High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 536: Choosing Your Story

Episode Date: March 14, 2023

We are meaning making machines and we create stories around events all day long. The important point for today is that we can intentionally choose the stories we create. When we do that, we have more energy, creativity, and passion to keep going.   Power Phrase of the Week: “I intentionally choose the story I am creating today.”     Quote of the Week: “Changing your story is as simple as choosing better stories to tell yourself.” Kindra Hall 

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 Cinder Kampoff today. And today we're talking about choosing your

story. Cinder, you start us off with a quote. I like this one by Kendra Hall. She said, changing your story as simple as choosing better stories to tell yourself. So what inspired the topic today for us? Well, one thing I know for sure is that when we level up our own thoughts, we can level up our life and our career. And I think, Lisa, that one of the most important factors in our own success is how we talk to ourselves about ourselves and especially about our experiences. And all day long, we interpret things in our life, right? We interpret and we describe events kind of both externally to others and

then internally to ourselves. And so why is intentionally choosing our stories important? Well, everything in our own life is based on the meaning we give it. So the way I would describe this is that we're meaning making machines. We choose a meaning related to everything that happens in our life. We make a meaning on it. And so we can give a meaning to a future event or to a past event. And sometimes we replay these past events in our own mind. And so today what we're talking about is intentionally and proactively choosing the meaning of, you know, our things that happen in our life just to empower our future. How exactly do we do that?

So we can see any situation as something that tears us down, or maybe that is a gift, right? So maybe something that is happening for us, not to us. And when we see the gift or the silver lining, and we see it's happening for us, we can learn from it. And so even difficult things in our life can be an opportunity for us to grow and for us to turn it into a gift. And so when we intentionally choose a meaning to any story or any event in our life, it helps us be more proactive and it helps us to get unstuck quicker. And how do we do that? Well, I think one way to do that is just to notice the way that you're interpreting an event and be really intentional about reframing or changing the way that you look at it. So be really intentional about reframing or changing

the way that you look at it. So we want to think of it more as a creator, really taking control of that mindset, not like a victim to our experiences. And we can do this just by, you know, examining past events in our life and making a new meaning around that. Can you give us an example? Sure. So I'd say for everyone who's listening, just think about something that is stressful right now for you. So maybe you're experiencing stress. It's likely because of the story you're putting around that. So let's say you got tough feedback at your job. Maybe your story around that is that you're going to get fired. Or maybe you have a big deadline coming up, right? And your story is,

you know, I don't know if I can reach this deadline. There's so much to do. It can be really overwhelming. Or maybe you have some kind of struggle with one of your kids. And, you know, the story, I think sometimes we tell that as parents is they're not going to be successful as an adult. And so we wanted to be really mindful of the story that we're creating or the meaning we're creating around things, because that's actually what causes the stress. And we can really intentionally choose the story we put around things. Yeah, that's important to know. To do this, what kind of questions do we need to be asking? So one question, just to examine if the story is actually real, is just to ask yourself, what's actually fact here?

And do I really know that to be fact? Because sometimes it's just the story we create around the facts. is just to ask yourself, what's actually fact here? And do I really know that to be fact? Because sometimes it's just the story we create around the facts. And so other questions you could ask yourself, are there any things in your life that you can give meaning to or a different meaning to? Can you see them as happening for you? Or what events in my past do I want to give new meaning around? And the point is, Lisa, we want to just

choose a meaning that really empowers us. We want to choose a meaning that makes us better, not bitter, right? We want to choose a meaning that really helps us, not hinders us. So we want to choose, be really intentional about choosing how we're creating these stories in our own mind. So, Cinder, how would you summarize today? I would summarize this by saying we're meaning-making machines, and we create stories around events all day long. So, the important point from today is that we intentionally choose the stories we create, and when we do that, we have more energy, more creativity, and more just motivation and passion to keep going. What is a good power phrase for this particular topic? I intentionally choose

the story I am creating today. And Sindra, if people want to follow along with your work or learn more about what it is that you do, where do we need to go? Sure, you can head over to Dr. Sindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. And this is from my new book, Beyond Grit for Business, where I'm talking about just intentionally creating stories. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm talking about just intentionally creating stories. 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.

Sindhra 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 dr. Sindhra.com. See you next week.