High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 370: 2 Ways to Reduce Negativity

Episode Date: September 15, 2020

It’s easy to be impacted my negativity right now with COVID, politics, or the negativity that can be within each of us. But negativity has consequences and the more negativity around us, the more negative we become. In this podcast, Dr. Cindra talks about how we can detachment ourselves from negativity and step away from the situation emotionally. We also can be careful with who we spend time with to reduce the negativity around us.  This Week’s Power Phrase: “I choose to reduce the negativity around me. I choose positive energy.” 

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 our positivity for Monday. It's Dr. Cinder Kampoff on the phone with us.

How are you doing, Cinder? I'm doing great. How are you doing, Lisa? Excellent. We're talking about negativity today, which is, I thought we were doing positivity on a Monday, don't we? We're talking negativity on a Monday? We are, but we're going to talk about the importance of being positive and avoiding the negative. I like it. I like it. And you have a quote for us this morning. You can't live a positive life with a negative mind. All right. What inspired the topic? I think it's so easy right now to be surrounded with negativity. You know, if it's the situation with COVID right now in our world or politics, or maybe even negativity within ourselves or our teammates or our co-workers.

And we can so easily talk about what's wrong rather than what's right and celebrate the small joys of every day. It seems like negativity can be everywhere. It is absolutely everywhere. I know a lot of people have seen it on social media. They try to stay away from it, but what's really the impact on us when we are around it? Well, I don't think any of us kind of wake up and think, you know, how can I be negative today? But our brain can go to the negativity and it really does have consequences. Like, for example, there was a study done by Stanford psychologists and they asked two groups of students to write a short essay. One wrote about a time that they were bored, wrote about a time that they were wronged or slighted. And afterwards, they found that those people who wrote about a time that they were wronged or slighted,

actually were 26% less likely to help somebody else. They were more likely to leave trash and actually even stole a person that the researchers pen. So it kind of just shows you, you know, that we're less likely to help people when we're negative and there's a lot of other consequences so we want to do our best to avoid it. Well what about venting then because sometimes you get people are like venting I'm venting it's going to make me feel better. Yeah well actually the more negative around us kind of the more negative we become and you might think that complaining or venting helps but it actually doesn't. There's some research to show that when we complain to others, we're actually more aggressive afterwards and we don't feel better. And complaining is also contagious. So we want to keep that in mind when we're

dealing with our own negativity. Well, so what's a way that we can deal with it? So one way you can deal with it is what's called detachment and where, you know, it's so easy to allow the worries of others or the anxieties or fears or negativity of others affect how you think and how you feel. So detachment just means that you step away from the situation kind of emotionally as if you're not in the middle of the situation and just notice the negativity around you, but not letting it impact you. Kind of the idea that you don't need to let it, you know, get yourself wrapped up in it and you can understand where the person is coming from without judging and without kind of being in the situation and letting the situation impact you emotionally. So you mentioned stepping away from it. What if it's actually coming from those that we're close to like family members or things like that? Yeah, that's a good question. I think you get to decide how much time you spend with those people because we can't remove them from our lives, right? So maybe it just means a little bit

less each week or a little bit of time each day. And sometimes we can do that, sometimes we can't. But the key is that we do, our energy is impacted by the people around us and the people that we surround ourselves with. So we have to choose wisely. How do you summarize today for us? You know, it's easy to be impacted right now with all the negativity in the world. But negativity has consequences. And the more negative around us and the more negativity around us, the more negative we become. So we can detach ourselves from the negativity, step away from the situation emotionally.

And we have to be careful who we spend time with because that impacts our negativity as well. And you always leave us with a power phrase. What is it this week? I choose to reduce the negativity around me. I choose positive energy instead. There we go. On a Monday, there's our positivity. Cindy, how do people get in touch with you for more information? You can head over to

DrCinder, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. Cinder Kampoff, thank you so much. Negativity is contagious. Don't do it on a Monday. We'll talk to you soon, okay? Good to see ya. 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 We'll see you next week.