High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 601: Performing Under Pressure When the Stakes Are High

Episode Date: February 17, 2024

High performers in sport, business and life use pressure to be at their best. Awareness is the first step to reducing pressure. In this episode, Dr. Kamphoff shares the natural tools you can use to POP the Pressure. This Week's Power Phrase: “I have everything I need inside me now.” Quote of the Week: “The bigger the moment, the bigger than man.” Bill Cowher – CBS Commentator about Patrick Mahomes

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 Cyndra Kampoff this morning, and we talk a little bit about performing under pressure when the stakes are high. And Cyndra, you start us off with a quote. Oh, that Bill Coward, the CBS commentator, said about Patrick Mahomes during the last Super Bowl,

and he said, the bigger the moment, the bigger the man. Mm-hmm. Bigger the moment, the bigger the man. Now, you watched the recent Super Bowl. I'm sure it's fun to watch from a mental perspective as far as mental strength. What did you see? Well, I saw so many players staying calm under pressure. And especially because this was only the second time in NFL history where the Super Bowl went into overtime, right? And it's really easy when you're really tired to let your focus also not be really locked in. But I saw Brock Purdy, the 49ers quarterback, and Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs quarterback,

just really seize the moment. And, you know, you have to be able to do that when you're performing under pressure to be able to do your best in the moment, no matter where you go. Now, what if we're not performing under that kind of pressure? There's other kinds of pressure that we could apply this to ourselves on. Absolutely. And I encourage everyone to think about the last time that you felt pressure. You know, you were likely doing something that you really wanted to be well at, and it was likely that the outcome was unknown, and you felt judged or responsible for the outcome.

You know, at work, that might be at least like a presentation or a big meeting, or it could be during a big play or during playoffs. I know there's lots of playoffs going on right now. And, you know, if we don't learn to change our perception of pressure and be able to manage it, then we fall the risk of falling behind. And most people can do that. And so how do people typically respond to pressure? Well, what's interesting is we feel pressure when three things happen. When the outcome is important to us, number two, the outcome is unknown, and number three, we feel judged by the outcome. And so notice that in those three things, I said the word outcome. And when we feel pressure, our mind is typically focused on the outcome of the future. And so we often see that pressure as something we want to avoid,

that we don't want to experience. And we can get really stuck in kind of future-based thinking, right? We can imagine the worst case scenario. But what I would say is the world's best view pressure differently. They don't let pressure cause them stress or anxiety. They see it as a challenge and the situation as an opportunity. All right. So pressure can them stress or anxiety. They see it as a challenge and the situation as an opportunity. All right. So pressure can cause stress and anxiety. How, I mean, how do we view pressure then as a bad thing? Well, we want to, instead of just avoiding pressure, is really reframe the situation as a good thing, right? And, you know, the world's best know that if they wouldn't have been in a situation, if they wouldn't accomplish something wonderful in the past, they wouldn't even be there, right?

So they see pressure differently. They see the situation as a privilege, like as a challenge, and they believe that they have everything inside of them that they need to perform at their best. You know, great things actually can be accomplished under pressure. And you saw that during the last Super Bowl. What should we do when we experience pressure ourselves? Well, I love this acronym and tool from my book, Beyond Grit. And I talk about it as pop the pressure. And, you know, you can use natural tools in you to perform when moments are high for pressure for you. So the first P in pop the pressure, so POP stands for three steps.

First, take some power breaths. Just take some power breaths. Count with those breaths, like four counts in, hold for four, four counts out, and just bring your attention back to the present. So number one thing you could do is take some power breaths. O stands for opportunity. And just remind yourself that you have everything inside you that you need. Now you can be the best that you can be at the moment.

And then the P stands for focus on the process, the small steps you need to execute because that'll get your mind out of the outcome and just focus on the small things you can do right now, the one thing that you can do right now. And Cinder, how would you summarize today for us? I would say high performers in sports, business, and in life, they use pressure to be at their best.

And awareness is always the first step in reducing the pressure, you know, noticing how you're feeling, and then use natural tools within you to perform at your best. And you could pop the pressure, a great tool to use in the moment. What's today's power phrase? This was a good one. I love it. I have everything I need inside me now. I like that one. Good to remember. And Cindra, if we want to get more information or read about this more in one of your books, where do we go? You can head over to beyondgrit.com and you can find more information about both my books, Beyond Grit and Beyond Grit. And I talk about the topic of pressure in both of them. 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.com. See you next week.