High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 704: Feedback Without Fear

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

This episode explores how to receive feedback without letting it shake your confidence. Feedback is often hard to hear because we take it personally, treating it like a judgment rather than data. A key mindset shift is recognizing that feedback says more about the giver—their values, priorities, and perspective—than it does about you.   The feedback that stings most is usually the one that confirms our own hidden doubts. To move forward, Dr. Cindra introduces the Learn – Burn – Return strategy. The big takeaway: feedback is information, not identity. Protect your confidence by reframing criticism and choosing growth over guilt.   Power Phrase of the Week: “I choose growth over guilt when I receive feedback.”   Quote of the Week: “Feedback is a gift. But you decide what to unwrap, and what to return.” — Unknown   REQUEST A FREE MENTAL BREAKTHROUGH CALL WITH DR. CINDRA AND/OR HER TEAM: https://www.freementalbreakthroughcall.com/ TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MENTALLY STRONG INSTITUTE: https://mentallystronginstitute.com/

Hi friends. My name is Dr. Cindera Campoff, 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 Cinder Camp off today and our topic is feedback without fear, protecting your confidence when you feel like you're criticized. Sandra, start us off with a quote. This is an unknown quote I think is really powerful, and it's that feedback is a gift, but you decide what to unwrap and what to return. Oh, I like it. What inspired the topic for us today? Well, in my work as a mental performance and executive coach, feedback comes up constantly, you know, whether it's, I'm working

with an NFL athlete or a corporate leader or even high school athletes. Because Lisa, I think we all crave feedback to improve, yet many people really dread it. And that fear can really chip away at our confidence. And so today I want to talk about how to receive feedback without letting it derail your mindset and motivation. So why is feedback so hard for us to hear? I think it's hard for us to hear because we make it really personal. Instead of seeing, you know, feedback as data, we treat it like a judgment. But here is the mindset shift that you can use. You know, feedback is not about your worth. It's really about someone else's preferences, their standards, or their perspective. And when we take it personally, drains our confidence, like making a huge withdrawal from our confidence bank.

Okay. So what's the big idea that you want to take us to take away from this? The big idea I want us to take away is that feedback says more about the giver than it does the receiver. And so just let me explain that again. You know, feedback tells you more about them, their values, their priorities, even their communication style than it really does about you. say, for example, a coach gives you feedback. You know, it tells you what they care about. You know, if your manager critiques your presentation, it tells you how they define excellence. And so that reframe just helps you stay curious and not crushed by the feedback. Well, Cinder, what kind of feedback stings the most for us? Yeah, great question, Lisa. I would say, I think the

feedback that confirms our hidden doubts really stings the most. And it's not, you know, this random critique that hurts. It's the one that hopes that something that you already fear might be true about yourself. So if you've already questioned, let's say that you're wondering if you're a strong leader and then someone gives you kind of vague feedback about leadership, you really

feel it in your gut. And so here's the truth. The reaction is less about their words and more about your beliefs. Okay. I think you should repeat that one. That's really good. The reaction is less about their words and more about your belief. More about your belief. What strategy can we use that can help us move on from feedback that we find really tough?

Well, I love this tool that I talk about in Beyond Grit, and it's one of my favorite tools in the book. It's called Learner Return, and this is a great way just to move on from feedback. And so the first thing you want to do is learn. You want to ask yourself, you know, what's the lesson here that I can use? Even if the delivery was poor, you know, is there a nugget of truth? And say to yourself, like, next time I will, and use that phrase. because you can't do anything about the past. The next step, Lisa, is to burn, and this means let it go.

You know, we want to burn it because rumination doesn't help. Once the lesson is really extracted and taken, like you just need to discard the rest. And then the return means return your confident, mindset, and your body language. So say things like I've learned, I've grown, and still strong. You mind yourself that you're not your mistakes. you know, year or your next action, mistakes are never where you are. They are what you do. All right. So how do you want to summarize today for us? Here is how I'd like to summarize the three-part reframe. Number one, feedback is data, not a definition.

Number two, what students often reflects your own self-belief and that's what we have to continue to heal. Number three, use learn, burn, return to protect your confidence and move forward. All right. What is our power phrase for this week? I choose growth over guilt when I receive feedback. All right. All about feedback today and feedback without fear. Cinder, if we want to read more about any of these tactics or ideas, where can we go to learn more? Absolutely.

You can head over to Ventrally Strong Institute.com where you can learn more about speaking and coaching, and you can find more information about my book Beyond Grit, which I talked about today. 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 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. Cyndra.com. See you next week.