High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 652: How the Best Handle Adversity

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

In this episode, Dr. Cindra shares how the world’s best seeing adversity as happening for them, not to them. Adversity helps you grow into the person you are supposed to become to reach your goals and step into your dreams. Everything magnificent that you've likely accomplished required or even perhaps demanded difficulty, struggle, and grit. We can embrace adversity and believe it’s a time to learn and grow.   This Week’s Power Phrase: “I embrace adversity. I see adversity as happening for me, not to me.” This Week's Quote of the Week: “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” – Napoleon Hill 

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. And today we talk about how the best will handle the adversity that comes their way. Cinder, start us off with a quote. I love this quote by Neapolitan Hill. He said, every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it a seed of equal or greater benefit. Can you talk a little bit about what inspired that topic for us today of adversity? Absolutely, Seth. I was recently watching this

interview with Magic Johnson. He played point guard for the Lakers for 13 years, and he won four championships at the Lakers, three MVP awards. In this interview, he was asked how he approaches adversity, and he said this, I love challenges. I love when people say I can't do it. I love to prove people wrong. And I'm going to show you that I can. And I thought this is just a really great way to respond to adversity, this point of like loving challenges. And we're going to talk about that today. All right. How does this relate to some of the other work that you've done with pro athletes? Yeah, it's interesting because there's this phenomenon that I really witnessed in pro athletes who've done with pro athletes? Yeah, it's interesting because there's this phenomenon

that I really witnessed in pro athletes who've been at pro athletes for a long time, like you've been an elite for many years. And I witnessed when pro athletes are told that they can't, they actually use it as motivation. I call it the prove it mentality. And so they just kind of say, watch me. You know, I think the majority of people when they're faced with an adversity, such as someone telling them they can't, they let the negativity infest their confidence and their belief in themselves. But what Magic and others do, you know, who can stay in the league for a really long time is they don't back down. In fact, I would say they use it as fuel. So what's important for us to understand about adversity?

We did a study a few years ago where we asked professional athletes about how they developed grit. And we found that one of the commonalities of all of them, that they had overcome a significant amount of adversity to get to the highest level. And grit just means their ability to stick with something when they're hard or when it's hard. And the adversity that they talked about was like a death of a family member or their own cancer or a seizing ending injury or a parent's divorce.

And I think the important part of this study was that it was their response to adversity that set them up for a career as a professional athlete. You know, another study that I was reading, when adults are at the most important day of their lives, it was a day that they overcame significant adversity. So I think what the point I'm trying to make here is that adversity helps us grow into the person we're supposed to become to really reach our goals. And when we're experiencing adversity, you know, the key is really to see it as an opportunity to grow. So is there a way that you would say that the best actually handle their adversity? Absolutely. I'd say they, you know, they work to see it as helping them grow and learn. And the best believe that adversity happens for them, not to them. You know, they work to see it as helping them grow and learn. And the bats believe that adversity happens for them, not to them.

You know, they don't believe adversity or setbacks, you know, happen to them. They don't take a victim approach until they realize that they're in control of their response to a difficulty or a situation. And, you know, I think what's helpful is just sort of to remember that everything magnificent that you've likely accomplished as you're listening to this, you know, requires some kind of difficulty or struggle or grit. And so that's why it's important to embrace it. Now, what can get in the way of our ability to embrace adversity? I'd say two things. First, I think we can easily give up. You know, we believe we can't do it and that we're not strong enough or talented enough or smart enough. And I think the second thing is we take things personally and we have to train ourselves to not listen to what other people think. You know, it's more important that we follow what we think in our world. And

if we do this, you know, if we listen up, the people have to say that gets in the way of our big dreams. So care more about your belief in yourself and increasing that. So how would you summarize today for us, Sandra? You bet. I would say, Lisa, that you can think like the world's us by seeing adversity as happening for you, not to you. And adversity helps you grow into the person you're supposed to become to reach your goals and really to step into your dreams. And just remember that everything magnificent that you've likely accomplished required some kind of difficulty, struggle, or grit. And so we can embrace adversity and believe it's your time to grow and learn. So do you have a power phrase for us this week?

Yes, I guess this one. I embrace adversity. I see adversity is happening for me, not to me. And if we want to follow along with any of your other works or read your books or learn more about what you do in practice, where can we go? You can head over to Dr. Sindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com to find out more information about my books and coaching and speaking 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. Sindra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.