High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 678: Break Free from Overthinking

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

This week when you notice yourself overthinking or believing a thought that doesn’t serve you, use The Truth Meter. Your mind tends to lie to you to keep you safe and small. Instead, take control of your mind and choose a different thought that would serve you right now. Your mind does not control you, you can control your mind! Quote of the Week: "You don’t have to believe every thought you think." — Byron Katie Power Phrase of the Week: “I choose my thoughts. I create my reality."

Hi, friends. My name is Dr. Syndra Kamboff, 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 today. We talk about breaking free from overthinking. Whoa, we overthink a lot. Cinder, start us with a quote. I love this quote by Byron Katie. He said, you don't have to believe every thought you think. Hmm, and do you have an example to start us off with today? Well, last week I had a conversation with an Olympic cult full who just ran her worst race in three years And she just came off the track really feeling crushed, you know convinced that she had lost all of her progress Then she told me she said, you know, I don't feel like I'm cut out for this, you know Lisa just after one race, right? And what happened next in something that we all do,

her mind really exaggerated one bad moment into this terrible future. Yeah. But we worked through something called the truth leader, which we're going to talk about today. I call it a mental reset. And she realized, you know, after our conversation that it was just one race, you know, one moment, not her entire career. And it's just a powerful reminder of how our mind really loves to lie to us under pressure. And the real skill is learning how to take back control of it. So how does this connect with our topic for today?

Well, we can all overthink things. And we tend to think we need to change everything when something doesn't go perfect, just like this Olympic cult full I was just describing. And the reason we do this is because of our brain. You know, our brain real purpose is to keep us safe. And sometimes we can exaggerate or generalize one negative event to, you know, many things. And the key is to really train your brain so that it doesn't over time do that consistently. And you know, Lisa, when I speak, I ask people to raise their hand if they consider themselves an overthinker. And to be honest, every event I've done where I've asked people to raise their hand, at least 75% and 90% of people raise their hand.

Oh, I probably raise my hand too. Yeah, me too. I would describe myself as a recovery over thinker. Okay. I really tried to take control of it because it doesn't help me. Right. So how does overthinking actually impact us? Well it can become a serious problem because we don't perform at our highest level and we engage in it. Interfers with our problem-solving ability, really just impacts our

motivation and our focus, prevents us from pursuing our goals and reaching our dreams. And you know to be honest, it just gives us a distorted look on what life is like, you know? And it can be like quicksand, like this doubt spiral. So what do we do when we notice ourselves starting to overthink? Well, just like I used with Dyslyndic Hopeful, and this is one of the tools I use for myself,

it's called the Truth Meter. And it requires asking yourself three quick questions when you find yourself spinning into this doubt spiral and overthinking the same thing over and over again. And I encourage people to write down their answers because what it helps you do is really examine your answers to these three questions and helps you get unstuck. So question one is, is this thought true? You know, like this Olympic hopeful was saying, you know, maybe I'm not cut out for this. Well,

that's not true. She had a lot of success leading up to this. The second question is, is this thought serving me? And if this theme does it helping me get to where I want to go? Is it helping me be the best best version of myself? So again, just answer it yes or no. And then usually what I find is these two answers are actually no. The thought is not true and it's not serving me. But then the third question is, what is the more empowering thought that could serve you right now? And I think this helps you release your overthinking back to the present and that's where you're

at your best. And there's always, you know, a different thought you could choose instead. So do you have a final point for us today? Yes, I would just say becoming the best version of yourself really means learning to disengage with overthinking. And every day it can be easy to be having a part of our lives because we experience stress and hassles, but learning to stop it is really going to allow you to reach your highest level of performance and your highest level of happiness. I think it allows you to think like the world's best.

I like that. And then again, summarize today for us. So this weekend, I'm just going to encourage you to, when you notice yourself overthinking, to ask yourself these three questions of the truth meter. You know, is this not true? Is it serving me? And what is a more empowering thought that I could choose instead? And it will help you take control back here of your mind and choose a better thought that

would serve you. And just remember, your mind does not control you. You control your mind. I love the truth meter. We'll try to use that this week. What's the power phrase that we have going through the week? I choose my thoughts and I treat my reality. All right, Cinder, if people want to read more about breaking free from overthinking

or maybe check out one of your podcasts or any of the number of other things that you speak about, where can we go find more information? You can head over to DrCindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. And this truth meter exercise and tool is in my book, Beyond Great for Business, so you can find that over on drcindra.com. Way to go for finishing another episode The Dr. Syndra for show notes and enjoy my exclusive community for high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week.

So again you can add over to Dr.Syndra. That's D-R-C-I-N-B-R-A dot com. See you next week!