High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 374: Your Focus Determines Your Feelings

Episode Date: September 29, 2020

Our focus determines our feelings. If you want to change how you feel, you can change your focus. Your focus is like a mental spotlight. Your attention is always on something; it’s not really ever lost. You can choose to shine your focus on what helps you and gives you energy at any given moment.    This Week’s Power Phrase:  “I protect my focus. My focus determines my feelings.”     “Your success and happiness lies within you.” Helen Keller    

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. Cinder Kampoff on the phone with us this morning. We're doing a little positivity on a Monday. Your

focus determines your feelings. Cinder, what is the quote that we're going to start with today? This is by Helen Keller. She said, your focus and your success and happiness lies within you. All right. What inspired the topic? Well, I have found that I've been using this statement and the strategy a lot during the time of change that we're in. This idea of my focus determines my feelings and it helps me check my focus and is my focus on really what I have

or is it on what's missing? And I know that I can change my focus and that changes how I feel. So I've used the strategy multiple times in a day, like if I'm overwhelmed or tired or negative, and that's what I thought I would share today. Well, let's talk about the power of our focus. What do you have to share about that?

Well, our focus is like a mental spotlight. Maybe think of a miner or diver with a headlamp on the top of their head. It kind of is a visual. And your attention is always on something. It's not really lost. So is your attention kind of taking you away from your vision or laser focused on it? Or is your attention easily focused on distractions or negativity? And I think two most important things about focus is we really do need to protect our focus during this time and that we do have a choice. We can choose to shine our focus on what helps us at any given moment. So you've got some focus improving questions. Why are they helpful?

Well, if your focus determines your feelings, you know, you can change your focus and that changes how you feel. And just this idea is really simple but powerful. You know, Lisa, I was reading this research study this weekend and it said that if the first thing you do in the morning is listen to the news, like the negative news, that you're 23% more likely to report having a bad day. Interesting. Because our focus isn't on, you know, the positive or helpful things to start our day. So consider how you can start your day with positivity and gratitude. And the questions that we're going to talk about today, you can quickly change your focus with them. So you could choose one of these questions to help guide your day. All right. What are some examples of focus improving questions? So, and again, you can use these to change how you feel. So a couple of them are, what can I be thankful for? What is amazing right now? What am

I happy about right now? What is going right in my life? And what's the opportunity here? And all of these questions can help you generate energy and grit, positivity. And especially the last one, if you're struggling with a problem, you could just ask yourself, what's the opportunity here to really look for the positive. And there's some other questions related to family and work. What are those? What is great about my situation? What progress have I made at work? How is the situation a gift? What is wonderful about my work or family and what is awesome about my family? And all of these questions are helpful because they, you know, we all have a negativity bias and this can address and kind of counteract the negativity bias. How we

start our day is important. How do you summarize today? Our focus determines our feelings. If I want to change how I feel, I can change my focus. And your focus is like a mental spotlight. It's always on something. So you can choose to shine your focus on what helps you at any given moment. And you have a power phrase for us to head through Monday? I protect my focus. My focus determines my feelings. I like it. Cinder Kampoff, thank you so much. How do we get in touch with you for more information? Yep, you can head over to DrCindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. And I do a lot of keynote speaking and training,

so you can check it out there. Or my book, Beyond Grit, is on there as well. Your focus determines your feelings. Cinder, thanks so much. We'll talk to you later. Thanks, Lisa. 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. CINDRA 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-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.