High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 568: How to Reduce Your Overthinking

Episode Date: October 1, 2023

Becoming happier and being your best self means learning how to disengage from overthinking. Every day, in all parts of our life, we can experience minor setbacks and hassles. Learning to stop overthinking about them will help you reach your highest level of performance and think like the world’s best.  Power Phrase this Week: “I notice when I excessively and endlessly think too much. I use the CAR Shift.”  Quote of the Week: "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could, some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Hi friends, my name is Dr. Sindhra 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're checking in with Cinder Kampoff today, and today we're talking about overthinking and how to

reduce it. Cinder, start us off with a quote. I like this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said, finish each day and be done with it. You've done what you could, some blunders and some obscurity to have crept in, but forget them as soon as you can. And tomorrow is a new day. A new day. So tell us about the topic for this new day. Well, we can all experience overthinking. In fact, research shows that it's a common problem. One study, for example, published in the Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, the researchers found that 73% of young adults and 52% of middle-aged adults can be classified as an overthinker. And Lisa, to be honest, when I asked my audiences, you know, how many people in the

audience, you know, thinks it or identify as an overthinker, it's actually higher, somewhere between 75 and 90% of people raise their hand. So a lot of people would identify as being an overthinker. Yeah, I'd probably raise my hand as well. So what exactly is overthinking? Well, it is when we needlessly, passively, endlessly, and really excessively ponder. You could think of like the meanings, the causes, or the consequences of things. And we can overthink anything. We can overthink our success, our failure, our families, our appearance, our career, our mistake, our health.

But when we overthink, we ask ourselves questions like, you know, why did I make that mistake? Or why did that happen to me? What do others think of me? What do you mean by that comment? Or what do you mean by that comment? And even, you know, something like, why am I so unhappy? And then we can kind of just get stuck in that cycle. Well, I can see why it's a problem, but can explain to us why it is such a big problem. Well, we can't perform at our highest level when we engage in overthinking and it interferes with our problem solving ability, really zaps our motivation, increases our negative thinking, and just in general, stops you from pursuing your goals. And I also think times where I've overthought something and taken things really personally, it can drive our family, our friends, our co-workers away from us because of just our

negativity and our negative thoughts and emotions that we generate when we overthink. So it can feel like quicksand where it gives us a really distorted, pessimistic view of our life. So here comes the question, what do we do to reduce our overthinking since it's not good for us? So I have several different tools in my book, Beyond Grit, but the one I want to focus on today is called the car shift. And it helps you kind of shift your gears in your mind like you would shift your car. And using the car shift can help you just make your thinking more productive. So the C of this car shift stands for catch it. And that just means just notice it and be aware of it. And honestly, I think that's the most difficult part, Lisa.

It's just noticing when we're engaging in overthinking. The A for car stands for address it. And either you have two choices. You can either talk back to that thought, maybe tell yourself why it's inaccurate, or let it move out of your mind like a cloud passing by or a leaf, you know, on a kind of a thought on the leaf kind of going down a stream. Even imagine that thought leaving your mind.

And then the R of CAR stands for refocus your mind to the present. And the best way to get out of your mind is to really focus on what you're doing, get back to the present moment and really get your mind into what you're doing or what's to the present moment, and really get your mind into what you're doing or what's going on right now at the present moment. Well, Cyndra, is there another strategy we can try too? There's another strategy. One of my podcast guests suggests that we don't have to completely stop worrying, but we can engage in what's called worry postponement or worry time. And it allows you just to make a deliberate choice about worrying and when to do

it. And so for example, you might literally put on your calendar, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to worry on Thursday at 4pm. And then tell yourself that later, you know, later is worry time. And this allows you just to manage your worry and decide how much it's going to impact you right now. And I like that tool as well. What's your final point for today? I would say becoming happier and being your best just means to learn to disengage with overthinking. And it's really a practice. So, you know, every day we experience setbacks and adversity and learning to stop overthinking about them will help you to reach your highest potential and your, you know, your best more often. Cinder, what's the power phrase this week?

I notice when I excessively and endlessly think too much, I use the car shift today. I got to use the car shift today and tomorrow probably, but that's a good tactic to have. How do we find more information out or maybe get a copy of one of the books you're talking about? You can head over to Dr. Cinder, so d-r-c-i-n-d-r-a.com. And I have a chapter on overthinking in my book, Beyond Grit. So you can check that out over there. 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.