High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 447: When to Take a Step Back

Episode Date: August 5, 2021

Today we talk about when we can be too gritty. We discuss Simone Biles, the USA gymnast, who withdrew from the Olympic All-American competition. As Simone said, our “physical health is mental health.” To ensure we are not pushing too hard, we can listen to our mind and body, care for ourselves, and engage in good self-care.     Power Phrase this Week: “I listen to my body and mind in order to reach my potential.” 

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. We check in with Cinder Kampoff this morning. And Cinder, today we are talking about when to

take a step back. How do we start today? Well, as many of you heard last week, Simone Biles, who is competing in the gymnastics all around at the Olympics, with you because she wanted to focus on her mental health. And later on Instagram, she talked about how she had the case of the twisties, which is literally when you can't tell up from down and when your mind and your body is not in sync. And Lisa, I don't know if you were watching, but I could visibly see that she was disoriented in the vault right before she made this announcement.

And so you could see that her mind and her body were not in sync. And she said, you know, I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and my well-being. And then later she said, you know, we're humans too, so we have to protect our mind and body rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do. Right. And, you know, I understand that she's going to be competing, actually, on the beam, so I'm pretty excited about that. How do you see that Simone is leading the way then?

Well, it took so much courage to really withdraw like Simone did. And, you know, she and others, other athletes like swimming star Michael Phelps and tennis star Naomi Osaka are really leading the way, helping us really see that we need to prioritize our mental health. And I think as spectators, it can be really easy to be critical, but we don't always understand how dangerous it is, especially in gymnastics where they're competing on a hard surface. It's very different than if a quarterback makes a mistake, right? They might just throw an interception instead of really get seriously injured.

And I think that Simone is really leading the way. She said physical health is mental health. And I see her purpose is bigger than just getting medals at the Olympics this year. I think that she's really here to help us understand the importance of caring for our body and mind. And when we need to say enough is enough. So you work with a lot of Olympians in Tokyo. What is your perspective of the situation there? Well, Simone tweeted the day before, you know, but the day before that she withdrew, she said, you know, she felt like she had the weight of

the world on her shoulders. And, you know, Lisa, every elite athlete I've been working with who's over in Tokyo, and I've been doing Zoom calls and phone calls with them, they feel a lot of pressure. You know, they've, they maybe feel pressure, they don't want to let their teammates down or their family down or their coaches down. And they've been working for five years to compete in this one moment. And I think Simone was the most, one of the most recognizable athletes going into the games worldwide. She has four, you know, moves named after her. So I think it's important for us to all keep that in mind as we're watching. And we need to really keep it in mind to have empathy and compassion for those that we're watching. And it can be really difficult,

especially if you didn't perform to your own expectations. So how do we recognize when we need to take that step back and when you're so used to performing at a high level like that, whatever you're doing in life? I think that's a great question. You know, when I speak, I do a lot of keynotes and trainings and I speak on the topic of grit. And that's where you stay committed to your long-term goals and you stay passionate and persistent while you're working towards them. And there is a time where we can be too gritty, you know, where we can really push our minds and bodies to limit and maybe push, push past our limits. So we have to really keep our health in mind and our bodies in mind and our relationships in mind because we can

push, push too hard. And I think the key is really to be in tune with our own body and our mind. You know, are we engaging in self-care to prevent ourselves from overpushing? So are we eating well and sleeping and caring for our bodies and managing our own stress? And I think that's what we really need to think about as we take a step back and think about when is it, when are we too gritty? Do you have a final point for us today? Well, I think Simone really helped us understand the importance of connecting our body and our mind and how they're both really connected and realizing the importance. You know, they don't perform at the Olympics just with their bodies. They perform with their mind too, just like we do in life.

And I think we can all realize that we're humans first. We're more than just our performance. And I think athletes are really leading the way in helping us realize the importance of that. I'm kind of noticing this shift towards people really understanding the need for those high performers to care for themselves. And that makes me really happy. But how would you summarize today for us? Well, today we talked about when we can become too gritty. And the key is really to listen to our own minds and bodies and to take care of ourselves, engage in self-care. And, you know, the importance of really taking care of our own mental health, because as Simone said, mental health is physical health. And can you tell us the power phrase this week?

The power phrase is this, I listen to my body and mind in order to reach my potential. I love it. I love it. Cinder, how do we get in touch with you or follow you on social media or anything that we want to know about the work that you do? Sure. You can head over to DrCindra.com and you can find more information about my keynotes, your coaching, and I have a book called Beyond What You Can Learn More About over there. Always good to have you on, Cinder Kampoff. Thank you so much. Thank you, 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. 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.