High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 648: The Power of Your Focus

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

Our focus determines our feelings. If you want to change how you feel, you can change your focus. Your focus is like a mental spotlight. Your attention is always on something; it’s not really ever lost. You can choose to shine your focus on what helps you at any given moment.   This Week's Power Phrase: “I protect my focus. I choose to ask myself powerful focus improving questions to change how I feel.” Quote of the Week: “Only one thing has to change for us to know happiness in our lives: where we focus our attention.” - Greg Anderson

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 Sindra Kampoff this morning and a little bit of positivity. The power of your focus is what we talk about today. Sindra, start us off with a quote. I think this quote by Greg Anderson is powerful. And he said, only one thing has to change for us to know happiness in our lives, where we focus our attention.

Tell us a little bit about what inspired this topic for you today. Well, today we're talking about the power of our focus and the idea that our feelings or our focus determines our feelings. And Lisa, this really helps me check in on my focus. You know, I tend to sometimes focus on things that are missing instead of things that I have, just like everyone else. And if I know I change my focus, it's going to change how I feel. But today we're going to talk about how you can use that strategy throughout your day to get unstuck, especially on just emotions that aren't necessarily helpful for you. Oh, good. I like this one. So let's talk first about the power of our focus.

What do you have to share about that? Well, think about your focus like a mental spotlight. Like, for example, think of a miner or a diver with the headlamp on the top of their head, kind of as a visual. And your attention is always on something. Sometimes we think, well, I just lost my attention or I lost my focus, but it's always on something. And, you know, just to kind of help us think about that, is your attention taking you away from your vision or kind of laser focused on it? You know, is your attention focused on distractions or negativity? And the key is, is that we really need to protect our focus because whatever we side our focus on is going to really help us in that moment. So you've got some focus improving questions.

Can you tell me why they're going to be helpful? Yes. I love these questions that we're going to talk about. And they're helpful because if your focus determines your feelings, I think the empowering thing to know is that you can change your focus. And when you change your focus on what you're kind of spotlighting on, it changes how you feel. And so this idea is really simple and powerful. For example, Lisa, I just read a research study that said if the first thing you do in the morning is wash the nude, you're 23% more likely to report having a bad day. That's a lot. That's a lot.

But it just kind of shows you the power of your day with gratitude, with positivity, kind of focusing on things in your life that are going well. And the questions we're going to talk about today can help you change that focus relatively quickly. And then again, just changes how you feel and helps you get kind of unstuck and focused more on things that are powerful for you instead of negative for you. Cinder, can you give us some examples of maybe some focus improving questions then? Absolutely. So one example would be like, what am I thankful for? And this helps you focus on things that are going well.

You could also ask yourself, you know, what's amazing right now? Again, both of those questions help you focus on what's in front of you, what's positive. You could ask yourself, what am I happy about right now? You know, what's going right in my life right now? What's the opportunity here? And again, all of these questions can help you generate more energy, more grit, more positivity, you know, especially if you are struggling with a problem. It helps you kind of focus on the opportunity and what's going well. And you've got some other questions related to family and related to work. What are those? A few other questions related to family and work are, you know, what's great about the situation? Either what progress have I made?

Because we tend to kind of focus on, you know, where we want to go instead of where we came from in our progress. Or even asking yourself, like, how is this tough situation to get? Maybe, you know, what's wonderful about my work? What's awesome about my family. And again, all of these questions are helpful because, you know, we have a negativity bias and these questions can really counteract that. Cinder, how would you summarize today for us? I would summarize this by saying our focus determines our feelings. And if you want to change how you feel, the key is to remember that you can change your focus. And your focus is like a spotlight on the top of your head, right? And so your attention is always on, your focus is always on, it's not really ever lost. And so the powerful

thing to know is you can change your focus. And you can choose, you know, shine your focus on what's really going to give you power and positivity and grit in the moment. Now, speaking of power, let's talk about this week's power phrase. I protect my focus and I choose to ask myself powerful, focused, improving questions to change how I feel. All right. I like that one, the power of your focus. And Cinder, if people are listening and want to follow along with your work or maybe listen to one of your podcasts, where can we go to get more information about you? You can head over to Dr. Sindra, so drcindra.com. And you can find more information about my books over there.

And I talk about the power of focus and beyond grit. 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.