High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 427: How to Control Your Mind

Episode Date: April 29, 2021

In this episode, we talk about the impact of overthinking on your performance, happiness and fulfillment. Dr. Cindra Kamphoff encourages us to use the Truth Meter when you notice yourself overthinking or believing a thought that doesn’t serve you. Your mind tends to lie to you to keep you safe and small. Instead, take control of your mind and choose a better thought that would serve you right now to play bigger and step into your courage zone. Remember, your mind does not control you, you can control your mind.    Power Phrase this Week: “I control my mind. My mind does not control me.”  Quote of the Week: “Pressure isn’t supposed to break us, it’s designed to make us.” Sarah Johnson   

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. It's time to check in with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. And when I called Dr. Kampoff this morning,

Sindra, you're kind of on a high. You had a really exciting last couple of days. I did. I started doing some work with USA Track and Field to help our Olympians and those who are training for the trials train their mind. And today i'm going to start with this quote and it goes like this it says pressure isn't supposed to break us it's designed to make us and this weekend i was um at drake relays which is pretty cool because i ran there as a high school and college athlete and i was there working with um our u.s athlete and it's really interesting because it's about two months before the Olympic trials at the end of June, Lisa. And so that's where the Olympic team gets set. And, you know, top three from each event go to the Olympics. So it can feel like a lot of pressure leading up to the trials, especially because it only happens every four years. And now, you know, every five

since the Olympics were postponed last year. And generally when we experience pressure, we kind of have a tendency to overthink and focus on the outcome. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Well, how does that connect with the topic for today? Well, one thing that I see in those trainings for the Olympics is that they can overthink things, especially after a tough performance or now towards, you know, kind of at the beginning of the outdoor season, maybe where they haven't experienced their season best yet. And we can overthink things. And we think that we need to kind of change everything when one thing isn't perfect. And the reason we do this is because of our brains. You know, Lisa, our brain is here to keep us safe. And so many times,

we can exaggerate things or generalize kind of one negative event or things to many. And so the key is to train our brain to overcome this tendency of overthinking. That's a hard one. How does that overthinking impact us as a whole? Well, it's a serious problem because we can't perform at our best at the highest level when we engage in it. And, you know, it interferes with our, you know, with our ability to stay motivated and focused. It interferes with our problem-solving ability. It prevents us from pursuing our goals and being in the present. And it can sometimes, when we're engaging in

overthinking, feel like quicksand. Yeah. Right? Where it's like this pessimistic view of life and like everything's going wrong and really it's not. Right and that that once you get stuck in that thinking it's like the ruminating everything is going to go wrong and you can't stop thinking about it. So what do we do if we have a tendency to overthink? I think to remember that you can control your mind and I use this tool I call the truth meter and I've included you know shared this with many elite athletes and they found found it really helpful. And we can all use this because we can all engage in overthinking. And so the truth meter is just three quick questions you can ask yourself when you feel like you're spinning or you're overthinking the same thing. And if you can, I'd encourage you to write down the thing you're thinking about, that you're overthinking about.

Write it down. If you can't, that's okay. And just ask yourself these three quick questions. The first question is, is this thought true, yes or no? And usually that answer is no because our mind tends to lie to us. Second question is, is this thought serving me? Is it helping me? And usually that answer is no, it's not serving me.

So then the last question is, what is a better thought that would serve you right now? And that's empowering because, you know, just to remind yourself that you can control your mind, and this helps you release that overthinking and get back to the present moment where that's where we're all at our best. And do you have a final point for us today? Absolutely. Lisa, I'd say, you know, becoming happier and just being your best self really does mean learning to disengage with overthinking. And, you know, we all experience stress and hassles in our day, no matter if we're an athlete or not. So learning to, you know, stop the overthinking will help you reach your highest

level of performance, but also your highest level of happiness and help you think more like the world's best. Can you summarize for us? Yeah. So I'd say, Lisa, this week, when you tend to notice yourself overthinking or believing in a thought that doesn't serve you or help you, you can use this truth meter. You know, is this thought true? Is this thought serving me? And what's a better thought that would serve me right now? And remember, your mind does not control you. That's when we tend to overthink, but you can control your mind instead. Every week you leave us with a power phrase that kind of helps us get through the week, something that we can go to and help remember the lesson.

This one is one of my favorites. It goes like this. I control my mind. My mind does not control me. And sometimes that's really hard to remember, but also always a good lesson, I think. Absolutely. For sure. Sindra Kampoff, how do we get in touch with you if we want to learn more about you, maybe buy the book Beyond Grit or find out what's coming next from you? Absolutely. You can head over to DrSindra, so D-R-com and you can find 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-C-I-N-D-R-A.com.

See you next week.