High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 635: How to Overcome Self-Doubt

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

We can all be overcome by self-doubt. In this episode, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff shares with us why self-doubt is so common and how to overcome it. Power Phrase of the Week: “I choose to see the possibilities for myself and my future.” Quote of the Week: “Fear and self-doubt have always been the greatest enemies of human potential.” - Brian Tracy

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, always covering a good topic, this one especially, how to overcome self-doubt. Cinder, start us off with a quote. I like this quote by Brian Tracy. He's an author and speaker, and he said, fear and self-doubt have always been the greatest enemies of human potential. So what inspired the topic today for us?

Well, today we're talking about overcoming self-doubt. And I work with this young athlete who has been working on controlling his emotions while playing baseball. You know, Lisa, that can be really hard when baseball is really important to you when you're young, your brain is still developing, right? Right, right. And in our last one-on- one session, we talked about imagery. So the power of imagining things in the future as a way to grow confidence and just be able to control your emotions.

And I got this cute text from his dad this weekend that said, update from the state baseball tournament. My son hit an inside the park home run. He visualized it and he made it happen. That's amazing. I know. So, you know, if young kids can do this, we can too. Yeah. And tell us why this is important to us. Well, today we're talking about self-doubt and we're talking about, you know, growing our confidence instead of believing in your self-doubt. And we can think that confidence is really bulletproof, right? But actually confidence is really fragile. And confidence is one of the most important components that we need for success. But it's also something we have to nurture. And so the imagery is actually one of the ways to grow confidence. And when we imagine something in

detail, our brain actually doesn't know the difference between something we vividly imagine and something that's real. And that's why it's so powerful. That is powerful. And I love that. I love to know that. What's the most important thing that we need to know about self-doubt? I think the most important thing we need to know about self-doubt is that we all have automatic negative thoughts. And you and I have talked about this before. I like to use an acronym by Daniel Amen called ANTS, or again, automatic negative thought. And I think the power of this is like we don't choose all of our thoughts. And when we do or again, automatic negative thought. And I think the power of this is like, we don't choose all of our thoughts. And when we do believe in these automatic negative thoughts,

that's what leads to our self-doubt. And I wish I would have known this idea like, you know, a long time ago, because especially as a college athlete, I struggled with my own confidence. And I think just believing in those automatic negative thoughts, really, I suffered a lot, right? And I could have prevented a lot of suffering. So the most important thing to know is that if we believe in our self-doubt too much, it can lead to negatively impacting our confidence. And instead, we want to protect it and not believe all those automatic negative thoughts. Well, I think the reason you know about it now is so you can help the rest of us with it. So I'm glad that you're here.

What should we be doing to overcome the self-doubt? I think one of the things that are most important is to condition your mind powerfully to speak to yourself. And I don't think that we should take a day off of training our mind. And so the best way to talk to yourself is what I call power phrases. And those are statements that start with I will or I can or I am. And I am is the most powerful because that's who we are and who we become. And I am has the ability to really shape our reality, our destiny, right? And when we think I am, we're focusing on the traits that we actually have already inside you.

And so I am statements allow us to look back at the picking an inventory of our own strengths, our own talents, the attributes we're really proud of as, as well as the qualities that we want to become more of. Like maybe we want to become more confident or more relaxed or more bold, right? I actually have 25 power statements that I say to myself every morning and I plan them out because what I think about myself, I become just like what you think about yourself, you become. So, for example, some of mine are like I am bold and I take massive action. Another one of mine is I see my value and the value of my work. And, you know, those are things I want to believe about myself to reach my potential.

What's another way that we can help build confidence? Another way is like let's go back to the athlete I was just sharing about at the beginning. And, you know, what he had to get clear on is something that he wanted in the future. And so that's also something that can build your confidence is to ask yourself, what do you really want in the future? And how can you imagine it happening? So for example, at the end of your day, you could just imagine three things that went well during that day. And maybe three things that you want to go, you know, that you want to do well tomorrow or that you want to go, you know, well tomorrow. And we want to imagine that in detail. And again, your brain doesn't know the difference between something you vividly imagine and something that's real. And so you can build your confidence

and momentum at the same time. So, Sandra, how would you summarize all of this for us today? I would say, you know, high performers, they train their mind each day, and they're really intentional with conditioning their mind, especially about what they believe about themselves. And I think the last thing is just to remember to talk powerfully to yourself and imagine your own success in the future, like the little athlete I was talking about. And what is our power phrase for today? I choose to see the possibilities for myself and my future. And, Cyndra, if people have more questions or want to do some more reading about this topic or any of the other topics that you cover with me, where can they go? You can go to Cyndra Kampoff or easier way is drcyndra.com. And you can find my books Beyond Grit over there and all of our services that we use when we work with athletes and leaders.

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 add over to Dr. Sindra.

That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. See you next week.