High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 750: The Power of Small Wins

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

In this episode, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff shares the story behind Hank's Hope, a project inspired by her father's 51-day fight in the ICU and the "win wall" her family created to capture small victories each day.   Cindra explores why celebrating small wins is essential for building confidence, resilience, and hope. Drawing from performance psychology and confidence research, she explains how focusing on progress—not perfection—helps train your brain to recognize growth and build belief in yourself.   In This Episode: Why small wins matter The difference between "the gap" and "the gain" How celebrating progress builds confidence Simple ways to track your daily wins Power Phrase: "Confidence grows when we acknowledge our progress, not just our perfection."   Learn more about Hank's Hope at Mentally Strong Kids: mentallystrongkids.org/hanks-hope/

Hi, Dr. Cinder Campoff here. Myself and my team just conducted this national research study on confidence that you have to check out. The report which you can download at Confidencestudy.com shows research-backed ways you can grow your confidence, what leaders do to both kill and grow confidence, and how confidence is not just a personal issue, but an organizational issue. I'm telling you, you've got to check this out. It's a game changer. You can find our full report at Confidencestudy.com. Time to check in with Cinder Campoff today, and today we are talking about the power of small wins.

And, Sandra, you always start us off with a quote. I like this quote by Dan Sullivan. He said, the way to measure your progress is backwards against where you started, not against your ideal. I like that one. What inspired the topic for today? Well, recently, Lisa, my family started a project called Hank's Hope to honor my dad. And so one part of the project is something really simple but powerful, and that's a wind wall. So the idea came from watching my dad fight through 51 days in the ICU.

And the first two weeks were so tough, Lisa. Honestly, it was really hard to find the positive. And so one day I was like, man, I got to start looking for what's good. And we started to write a sticky note each day on the wall, just something tiny that we could celebrate. And then we made a cardboard wall, like a trifold wall, that had winds on the top. And this really helped us see the progress. And honestly, I could tell that he was paying attention. He was listening to the winds we put up there.

And I think this helped him keep fighting as well. Well, can you tell us a little bit about how this helped you and your family during a hard time? Yeah, even in the hard moments, we realized, like, how important it was to focus on the small wins. And one time the sticky note was like Papa got a pillow to. day. Another day was like he got his ECMO out of his life support from his heart. And another one was, no, he spent two hours sitting up in a chair. And now through Hank's hope, we want to help other people capture these wins too, because small wins can really change us. They can really build belief. Well, Sandra, talk a little bit about why capturing those wins is so important.

Because most of us naturally focus on what's missing instead of what's working. And so entrepreneur Dan Sullivan and Dr. Ben Hardy called this the gap. The gap is the distance between where you are now and where you want to be. And we know that high performers live there all the time, right? We focus on the next goal, the next milestone, the next thing we want to achieve. But when we only focus on how far we have left to go, we missed really how far we've actually come. And what should we be doing instead? Well, that's why Dan Sullivan says that the way to measure your progress is backwards, you know, against where you started, not against your ideal. because when we look back at our growth, instead of only ahead at perfection, we move into what's called the gain.

And the gain really builds confidence. What does the research say about this? Well, Lisa, our national research study on confidence found that 81% of working Americans said celebrating accomplishments is important to build confidence. And I think that makes sense because when you recognize your progress, your brain starts collecting evidence that says, like, I can do hard things. I'm growing. I'm stronger than I think. You know, in capturing those wins helped change your mind in general

to notice progress instead of just like just pressure or, you know, where you want to go. Now, you mentioned your wall that you had in your dad's room, but how can somebody do this in our life? I would say at the end of each day, ask yourself one simple question and that's what's, you know, what's one win for today?

And it doesn't have to be huge. Maybe it could just be, hey, today I stay calm under pressure or today I finished a workout out or I had a hard conversation or I showed up when it was difficult because confidence grows when we acknowledge our progress, not just our perfection. And that's why I love this idea behind Hank's hope. You know, these small wins matter. And when you capture them consistently, they can, you know, become proof of your resilience. And how do you recommend that we keep track of our wins? I mean, you talked about your board. Well, you can make a windboard like we did. Just get a cardboard

trifold and some sticky notes and start, you could do that. And you could do that in your family or you can do that with your work or maybe your family member struggling something like something like my dad in the hospital. But you could also start a new journal where, you know, you have a blank journal by your bed and every day you write two wins. Or you could start making notes in your phone and your phone app somewhere where you can start writing your wins down as the key. All right. Tell us a little bit more about Hank's hope. Well, my dad did pass away, which has been hard, but we want to help him live his legacy and make sure his legacy moved on. And when we are in the hospital, the nurses and doctors had such a powerful reaction to our win-wall. So we want to bring these

into hospitals to get started and then to families and companies to help his legacy live on. And so you can actually learn more at MentallystrongKids.org. That's our nonprofit, and there's a link for Hank's Hope. And you can see our actual win-wall that we made, and you can learn more. about how you can help us spread the word and spread hope into hard things. Well, I know how important your father was to you hearing stories about your youth and growing up and what he changed in your mindset. So I'm glad that you're here to share this with us. How do you wrap things up for us today?

Thank you, Lisa, for saying that. And I would just say, you know, don't spend your whole life measuring yourself against your impossible ideal and take time to look back at how far you've already come. because confidence isn't just built by only chasing the next win. It's built by learning to recognize the wins you already have. And what is a power phrase that we can look forward to? Small wins create strong confidence. All right. Mentallystrongkids.org for this one?

Yes. Thank you so much, Lisa. I appreciate you. 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-A.com. See you next week.