High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 686: How High Performers See Challenges Differently

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

In this episode, we explore one of the most powerful mindset tools high performers use: reframing.   You’ll hear the inspiring story of Spanx founder Sara Blakely and how her father helped her see failure as a sign of courage and growth.   We break down how reframing allows you to reinterpret challenges with strength and optimism—turning setbacks into comebacks and adversity into fuel.   You’ll learn: What reframing really is and why it’s essential to high performance. Practical questions and tools to help you shift your perspective in real-time. Everyday examples—from tough conversations to public speaking—where reframing can give you an edge. Whether you’re an athlete, coach, educator, or executive, this episode will help you see challenge through a new lens—and move forward with clarity and confidence.   Power Phrase: “I see challenge through the lens of growth. I flip the frame to fuel my strength and stride forward.” Quote of the Week: “When you change your story, you change your power.” – Brené Brown

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. We're checking in with Cinder Campoff today and today we are talking about how high performers see challenge

differently than us. I call it flip the frame. Cinder, start us off with a quote. I like this quote by Brene Brown and she said when you change your story, you change your power. When you change your story, you change your power. So you've got an example to start us off with. Yeah, my example today is before she became a billionaire and founder of banks, Sarah Blakely sold fax machines door-to-door and heard no thousands of times. But her mindset about failure came from her

father. At dinner, she would always ask her, how did you fail today? And if she didn't have an answer, she would actually be disappointed. And so she credits this early reframing that failure wasn't bad. It just meant you were trying and afraid her up to take big risks in her business and eventually rewrite the rule for female entrepreneurs. OK, so how does that tie into exactly what

we're talking about today? So today we're talking about reframing, which is the ability to choose a new lens to view a situation. And it's one of the most important mindset strategies used by high performers. And when you reframe, you don't deny reality, you simply just reinterpret it as strength and optimism. And instead of just say, you know, why is this happening to me? You would ask, how is this happening for me? All right, like seeing the opportunity in things. So you share an example of reframing when you're speaking.

What is that? So when I'm speaking in, whether it's a group of athletes, or educators, or business professionals, I often carry a couple of goofy, like these oversized glasses to illustrate this tool. And the first set of glasses has red lenses. And when I put them on, everything I see is colored by that tint of red. And red to me represents anger,

frustration, defensiveness when we come across a situation. But just a quick switch of glasses, and now I'm wearing these green colored tinted glasses, my reality shifts. And this green tint represents confidence, clarity, and compassion. And I think what's helpful is just this analogy. People get to see what I'm really meaning. You know, that you get to choose which glasses you put on and you can choose how you interpret situations and even your thoughts. Well, Cinder, why is reframing so important to us? Well, that's a good question. I would say that reframing really builds resilience. It allows you to persist through adversity without being consumed by it. And whether it's a missed opportunity, an athlete who had a seizing injury, or just a harsh

critique, you know, reframing puts you back into control. And it's a way to transform setbacks into comebacks and obstacles into opportunities. Can you tell us or give us some examples of like when reframing actually works? Sure, I would say you know let's say you face a tough conversation. You could reframe it as a chance to deepen trust or let's say you lose the client. You can reframe it as a space you know for better alignment with a new client or let's say you feel nervous before a speed. You can even reframe those nerves as energy to help you prepare. You fail at something, you can reframe failure as feedback. And when you reframe, you don't necessarily ignore the difficulty, but instead you see your circumstance differently

than what it appears on the surface. That sounds like a skill we have to practice. So how do we actually do the reframing? Yeah, definitely the skill that you have to practice and in difficult situations, obviously, it can be really hard. And how can you actually do it? I would say, ask yourself, what's another way to look at this? And you know, how would someone I admire, you know, see what I'm missing? What's the lesson or the gift in this experience, even if it's really hard right now? And I like to use a mental prompt, something like, you know, this is helping me become and then complete the sentence. Maybe it's stronger, clearer, more adaptable.

All right. Cinder, can you summarize today for us? I would say high performers master reframing and they don't ignore adversity. They reframe it. They shift their perspective to keep going and to stay positive and compassionate and passionate about their work. All right. And what is the power phrase that we'll use this week? I see challenges through the lens of growth.

I flip the frame to fuel my strength and strive forward. If people want to read more about this or learn more about the work that you do with psychology and positivity, where do they go? They can head over to thementallystronginstitute.com and they can learn more about all of our coaching and our speaking over there. Thementallystronginstitute.com. Syndra, thanks today. Thanks so much.

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. Syndra for show notes and enjoy my exclusive community for go by way too fast for anyone else?