High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 775: I Was Nervous Before Good Morning America and That's the Point

Episode Date: September 10, 2026

Even after years of studying confidence, coaching high performers, and writing The Confidence Habit, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff still felt nervous the night before appearing on Good Morning America. In this episode, Cindra shares what that experience reminded her about confidence: feeling nervous doesn't mean you aren't confident. Confidence is a practice. It's learning how to acknowledge your nerves, come back to the present, and take action anyway. In this episode, you'll learn: Why nerves can be a sign that something matters to you How trying to eliminate an emotion can sometimes give it more power Why fear pulls us into the future and confidence brings us back to the present How to focus on what you can control when pressure is high Why confidence is built through recovering from mistakes, not avoiding them How to use Learn, Burn, Return to move forward after setbacks Power Phrase: "I can feel nervous and still be confident." Confidence isn't waiting until you feel completely ready. It's trusting yourself enough to step forward when you don't. Order The Confidence Habit today: https://www.confidencetools.com/

Hi friends. My name is Dr. Sindra 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. Cindra, you had a pretty exciting weekend. You were on Good Morning America. I know. Can you believe it? Seth, it's one of those bucket list moments. So I had the opportunity to be on Good Morning America talking about the confidence habit, my new book, and something I deeply care about, which is helping our kids build and maintain their confidence. And here's what I want people to know. The night before I was nervous, like really nervous. Like, I couldn't sleep. I kept dreamt of freezing on GMA. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So let me get this straight.

You wrote the book on confidence and you were nervous? I was nervous. And that's what I want to talk about. I think sometimes we misunderstand confidence. We think confident people don't get nervous. You know, they don't doubt themselves. And they don't have that voice saying, you know, what if I mess up on this? But confidence doesn't mean that you don't feel fear or nervous.

and confidence means that you've trained yourself to move forward even when you do. And, you know, Seth, I knew that I had trained for this moment. I was incredibly prepared. I've been on national and local TV stations like all year. And so I knew I was ready for this moment. But the night before GMA, my mind just really wanted to go to the future. I was like, what if I forget what I'm going to say? What if I stumble?

What if I don't make the most out of this opportunity? And I had to use the exact same tools that I teach. So what did you do? Well, a few things. I would say, like I first reminded to myself, number one, that nerves mean that you care. You don't, you know, just don't, you don't need to get rid of those nerves many times. Like, this really mattered to me. I spent years studying confidence and coaching people on it and writing the confidence habit.

Of course, I felt something. And instead of just saying, like, I shouldn't be nervous. I could say, you know, I'm nervous because I care and I'm ready. And I have everything I need inside me right now. And that last part was really important that I was like, okay, I've prepared for this moment. I have everything inside me I need. And that changes your relationship with the emotion. So you weren't just trying to kind of calm yourself down?

Exactly. Because sometimes when we try desperately to get rid of an emotion, we actually give it more power. So instead, I just acknowledged it and then redirected my attention to what I could control. So to me, that was like getting back to the present, getting into my heart, which I knew, you know, in my heart, It does call me when I'm there and it calls me to like my purpose and what I can control. And so that leads me to the second thing is like coming back to the present because fear loves the future. You know, it asks what if, what if, what if, right?

But confidence brings you back to the now. Like what can I do right now? You know, I could prepare. I could breathe. I could review my notes. I could remind myself why this message mattered. You know, I could remind myself of my purpose. And ultimately, I could walk onto that set being present and in my heart.

And that's something we talked actually about on GMA in relation to our kids too. You know, our kids are just growing up with just like this enormous pressure to perform to fit in, to compare themselves. You know, they just compare themselves a lot to others. And we can't remove every challenge for them, but we can give them tools to navigate those challenges. And what were some of the biggest confidence tools that you shared for kids, Cindra? Sure. Well, one of the biggest messages that I shared on Good Morning America was that confidence isn't something you either, you know, you're born with or you're not. It can be built. And as parents,

as teachers, coaches, even leaders, we can help kids build it because confidence isn't, you know, many times, honestly, it's borrowed before it's built. And one way is through how we respond to mistakes. So instead of allowing a mistake to become like, I'm not good enough, we could ask them, you know, what can I learn from this and what can I what do you want to do next time? And if you've been following along, I teach a tool called learn, burn, return, which just means like, okay, what did I learn from it? How can I let go or burn the mistake? And then how can I return back to the present? Building my confidence. Because confidence isn't something that isn't built. Like we fail, right? And we have to keep on resetting that confidence. It's built by learning that you can recover when you do fail.

Which is kind of what you had to remind yourself before going on Good Morning America. Yeah, that's a really good point. That's, I think, what's so powerful about this experience for me. You know, here I was preparing to go on national TV and teaching people about confidence. But I actually had to practice it myself. And I think that's the point today is that confidence isn't something you finally achieve and then never doubt yourself again. It's a practice. It's a habit.

You build it over and over again before a big. presentation, before a difficult conversation, before the job interview, before the first day of school, or Seth, apparently the night before Good Morning America. So what is the challenge for everybody listening today, Sandra? I would say the challenge is the next time you feel nervous, don't automatically interpret your nerves as evidence that you're not confident. Instead, tell yourself, I can feel nervous and still be confident. And then ask yourself, what can I control right now? For me, getting into my heart is what I can control. So take the next step because courage doesn't require the absence of fear

and confidence doesn't require the absence of doubt. It requires action. So what is our power phrase for today? I can still feel nervous and still be confident because confidence isn't waiting until you feel completely ready. It's trusting yourself enough to step forward when you don't. And sometimes the moments that make us the most nervous are the exact moments that give us evidence of what you're capable of.

Cindra, as always, thank you for joining us here on Talk of the Town today. Listeners can find your new book, The Confidence Habit, seven core practices to turn self-doubt into self-belief, just came out here at the beginning of September, and we'll catch up with you again next week, Sandra. Thank you, Seth. 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.