. That's what I do. Or maybe you'll put them right before by your computer so you can review them every day when you sit down. So my friends, two high performance questions for you this week. When will you complete this process of dreaming for a living? And then second, is there a practice that you could commit to? So you dream for a living every day. Because you, my friend, are capable at any time of doing what you dream of.

The first step is to create the dream. Decide what you want. And as Michelangelo said, the greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that our aim is too low and we reach it. So this week, believe that you can dream big, and this week, believe that you can dream big and every day believe that you can dream big. Start dreaming big for a living. Move forward with your dreams with passion and energy. You know that you can do anything you dream about and you have everything you have

and that you need inside you. you just got to turn it on. Thank you so much for listening to this message today. And I want you to have an outstanding week. I wish you the best. And I would encourage you to tune in later this week where I'm interviewing Ruth Brennan-Morrie. She has a very inspirational story. I've been watching and listening to her career for some time now. She's a professional triathlete, competed at the Olympic trials for the marathon, has a PhD in counseling psychology, so I can't wait to talk to her about mindset. And one of the reasons I'm bringing her on is because of a listener like you.

So Ben Mooney from Australia emailed me and said, you know, Cyndra, I'd love for you to interview some triathletes because they are mentally tough. So I'm excited to bring on Ruth later this week. Check for the podcast on Friday or Saturday. And as always, I'd love to hear from you. If you could ask one question about high performance and mindset, what would that be? Please send me your questions and I will address them on the podcast. You can email me at syndra at syndracampoff.com or you can always find me on Twitter at Mentally Underscore Strong. Make it an outstanding week, my friends. Remember today to dream for a living.

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