High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 78: Checking in with Yourself

Episode Date: November 15, 2016

High performers work to understand themselves. They work to be aware of their thoughts, feelings, and actions in the present moment. They use their ABCs to stay in control of their thoughts and emotions, and consider the ripples they want to make. My Affirmation this Week: “I check in with myself and breathe. I channel my inner CUB and master the deep breath. I take control of myself to reach a new level of performance.”    

Welcome to High Performance Mindset with Dr. Sindra Kampoff. Do you want to reach your full potential, live a life of passion, go after your dreams? Each week we bring you strategies and interviews to help you ignite your mindset. Let's bring on Sindra. Sindra Kampoff is here today for High Performance Mindset. Good morning, Sindra. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me. Any of these topics that we talk about can be used in day-to-day life, in your career. If you're a kid in school playing sports, there's just a lot of good ways to apply all of this stuff that we're talking about.

And, Cindra, today we're talking about checking in and then breathing. What do you mean by that? Where are we going to start? We're going to start with a quote. And it's a quote actually by Ken Reviza, who's one of the sports psychology professionals who works with the Cubs. And he says, checking in on yourself gives you awareness. Awareness is like feedback on what, if any adjustments are necessary to improve your performance, the best excel at coaching themselves. Okay. I like the topic there and talking about that. You know, this year I loved watching the World Series,

and I especially loved watching the last game. And one of the reasons I loved watching it is because both the Indians and the Cubs have sports psychologists, two of them who I've had on my podcast, Josh Liffrack with the Cubs and then CeCe Clark with the Indians. And there were so many great examples of like staying in control of your body and your reactions. And if you watched really closely, you would see athletes on both sides checking in with themselves and making adjustments. And the way you could see this is actually through the deep breath. And one of my favorite moments was this exchange between Anthony Rizzo, who plays first base, and David Ross, who's a catcher. So I think Rizzo kind of spoke to all of us when his veteran teammate, when he told him how nervous he was in the dugout. And Ross is very well experienced in Major League Baseball.

He's a 2013 World Series champion. And he didn't exactly tell Rizzo that his nerves would go away. So what we're going to do is we're going to just recreate the exchange. TJ is going to be Rizzo and I'm going to be Ross. Acting. Acting. I like it. Acting. I have my script here. I'm Rizzo? Yes.

All right. I can't control myself right now. I'm trying my best. It's understandably so, buddy. I'm emotional. I hear you. I'm an emotional wreck. Well, it's only going to get worse.

Just continue to breathe. That's all you can do, buddy. It's only going to get worse. I'm in a glass case of emotion right now. Wait until the ninth with this three-run lead. And the Oscar goes to... Oh, that was wonderful. I thought Logan was back there cheering for us.

I didn't know what he was doing. I think the Oscar goes to TJ. That's interesting to me because, yeah, the nervousness doesn't go away. And we've talked before about how if you're nervous, it means it's important to you, but you have to be able to manage it. So how do you think that that little exchange between those two guys in the dugout was meaningful when it comes to this? I think it's a great example of Rizzo being really self-aware. And what I love about it is he voiced it to his veteran teammate. And Ross, who's the most experienced member, just said, like, you know, man, just got to take a deep breath. I also thought it was really hilarious. You know,

the glass case of emotions comes from movie Anchorman. Yeah. But what I loved about it was like Rizzo was just really lighthearted. You know, he was just kind of like telling somebody how he felt. And it wasn't like he was beating himself up or being non-judgmental about it. And I think what today is really about is checking in and breathing. And we need to check in with ourselves, notice how we're thinking and what our emotions are doing in the moment, and then take a deep breath. And that deep breath can either make it or break it. Okay. So self-awareness is important really in everything that we do. I would say that that's, why is that though? Yeah. And today, you know, what I really mean by checking in is being self-aware. And one study showed like 83% of high performers in business

and life and sport are highly self-aware. So it's so important that we, you know, are just checking in with our emotions and it really is this non-judgmental way. And so situations where we got to really check in frequently, obviously the World Series is an example we're talking about here. Maybe in a job interview, a presentation, a final game or final play in the game, you know, when you're up to bat or throw or you need to make sure you block. Maybe a negotiation or I'm thinking about even times in my family when I got to make sure I'm really checking in, like when, you know, something's happening in my family where my son is really upset, right? Like, you know, a child throwing a tantrum kind of thing.

What? Yeah. In those situations, we can easily lose ourselves. And our thoughts and our emotions and actions can just really go on autopilot. And that might not be helpful. So you can easily be overwhelmed by, you know, anxiety, doubt or frustration. All right. So I was thinking about checking in. I checked in with myself. We had massive hockey games this weekend and I noticed one of them that I was at had some

parents, not on our team, but on the team we were playing because I was standing over there taking some photos that were like really not sportsmanlike. We'll just say that. We had, you know, a kid fall, people laughing and just and I found myself getting really upset with them. And I stopped and I was like, wow, look at what their behavior is doing to you. Yeah, that's awesome that you checked in and then you notice how everybody else was impacting how you felt. Yeah, like I just felt my shoulders getting tight. And I was like, oh, don't be jerks. Like, stop.

Yeah. And then I, yeah, I did. I checked in. So when we talk about, it's important to check in. It's really important because, you know, our actions impact those people around us, which is a great example of what you just said, Lisa. And, you know, our actions really start with our thinking and our feelings. So before we kind of talk about this acronym that I have, I want you to think about like, what ripples do you want to create?

What ripples do your actions, you want your actions to create? So for example, like I really want to create positive energy. I want people to, you know, be excited for what they're doing and excited for life. And you know, so that's the kind of ripples I want to create. So sometimes I just take a step back and think, okay, if I'm not in control of myself and my reactions, like I can't create that ripple effect. So thinking about, gosh, you know, how do you want to show up? What ripples do you want to create? And then the key is to notice, you know, how, how you're feeling impacts your reaction. Like, for example, let's say if you're a coach and you, you lose your cool in a game or practice,

you know, as a result, you might unintentionally humiliate one of your athletes or you may not be able to cultivate the culture that you really want of having fun and positivity. So I think the key is like notice the ripples that you want to create. One of those things that you always do in your practice is you create these great acronyms for us to remember. So do you have one for this? I do. Okay. So ABC.

ABC so you can check in and breathe. So A is just being aware of your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions. Just notice how you're feeling, thinking, and doing what you're doing. And so the key is that's the check in. The A, awareness. B is to take a deep breath as you notice that. And C is just to do it with a compassion and non-judgment. Like

Rizzo, he was super light-hearted and he was like, I'm in a glass case of emotions right now. But he noticed how he felt and then he took a deep breath. Very good stuff. I like the whole story about the World Series because we've used several times at my house as well and

in my own mind when I'm up and maybe in front of a large audience where I'm nervous. You know? Okay, yeah, I'm nervous. Then you have to identify, I'm nervous because this is important to me. You know? I want the outcome that I want. I like the comparison to, yeah, it's not going to get any better, dude.

It's the World Series, so you've got to learn to manage this. And checking in is the best way to at least get started doing that. Just take a breath, check in with yourself. How do you summarize all of this today then? How are we going to put a little bow on it? You know, high performers, those who work to reach their potential, they work to understand themselves and they work to be aware of their thoughts and their feelings and their actions in the present. They use the ABC's awareness, take a deep breath with compassion to stay in control and they consider the ripples they want to make.

And what is the affirmation for this week that we'll find on Twitter and other social media sites? Here we go. I check in with myself when I breathe. I chanter my inner cub and master the deep breath. I take control of myself to reach a new level. Awesome. All right.

Well, if we want to make sure that we're getting those posts on Twitter and Facebook and through social media, even the podcasts, there's got to be one good place to go to get all the info. You can head over to my website, which is DrCindra, so D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A dot com. And I'm always on Twitter. It's probably where I spend my most time on social media. So my handle is at Mentally underscore Strong. Perfect.

Check in and breathe. That's a good one for a Monday. Get it all out. Check in and breathe, my friends. Take a moment, then check in, breathe, move on. You can't control the uncontrollables, and there's nothing you can do about the past. So there's just moving forward from this point, right?

You sound very wise, TJ. I sound wise. I can preach it I love it. I can preach it, but it's actually following through with it that gets to be the difficult part. But that's why we have you come in and kind of get us going back in the right direction,

get us back on the rails every Monday, Cinder. Mindset Monday. There we go. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to High Performance Mindset. If you liked today's podcast, make a comment, share it with a friend, and join the conversation on Twitter at Mentally Underscore Strong. For more inspiration and to receive

Sindra's free weekly videos, check out DrSindra.com.