High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 483: How to Train Your Mind Like a Pro Athlete

Episode Date: February 26, 2022

We can all train our mind like a professional athlete, and we should. When we do, we get to our goal quicker and think and act like a high performer.  To give ourselves the best chance of success, we can work to have a short-term memory of mistakes, focus on the right thing at the right time, and see adversity as helping us get to where we want to go.    This Week’s Power Phrase:  “I train my focus each day to help me reach my goals.”  Quote of the Week: “The sky has no limits. Neither should you.” Usain Bolt 

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. Time to check in with Sindra Kampoff today and a little bit today about training our minds like pro athletes. Now, Sindra, you usually start us off with a quote. I like this quote by Usain Bolt, a Jamaican sprinter. He said, the sky has no limits, neither should you. I like that. And we've

got to ask you what inspired the topic today. Well, I work with a lot of professional athletes. And interestingly, the more that I work with them, the more I realize that we each need to train our mind like they do. And when we do, we experience more success. We can get to our goals quicker. And I think they realize that they have to master their mindset every day. And they can't take a day off of training their mind. And I also think they're that they have to master their mindset every day and they can't

take a day off of training their mind. And I also think they're the best at their craft and so we can train our mind to help us be the best we can be and to thrive. So that's what we're going to be talking about today, how we can train our minds in three ways just like they do. All right, so let's go with the first way to train our mind. The first way is that professional athletes, really great ones, have a long-term memory of their successes, but a short-term memory of their mistakes or failures. So in my book, Beyond Grid, I talk about this concept called learn and burn, which means they learn from their mistakes and difficulties, but they can quickly move on from them or burn them. And I think sometimes we, all of us, you know, we all fail in some way. And the key is to learn from those mistakes or failures. And the best of the best expect success, but they also

understand the importance of moving on quickly just to protect their own confidence. So what is the second way that we train our mind? We can train our minds by also managing our focus. Lisa, one year, a few years ago, I spent the summer interviewing rookies who had just come into the NFL. And one thing that I noticed is that if they were focused on the wrong thing, they didn't end up making the team. So for example, if they were focused on things that they couldn't control, like the general manager and the general manager's decisions, or how the media was evaluating their performance. Or if they started listening to kind of outside voices, they didn't

make the team. So I think one way we can train our mind, like the best of the best do who do make the team is to manage our focus and focus on things we can control. Focus on things we can control. And what's the third way we train our mind? The third way is to really see adversity as something that helps us get to where we need to go. So a couple of years ago, a graduate student and I developed this research study where we interviewed pro athletes about how they developed their grit and their passion. And one thing that we found that was interesting is that those people who, again, became a pro-athlete, stayed a pro-athlete, saw adversity as helping them and actually helping them develop their grit and their passion. So a third way we can train our mind is when we're faced with adversity,

we can see it as actually helping us get to where we want to go. And what do we do next? I think next what we need to do is make a commitment to just training our mind every day, just like the best of the best, you know, of the pro athletes do. And, you know, we can easily just hold on to things that have happened in the past, sometimes replaying those, like the mistakes or failures. And instead, we need to really decide to manage our focus with intention and focus on the controllables and responding to adversity in a positive and empowering way. Cinder, how would you summarize today for us?

I would say, you know, we can all train our mind like a professional athlete, and we should. And when we do this, we get to our goal quicker, and we can think more like a high performer. So three ways we can do that is to have a short-term memory of our mistakes, focus on things that we can control, and see adversity as helping us get to where we want to go. So what is this week's power phrase? I train my focus each day to help me reach my goal. And, Cindra, if people are listening and want to get in touch with you, want to follow along with you on social media, maybe pick up your book, where do they need to go?

They can head over to DrCindra, so D-Rra.com. And you can find the book Beyond Grit there where I talk about some of these concepts. 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 dot com. See you next week.