High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 711: Flip the Script on Negativity

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Opening Quote: "Don't let the noise of others' negativity drown out your inner voice." — Steve Jobs Overview: In this episode, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff and Lisa explore how to rise above negativity—both from within and from others. Whether it's the self-criticism that follows a mistake or the draining energy of negative people, negativity can quietly chip away at our confidence and performance. Cindra explains the science behind our natural negativity bias and shares practical strategies to help you retrain your mind to focus on what fuels you, not what frustrates you.   What You'll Learn: 🔍The Science Behind Negativity — Why our brains are wired to focus on the negative and how understanding this bias helps you take back control of your mindset. 🧠 The Confidence Drain — How unchecked negativity slowly erodes confidence and creates subtle "leaks" in your energy, focus, and belief in yourself. 🛡️ Two Practical Tools to Reframe Negativity: • Guard Your Mind: You may not be able to control your first thought, but you always have the power to choose the second. • The 12-Second Rule: Learn to pause and fully savor positive moments for at least twelve seconds to help your brain store them as lasting confidence. 🌤️ Managing Negative Energy — Strategies for staying grounded and positive when surrounded by criticism or negativity from others. ⚡ Spotting and Resetting — How to recognize when negativity is taking over and use simple techniques to reset your focus and mindset quickly.   Key Insights: Negativity isn't the enemy—it's a signal. Awareness is your superpower. You can train your brain to see the good and build confidence one thought at a time. Power Phrase of the Week "I choose to rise above the noise and live my day with positivity and purpose." To  Request a Free Breakthrough Call with a Mentally Strong Coach, visit: http://www.freementalbreakthroughcall.com/ To learn more about the Mentally Strong Institute, visit: https://mentallystronginstitute.com/ To learn about Dr. Cindra Kamphoff's speaking and coaching, visit: https://cindrakamphoff.com/ To follow Dr. Cindra on Instagram, visit: Cindra Kamphoff, PhD (@cindrakamphoff) • Instagram photos and videos

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, focus 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 Campoff. Today we flip the script on negativity. Sandra, start us off with a quote. I like this quote by Steve Jobs. He said, don't let the noise of others' negativity drown out your inner voice.

What inspired this topic for you today? You know, just last week I was coaching, doing mental performance coaching with a college soccer player who told me, so she said, Sandra, it feels like no matter what I do, I focus on what went wrong. And she could have like 10 great plays and one mistake, but that mistake really lived kind of rents free in her head. And that's like a common experience, Lisa,

because just as humans were wired to focus on negativity. It's called a negativity bias. And, you know, our brain's ancient wiring was designed to protect us from danger, not to help us perform well or connect with each other or dream big. So what does negativity do to, like, our confidence if we're not aware of it? Absolutely. When we feed negativity, it just slowly erode our confidence. And it's, think about it just like a small leak in your mindset.

You know, over time, it changed your energy, your focus and your belief in yourself. But when you notice that leak and pass it up with really like powerful and intentional thoughts and even gratiting the perspective, you start to rebuild that confidence and you start believing again that you can handle whatever comes your way. Oh, man, it seems just so destructive. How can we even have this negativity bias in the first place? Well, that's a great question. You know, it's all the way back to survival. And our ancestors really had to constantly scan for threat. you know, just missing one positive thing wasn't a big deal, but missing one sort of danger could cost them their life. And so this small, you know, the foam wiring really exists with all of us today, except now really, you know, the threat isn't a tiger or an animal, right? It's the threat of like a social media comment or a missed opportunity or sometimes a teammate's criticism. So what do we do to flip the script on this negativity?

Well, I think there's two practical tools I can share with you. today. The first practical tool tool would just be to guard your mind. And we know our thoughts are automatic. You know, they just pop up. And so you can't always control the first thought you have, but you can control how you respond and the second thought. So, you know, these two thoughts that really power your purpose and build your confidence. And I would say, like, don't believe everything you think because you have this negativity bias. And then a second thing you could do is something I talked about in my book Beyond Grit. And I call it the 12-second rule. So when something good happens, like let's say you nail a presentation or you get a compliment,

you know, just like pause and savor it and savor it. You'll take it into your awareness for 12 seconds. And that's how long it takes for your brain to store something like positivity, positivity long term. So it's like making a deposit in your bank account, in your confidence bank account, just savor it and take it in for 12 seconds. All right. So what do we do when we get negativity like from other people, family, friends, coworkers?

What do we do with that? Yeah, I think it's easy to absorb other people's energy, especially if it's critical or reactive. And I just kind of remind myself that everyone's doing the best that they can with what they have. And so you always have a choice, you know, to take their words personally or let them slide off your back, you know, or like water on a glass, just let them slide off. And I love this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. And I think she said something like, you know, no one makes you feel inferior without your consent. And I think just what's key is to refuse to give that consent. Oh, I love that quote.

And how can we tell when negativity is starting to take over our lives? How do we do that noticing part? I think just noticing how it feels in your body. You know, usually it feels and fills up like tension or tightness or kind of a heavy feeling. And so this is when you might remind yourself of, you know, complaining more or focusing on what's wrong instead of what's possible is easy. But, you know, really paying attention to seeing what's possible for you instead. And we notice that, you know, take it.

and it's you to reset. Like take a deep breath, move your body, just your attention to one thing that's going well. And the quicker you notice it, the quicker you can flip that negativity. What is the big takeaway for us today? All right. Bigot takeaway would just be, you know, negativity isn't the enemy. It's just a signal. And so you can protect yourself from negativity or you can let it poison you. And the key is self-awareness. You know, when you've noticed negative thoughts, use them as cues to pause, to refrain and return your focus to what fuels you. And that's how you train your body,

your mind and your body to perform it's best. All right. Sandra, you have a power phrase for us for this one. Yes. I choose to rise above the noise and live my day with positivity and purpose today. If people want to read more about this or some of the other teachings that you have, where do we need to go? You can head over to Amazon or even to my website beyondgrit.com,

and you can find out all about my books beyond grit. And if you'd like to learn more about our comforting with athletes or leaders, you can go to mentally strong institute.com. 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. Sindra. That's d r c-I-N-D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.