High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 475: 3 Ways to Reduce Stress

Episode Date: December 24, 2021

High performers see stressful situations as a challenge they can overcome instead of a threat to their performance or confidence. They remember it’s all about their perception of a situation and they talk to themselves powerful when experiencing stress – reminding themselves they can handle anything. Remember, “You have the resources to overcome this.”    Power Phrase of the Week: “I adopt a challenge mindset. I can handle anything that comes my way.”   Quote of the Week: “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose on thought over another.” William James 

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 today and it is kind of a stressful time of year. Cinder,

we are talking about ways to reduce stress and you usually start us off with a quote. Quote by William James. He said, the greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. Choosing one thought over another. As we talk about ways to reduce stress, how are we going to talk about this today? Well, I think what's interesting is, especially right now during the holidays, more people report being stressed. In fact, I just was reading a study

that said 38% of people feel stressed in the holidays. And most of the time we report work as our number one stress. But in the holidays. And, you know, most of the time we report like work as our number one stress. But in the holiday season, it's actually we say our stress is caused because of the holidays. About 50% of people report like stress and pressure over getting gifts and receiving gifts. And so ultimately, what we're going to talk about today is how we see the stressor or the situation impacts our response to it. So it's really important to choose one thought over another. And today we're going to talk about seeing the situation as a challenge to help us get through. So I can see how the way that we

see a situation would matter to us. What is a challenge mindset? Well, when we're adapting more of a challenge mindset, it includes two things. First, we believe we can handle anything that comes our way. And we're really focused on what we can control. And I think there's so many things during the holidays that can stress us, if it's, you know, getting together with family or traveling, or getting the right gift, right? But when we really adopt more of a challenge mindset, we realize it's our perception of the stress that really makes the difference. So how is that different than a threat mindset? Yeah, so that's really the difference. Like a challenge mindset is we see it as something

we can get through. A threat mindset, we believe that we really don't have the resources like within us to be able to handle it. We focus a lot of times on things we can't control. So we might be focused on the future or the past and not necessarily really in the present, which is where we enjoy really the holidays. And so today our title is three ways to reduce our stress. Yes. So let's talk about these three ways. First, ultimately, we want to remember that it's our perception of the situation that makes a difference.

So we can take a step back, we can pause, and we can remember to see the situation from a different perspective. And then we want to see it as a challenge. We want to see it as like something that we can handle. Let's say even if a difficult family member, you know, says something that you perceive as annoying, right? We can put those differences aside during the holidays, right? And then the key, the third, you know, the third point is really to talk to ourselves powerfully. Just remind ourselves, this is a great time of the year. We have the resources within us to handle everything we need to do. We can handle anything that comes our way, or maybe even this one, like I have everything inside me right

now that I need. Cinder, do you have a final point for us today? Yeah, so today we were talking about kind of this idea of adopting more of a challenge mindset versus a threat mindset when we feel stressed. And I think the point is really that it is all in our lives. It's not necessarily the actual situation, but it's how we perceive it. And so the key is to really master that focus that we have. Remember, we can change it to something that really we have, you know, there's so many things to be grateful for and to see it as a challenge that we can have everything inside us that we need. I like this. It's kind of a reframing of things. We've talked about that before. Can you summarize today for us? Sure. So I'd say, you know, the best leaders and those

that are really our presence see stressful situations as a challenge instead of a threat. And this helps us really stay in the present moment. And the key is to really, and it's all about our perception of the situation, not necessarily the actual situation, and to really talk to ourselves powerfully, remembering we can handle anything that comes our way. Cinder, what's the power phrase this week? I adopt a challenge mindset. I can handle anything that comes my way. And if people want to get in touch with you or follow along with your work, what's the best way? They can head over to Dr. Sindra. It's the D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. And all the information

is over there, including my book, Beyond Grit. 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. Sindhra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com.

See you next week.