High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 59: Owning the 40% Rule

Episode Date: July 27, 2016

High performers know they have more in their reserve tank. They keep in mind the 40% rule which means they have up to 60 percent more to give. They embrace the suck, but don’t live there. They think and act like pros by welcoming and embracing the discomfort. They realize they need to stay the course, put their heads in the sand and stay gritty. Find the shownotes at: cindrakamphoff.com/owning-40-rule

Welcome to High Performance Mindset with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Do you want to reach your full potential, live a life of passion, go after your dreams? Each week we bring you strategies and interviews to help you ignite your mindset. Let's bring on Sindra. What's up, high performers? This is your host, Sindra Kampoff, and I'd like to welcome you to the High Performance Mindset Podcast. I'm grateful that you're here, ready to listen to a message about owning the 40% rule. So first, I just want to thank you so much for your messages, for your tweets, your text messages and emails about how impactful the podcast has been. I really appreciate it. You know, when I think about like,

why do this every week? It's because of you. So I really appreciate the messages. Today, I got one that said, Hey, Dr. Kampoff, you know, awesome podcast with Jonathan Ziert, a truly inspiring and motivational story. I hope things are going well. And, you know, if you haven't listened to the podcast with Jonathan, Jonathan Ziert was the last podcast that I posted an incredible story about Jonathan and his perspective, how he's used his perspective and his positive mindset to deal with prostate cancer. So incredible, a positive story I'd encourage you to listen to. I call Jonathan the most positive person that I know on this planet, and you'll be able to feel the energy from his podcast. And then this week, I'm launching a new interview with Ben Newman.

I first learned about Ben Newman, who is a performance coach related to his work with North Dakota State University football, and they have won the last five national championships. And again, man, his interview was crazy. It was awesome. It was inspiring. It was high energy. So I know you're going to love that, which I'm going to post later this week. So today we are going to talk about owning the 40% rule, and I can't wait to tell you what this means. I'm going to start with a quote by David Goggins. He's a Navy SEAL and ultramarathoner and he said, when your brain says that you're done, you're only 40% done. So David has popularized the

Navy SEALs 40% rule and what this means is that when you feel like giving in and giving up, you have only used 40% of your effort and your potential. So your reserve tank has 60% remaining. I first read about this 40% rule in Jesse Eitzler's book, Living with a SEAL. And you know, Jesse is the co-owner of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. And in his book, he describes his experience hiring David to live with him for 30 days.

And he first met David at an ultramarathon, and David was running the race all by himself, whereas Jesse was there running, like, different legs as part of this ultramarathon. And he saw, saw like this fire in David's eyes and he said I gotta learn what's going on with that guy so he hired him the first day at Jesse's house David asked him how many pull-ups can you do and Jesse did eight so David then said you know take 30 seconds you gotta do again. And Jesse described that he, gosh, he did six more, but he was really struggling. And then David said, we're not leaving here until you do 100 pull-ups. And guess what? Jesse did it. He did a hundred pull-ups. And he said later, he said, you know, David proved to me that first day, he proved to me that we have so much more, that we're all capable of so much more than

we think that we are. And it was a great lesson for me. So that's really what the 40% rule is all about, is that you haven't even tapped into your reserve tank. That when you feel like giving up, you probably have 60% left. And so what that means to me is that you can move to the next level and you are more capable than you realize. You can run faster, lift more, work more efficiently, give more when you feel like giving up. And you know, I've used this principle in the last month in various ways. About a month ago, I was running the grandma's marathon. It's my 13th marathon. And there was a part in the race that was super tough. And at one point I said to myself, Sindra, you likely have 60% left. You've got to go. And it

really helped me just realize that I do have more in my reserve tank. Other times I've used this principle is when I'm sitting here at my computer doing work and it feels like a grind, you know, I got this checklist I got to do. And, you know, when I feel like giving up, I say to myself, Sindra, you got about 60% more. And it really helped me just continue to push myself because I know that I do have more and I know you have more to give. We're all more capable of than we realize. Another reason I love this message about the 40% rule is that we have to appreciate the difficulty. That things are going to be difficult and when we embrace the discomfort this allows us to move further towards our goals. Because the more satisfaction you get, you get it from things that are difficult and hard.

And when we dig deep, we feel alive. So to stay gritty and to accomplish your goals and your dreams, you have to do things that are hard. You have to do things that sometimes suck. We can't avoid the things that we don't like or aren't happy about. And high performers, they don't distract themselves or numb themselves to the discomfort. They don't disconnect or ignore or procrastinate when they feel discomfort. Instead, they embrace the discomfort. They put their head in the sand and they stay gritty. And that's what I think the 40% rule is all about. And the discomfort

I really mean is like emotional discomfort. Like when we're pushing ourselves and we feel like giving up emotionally. Or maybe physical discomfort. Both are not pain, but both are instead supporters of your high performance journey. Because high performers learn to embrace the discomfort so they continue to learn and grow. Another way to say this is amateurs dread when the discomfort sets in and wonder if they can handle it but pros embrace and welcome the discomfort. So I got a strategy here today to help you think about how you can own the 40% rule and embrace the 40% rule. And I am going to use this and put it in an acronym. The acronym is ABC. Pretty easy to remember. The A stands for when we feel like giving up, we should A, act big and think big.

We should see the discomfort as a challenge and label it as a possibility that's going to help us reach our goals and stay gritty. We have to embrace, you know, that things aren't going to be perfect on our way to reach our goals and our way to reach our destiny. Instead, we have to embrace the discomfort and realize that the discomfort is going to help us move forward and it's going to give us the energy to move forward towards our goals and our dreams. So the B is take a deep, big breath in. Take one big power breath in and breathe in confidence. Breathe out any anxiety or fear that you have that you can't handle the situation. And C is commit. You know, all it takes is about 20 seconds of courage. And when we feel the discomfort, the fear, the anxiety,

the self-doubt that we can handle it, instead, we should choose courage. And all we need is just to commit. Commit regardless of how tired we are or how much anxiety or fear or emotional discomfort we have and take 20 seconds of courage to move forward and to embrace the 40% rule. Because my friends, high performers know

that they have more in their reserve tank. They keep in mind the 40% rule, which means, again, we got 60% more to give. And they embrace times when it sucks, but they don't live there. As a previous guest on my podcast said, Nicole Dutling. Instead, they think and act like pros by welcoming and embracing the discomfort. They realize they got to stay the course.

They got to keep going. Put their nose in the sand and their heads in the sand and stay gritty. All right. So that's what the 40% rule is all about. I hope that you appreciated this message today. And we are going to end today with an affirmation. You can find on my Twitter page, which is at mentally underscore strong. And the affirmation this week is this.

I have a reserve tank that hasn't even been tapped. I put my head in the sand, stay the course and remain gritty. Make it an outstanding week, my friends. If you'd like to comment on this, I'd encourage you to head over to iTunes. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast there. You can make a comment about the podcast there as well, or you can always head over to my website, which is drcindra.com. All the podcasts are there under the podcast link, and I'd love to hear from you. Tell me what's it out to you about this message. Tell me about how you are owning the 40% rule in your life and today and this week. All right.

Take care, and we'll see you back soon. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. If you liked today's podcast, make a comment, share it with a friend and join the conversation on Twitter at Mentally Underscore Strong. For more inspiration and to receive Sindra's free weekly videos, check out drsindra.com.