Unlocking High Performance: 6 Strategies from a Sports Psychologist with Cindra Kamphoff

Welcome to beyond you'd why podcast where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually help you discover and then live your why. You see, we believe that knowing your why, that driving force behind every decision you make and every action you take, is the essential first step to really knowing yourself. It allows you to move forward faster and have a bigger impact. If you're already a fan of the show, then you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys and then we introduce you to somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. This show will be more powerful for you if you've already discovered your why. If you still need to do that, head over to whyinstitute.com and discover your why today. It'll only take you about five minutes. Now let's meet today's guest.

Welcome to beyond your why podcast. We go beyond just talking about your why and actually helping you discover and then live your why. So if you're a regular listener, you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys and then we bring on somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. And so this week we're going to be talking about the why of Contribute to Contribute to a greater cause, add value, have an impact in the lives of others. So if this is your why, then you want to be part of a greater cause, something that is bigger than yourself. You don't necessarily want to be the face of the cause, but you want to contribute to it in a meaningful way. You love to support others and you relish successes that contribute to the greater good of the team. You see group victories as personal victories. You are often behind the scenes looking for ways to make the world better. You make a reliable and committed teammate and you often act as the glue to that holds everyone else together. You use your time, money, energy, resources and connections to add value to other people and organizations. And so today I have a great guest for you. Her name is Dr. Syndra Campoff. She is a keynote speaker and certified coach for leaders, businesses and championship teams where she helps them master their mindset so they can gain the higher performance edge. Syndra is the founder of the Mentally Strong Institute. Under her visionary leadership, they helped purpose driven leaders and athletes get to their goals quicker, multiply their confidence and increase their influence. Since earning her PhD in Performance Psychology, Syndra has spent 20 plus years working one on one with leaders and professional athletes including the Minnesota Vikings. She worked with the United States Olympic track and field team while they were at the Olympics in Tokyo. Syndra's book Beyond Grit, 10 Powerful Practices to Gain the High Performance Edge, is an Amazon bestseller. Cinder has also written two other books, Beyond Grit for Business, Powerful Practice to Boost Performance Leadership and your Bottom Line, and the Beyond Grit Workbook. She lives in Minnesota and is the mother of two teenage boys. Let's welcome Syndra.

Thank you so much, Gary. I'm so excited to be here. So thank you so much for the opportunity to contribute and make a difference.

Exactly. You're doing the right thing, right?

Yep.

Well, let's let our audience get to know you. So let's go back in your life. Where were you born, what were you like growing up and what were you like in high school?

So I grew up in a town called Sheldon, Iowa. It's about 5,000 people, pretty small, and I played lots of different sports. When I was in high school, I ran the fastest mile in the state of Iowa. So I broke lots of different records. Some, Gary, believe it or not, that still stand today. And so that's actually how I got really interested in performance psychology and sports psychology. Was just honestly trying to figure myself out and trying to understand myself. But I have vivid memories of racing against the boys. One of the boys I raced against was my husband and I's best man, you know, so that's what I love, just trying to beat the boys.

So the.

Your main sport growing up was track and field?

It was track and field and cross country.

Yep, and cross country. So running was your thing?

Yeah, running was my thing. And because I had so much success my senior year in high school, I got a full scholarship to actually run division one, which is the highest level of track and field. And it was there that, you know, I had a lot of talent, just like all the other kind of freshmen and first year athletes. And then it was, you know, I did had a good freshman year in general for being a freshman, but my sophomore, my junior year, I just really struggled. I was constantly just comparing myself to other people, getting in my own way and lacked a lot of confidence. Um, struggled with my own mental health for a while. And so that's actually what pursued me to do what I do today. And actually still I'm really passionate about it because I don't want other people to feel like the way I did, because I couldn't let my, my skills shine because my mind wasn't in the right place and because I didn't have the practical tools and strategies to be able to.

Get out of my own way and stop overthinking and build my confidence.

So what happened to you between your freshman and sophomore year that had you lose your confidence? Because now you're running against the clock, you know, in cross country.

Yeah.

Yeah. So what happened to you?

I think the focus was on the wrong thing at the wrong time. Like, what you said. It's. It could have been on improvement. It could have been on how did I get faster? But instead it was, wow, she's. She's improved so much more than I have. Or, like, what's wrong with me that I can't, you know, for. For. When I was competing, I felt like every race had to be a personal best, you know, that every race had to be better than it was last Saturday. But in the reality, it doesn't work like that. Every race is a little bit different. And I had really big expectations for myself. Like, I had this big goal of becoming what's called an all American, which is in the top eight of the country. And I had this really big goal of getting to the Olympics, which I wasn't even close to, you know, so it was cool when I supported the Olympic team in Tokyo because it was like, well, maybe my purpose wasn't to get there as an athlete, but in other ways.

Yeah.

So, you know, I think I honestly, I just got in my own way. I think I also, you know, my. My dad was a big believer in me in high school, and I just remember every dinner, dinner evening, we talked about cross country and how I was improving. And, you know, he was like my social support. Whereas in college, I'm sure I called him maybe, but it wasn't kind of the same thing. So I didn't necessarily have those people that had a deep belief in me, and I was. I think comparison was the biggest, biggest mental block for me. And, you know, Gary, I'm writing a book on confidence right now, and I. In a. In one of the chapters, I talk about blocks to confidence, and comparison is absolutely one of them.

Ah, yeah. Comparison is a tough thing because, you know, you wonder if you can compare or compete. Right. And you don't know. And you can talk yourself out of giving your best effort.

Yes.

And easy to do. So in high school, probably Everybody knew you. 5,000 people in the city or the town. Right. And you were the. The. The one to race after.

Absolutely. Yeah. It was fun. Yeah.

And then you get to college, and it's like, oh, where are all these people coming from? All over the world.

All over the world. Just as fast as Me. And, you know, I think what's. What's interesting is I think about why I do what I do now is that the time period where I really struggled. I, a sports psychologist, she was more of, like a professor than somebody who was really practical, right. Because she was teaching theory all day long. And I really appreciated her. And I would say I didn't always know what to do with the information she gave me. And, and I. So I studied sports psychology. That's what I got my undergrad degree in, my Master's and my PhD is in sport and performance psychology. And so it's not, you know, as I. As I say, performance psychology, it's not just for athletes, but it's for everybody who performs every day long. And so now I work with a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of elite athletes and business owners, and my company, all of our coaches, work with athletes and then entrepreneurs and business leaders. Because the cool thing is that, you know, performance, we perform every day, every day. And the skills we need are very similar to the skills of elite athletes.

So take us through the rest of your running career now in college. So you had a great freshman year. Not a very good sophomore and junior year. And then what happened from there?

What happened from there was, you know, my freshman year was decent. My sophomore year is fine. My junior year for a little while was pretty good at the beginning. And then it just seemed like my junior halfway year season, senior season was just a bust. And there was a coaching change on my team, so I got a different coach. So I didn't have the same social support as I had before. Definitely. Now, all of a sudden, like, the coach who believed in me wasn't there. You know, my parents were still there, but big change for me. And to be honest, Gary, I almost quit, which is really disappointing as I look back, because I invested so much time and energy into training. And when I speak to a lot of teams now, still now, right. This is 20 years later, I talk about how I don't want them to feel like I felt where I just had all this talent that I feel like I wasted. And I didn't. I definitely didn't step into my potential.

And what. What I. What I believe now is I think all of that happened for a reason to me. And kind of what I mean by that is during the time period, I had this mentality of, like, why is this happening to me? You know, it was a very much, like, victim mindset. Why is this happening to me now? I can see that it happened for me, and that's based on a Byron Katie quote. She said, what? You know.

What if everything happens for you, not to you? And I. I see that my passion for what I do came from when I was struggling. And, you know, if I. If I didn't experience that, I don't know if I would. I wouldn't be as passionate about what I was doing now. Maybe I would be doing the same thing, but probably not in the same way.

Yeah. And so then you graduated was. After the four years with. And then went on to get more education after that.

Yeah, I went to go on and get my Master's and my PhD in Performance Psychology. And then what's cool, Gary is like, after I got done with college, it was actually my last year, my PhD program, I started getting into marathoning. And I thought, okay, well, now what would happen if I. Now I know. Okay, the comparison is not helping my confidence. Could I get back into running for myself and for my own development and with a different focus and more of, like, mindset tools that could help me, you know, push through the discomfort and be on purpose with my mind instead of, you know, my mind working against me? And so far, I ran 15 marathons, five Boston marathons, and I won one, which was cool.

Wow. You won the Boston Marathon?

I did not win the Boston Marathon.

Oh. Oh, okay.

You would know my name if I won the box. Everyone won't listen. No, I won the Omaha Marathon, but I ran the Boston Marathon five times. Wow. Yeah.

Just running one. I'm considering doing a half. I'm trying to decide between a half marathon and a 5k because those are my only two options, and I'm leaning a lot more towards the 5k. I don't know if I want to go that far. But you've done 15 full marathons. That's crazy for, in my mind, to be able to do that. And so what did you learn during that time of how did you not compare yourself to others?

I think I did sometimes, and I still do today. But I can now catch myself. Right. Like, you and I have talked about how awareness. I do think awareness is the first step in high performance and consistent high performance is to understand yourself. And now I. I can take a step back and. Okay, what am I thinking about? Where is my focus? Is this helping me? Is this hindering me? Is this true? Is it not true? And then I can refocus on my growth and my. My own development. Right. And I think when you asked about what I was like in high school, I've always been a person to go after goals. I love setting goals and going after them. And it's just something about me. Maybe the way I was born, maybe the way I was raised, I don't know. Both probably. But I love pursuing goals. And the cool thing about a marathon is you do need a good marathon plan. To be able to finish the marathon and to finish it, especially at the pace that you want, you need to have training every day. And I love just the persistent pursuit of training every day and you know, running those 20, 25 mile runs and it's just has such great support around me. Lots of good friends who we just talk to now running. And it's actually something I, I love. Sometimes when I'm running now, I just listen to my favorite podcast or my A genius network talk.

Yeah, yeah. You know, it's interesting because one of the things you keep bringing up is the need for, and desire and, and the benefit of having support, having a team, doing it together. We're in this together. Which is so in line with the why of contribute. Right? You want to be part of the team, you got to have a team. Is it as fun for you to do sports if you just do it for yourself?

Good question. I mean, I definitely value the team a lot and it's interesting that that has come up in our conversation because I think when I thrive, I do feel support and belief of others. Right. When I have other people that are saying, wow, I can't wait to watch you do that, or I believe that you can do that, it does help me a lot. And we know this idea of collective confidence means the confidence of other people around you and the confidence of your team, that's a really big component of just your own belief in self is the people that you surround yourself with. So that maybe that's particularly more important to me because I have that contribute theme.

Yeah, I could see that. Because others just like, hey, let me go do this on my own. Just stay out of my way. Where you're like, well, how does everybody feel about this? What do we think? Let's, let's, let's be in this together. And that's when you were at your best, right?

This is. Yes, yeah, absolutely. When I add the support of people around me. And I love, I love like learning from others. Right? I mean, that's probably more this contribute theme comes into. I love learning from you. I love watching things. I love like just consuming information. Like, I love like learning and growing in that way. And I love like what, you know, what, what can I build from this. So, like our company, Mentally Strong Institute. Right. I'm, I, I'm always girl wanting to better it and improve it and grow it with this team of people around me.

Yeah. Okay, so you finished school, senior year, not so great. Wanted to maybe quit. What was the deciding factor in getting you into sports performance?

Good question. I mean, I knew I've always loved psychology. Like, I've always, you know, like when, when I was growing up, like, like in high school, for example, we go to the mall, you know, and the mall was like an hour away from us. So that was a really big deal. And I loved going into the bookstore. And the first, the first, you know, the section I go to was a psychology section. So, you know, it was just something I love to read. My mom gave me the subscription called the Runner's World magazine. And the first, the first, there's always like a Mind Body article in there. That's the first thing I went to. And so, you know, when people ask me, like, what am I passionate about? What do I love reading about, what do I enjoy? It just seemed like that was, that was a natural fit for me. The amazing thing, Gary, is when I was in college. So this is my, you know, my first year, my four years when I was competing, I remember having conversations with people about performance psychology and sports psychology. And people at that time said, you know, there's no way that you can make a career of that. You know, like, there's just not very many jobs. And what we know now is the growing awareness of athletes talking about mental health issues. I mean, you know, if your mind isn't on the right track as an entrepreneur, if you're in your own way. And we know that, hey, the more our mind is on purpose, probably the more impact we're going to make and the more money we're going to make. Right. And so, like, this is our vehicle because this is what, our lens to everything, our lens to the world. And with, you know, when our mind is not in the, the, you know, a lens that empowers us, it doesn't help us make the impact and contribute the way that we can.

Yeah, okay. So you originally got into it to focus on sports psychology, but you're finding that there's also a connection to the entrepreneurial mind, the business mind. Tell us about that.

Yeah, so, you know, I started keynote speaking probably about eight or nine years ago, and I just got into it because I wanted to be more confident speaking in front of the Vikings. So. So I, I just was like, okay, could I take Some more like, you know, keynote speaker, just some speaking classes. And I got involved in our local chapter of the National Speakers Association. And the cool thing was, as I saw, you know, other keynote speakers at the time, I didn't even think that was something I would want to do. But I saw the people kind of speaking on my topic that maybe weren't as educated as I was, and I was like, wow, you know, could I contribute that way? Could I make a difference that way? And I just started emulating them and like, okay, if so. And so is doing it. One of the guys I still really admire in my state, his name is Ross Bernstein. He wrote like 150 sports books and he speaks on, you know, inspiring sports stories. And I was like, well, could I be like Ross? You know, and then I just watch what Ross did and I did more of that and now I can say, you know, that's like a. I would say at least like one half of my own business is like keynote speaking to corporations. Like, I got a one in a couple weeks. McDonald's spoken at Target, you know, like, you know, but then also small banks and companies. But I love that because I, It's a way for me to, to give back, to also share what I, what I love about it is I try to make really practical things or like theory based research into practical ideas and tools so people have like a toolkit that they can use. And that's important to me to not just think big picture or, you know, I need to, I need to. I feel like my, my purpose and my why is to teach you the how. If I'm not teaching you the how, Gary, like, how do you make a change? Right. So. So I started doing that about eight or nine years ago. And then I would speak at different companies and people come up to me and say, do you coach business people? Because I could use what you're talking about. And then it just sort of evolved. And now I have, you know, a certified. I'm certified coach and all the, all the things to make me be able to allow myself to call my. Call myself an executive performance coach, but now coach probably half of my time, maybe two thirds of my time, entrepreneurs and business leaders, and then about, you know, a third or a quarter of my time, elite athletes.

Wow. Well, how do you compare.

Competitive sports to being on stage and speaking? Because for me, it's the closest thing I know to.

Competing at a high level is getting on stage.

Yeah. You know, and the really cool thing is I never, I never said, hey, I'm going to be a keynote speaker. It just evolved following my passion and following my purpose. But it wasn't something that I did like in high school. You know, people are in speech class or I, I didn't really like that. So it's interesting how, how you know, it, things evolve. What I love about it, and it's very similar, is I think you need a similar mindset. Like you can, you can get in your own way keynote speaking. And, and how I did that at the, at the beginning is I could be thinking a lot about what other people thought of me, you know, about, but liking what I'm saying. Are they being really critical? And now my focus is more on like, how can I serve, how can I contribute, how can I give, how can I improve with our lives? And my focus is not on me. And that's the biggest piece of advice I'd give to people who want to do more keynote speaking or speaking is it's not about you. You might be telling stories about your struggles or things that you've overcome, but you're there because of them. And I find that so much better is when I turn the lens at other people. I also think, you know, my book Beyond Grit covers these 10 practices of high performance, and I have to use all of them while I speak. One of the ones that just came to me is practice number eight, which is called own who you are. And that's about authenticity and showing up as you. And I think if you know when you're real, that's how you connect with other people. So I, in my mind, I try to use this little phrase, could I be present over perfect? And when I, when I started speaking, I tried to say things perfect. Now I just work to be present and in the moment. And I think that's a really important. I know that's a central peak performance principle because even like flow, you can't get in the flow where you're, you're fully in the present moment. Nonjudgmentally, you can't even do that if you're not in the present moment. Right? If you're thinking about the past, future. So I'd say like almost all of the peak performance principles that elite athletes use, we should use to thrive in our everyday life.

See, I, that's, I totally agree with you. And for me.

Speaking is the closest thing because you've got to prepare. You don't know what's going to happen. You prepare for everything that could happen, but you don't know what's going to happen. And you know, always something goes wrong and how are you going to handle it? How are you going to, you know, face adversity? How are you going to face somebody in the crowd that maybe doesn't agree with you? And all the stuff that comes up in a competitive environment of sports also is there when you speak. Do keynote speaking.

Absolutely.

And so that's one of the things that has kind of replaced competitive sports for me, is being on stage.

Yeah.

And I'm curious. Yeah, go ahead.

I was going to say you get that same natural high afterwards where you're like, yes.

When we're talking about comparison, Gary. I remember the first speaker showcase I did, and if people aren't familiar, it's basically a speaking bureau puts them on and there might be like 15 speakers that each get about 10 minutes. And there's a whole bunch of meeting planners in the room. And, you know, all these meeting planners could hire you. The first time I ever did it, man, I was the second to last person to go. And I was just listening to all these amazing keynote speakers and I thought, well, they're so much better than me. You know, obviously I didn't do so great because I was. I felt really anxious. I felt more pressure than typical. But now I know, hey, this isn't about me being it better than anyone else. It's about me being the best me that I can be. And I think that's the best way to perform your best, is just being the best you that you can be instead of being better than anyone else.

So in your studies of peak performance, if there was one thing. I know you have 10, but if there was one thing that separates the good from the great or the great from the good, what would you say that is?

That's a hard question, but I would say it's their level of thinking about themselves and what they can do and the possibilities for their future. And we know that, you know, the, the phrase I am shapes identity. And so, for example, I used to say to myself all the time, Gary, like, I'm terrible at learning people's names, but then that's what I become more of. Right. And so your belief in yourself, your belief in your capabilities, your ability to see what you're great at and own that and to be able to really, you know, share that with the world, I think is one of the most important contributors to peak performance is like your level of thinking about yourself, about the world, and think about how we can see the same. We can, you and I can both be in the same situation, but View it very differently. And so we all walk around with these lenses, right? Like these glasses on. And that's how we see the world. But we can also learn to see the world differently. And I think that's a really important part of peak performance, is getting out of your own way and seeing the possibilities in front of you. I think athletes, they deal with a lot of things like pressure and anxiety.

People telling them they can't. Right. Other people disbelieving. And so, you know, we could, we could talk more about those types of things as well. But the thing about pressure is that it's really self created and, and you can decide, you know, consciously if you want to feel pressure or not.

You know, one of the things that.

I've noticed, and I'd love your perspective on this, but when people ask me that, a question like that, what's the difference between a good whatever and a great. To me, it's always about.

The choice of words that they use to talk about what's going on. It's word choice. Like you were just saying. For me, you, you know, we could call it pressure, or we can call it anxiety, or we could also call it excitement. And they're all the same thing.

Yeah, well, the, the fascinating thing is, is that, you know, the, when you feel anxiety versus excitement, those are the same physiological symptoms in your body, meaning you have an increased heart rate, you maybe you're feeling a little tingly, right? You're shaking a little bit. It's our interpretation that creates the anxiety. So that's a really big part. You know, another thing I was just thinking about, Gary, when you asked about what do, what do the best do differently than others? I would say another characteristic is that they have a very short term memory of when things don't go perfect and a long term memory of things, of their successes. And I have a tool in the book that's one of my favorite tools. And again, here I am, like giving solutions easy if you want to understand things, because that's part of my own purpose and my why is to simplify things. But there is a Minnesota Vikings player a couple of years ago that I'll tell you the story, then I'll introduce the tool. But during a playoff game against the Saints, he, after he fumbled really early on in the game, he went over to the sidelines and he made this action. And so an ESPN reporter saw him make that action and asked him about it afterwards because later on he caught this 43 yard catch over his head. It was just absolutely gorgeous, like unbelievable. He even caught it. And, you know, the ESPN reporter said, you know, how did you move on so quickly in a playoff game where you feel, like, a lot of pressure? You know, there's a lot of, like, weight on your shoulders. How did you really take it one play at a time, right? And that he. And then he said, well, I was pretending to flush a toilet, okay? So. So went over to the sidelines. He flushed the toilet. And then the next day in espn, there was this, you know, headline that said, mental coach taught Adam Thielen how to flush away his mistakes. And so that mental coach was me. But the tool I was teaching him is something called learn, burn, return. And the burn was his way of flushing. But let me kind of explain. It is like, many times when we're playing sports and even in life, right, when you're thinking about your impact of. Of impacting a billion people in 15 years, you can easily get stuck on the no. Or the rejection or the thing that didn't work. But I would say is what the best do is they move on that fast, right? And they ask themselves, what am I learning? And then the real prompt after learn is, next time I will. And so many times we make meaning based on the past, right? Like, okay, and so we're thinking about what happened to us in the past. So, of course, we're not going to take this risk in the right now because of what just happened in the past. But if we can just ask ourselves, what am I learning here? How can I grow? How can I, you know, grow through this is to just get through this. We have a very different perspective. Well, next time I will. Like Adam. Next time I will, you know, catch the ball in a different way. Next time I will. I'm just thinking about my own. My own work, right? Next time, I will be more authentic on stage. And we can take the lesson. Once you take the lesson, you gotta burn it. And if we have the same burn phrase or action. And so burn it just means let it go. If you use the same phrase or action every time, like, burn it, let it go, or that fast, I'm snapping. That's mine. Or you say flush it, or I'm thinking about that Taylor Swift song. What does she sing? Shake it off. Make me sing the song Shake it off. So if you use the same bird phrase or action, you strengthen a new neural pathway and you can move on more quickly. And so many times, you know, Gary, when I'm speaking, I'll ask people, you know, what percentage of the. Of. Of you would Say you're an overthinker. And literally almost 90% of the people raise their hand and say they're an overthinker. And so we want to, we want to move on more quickly so we're not overthinking and wasting our time and our energy. And using the same burn phrase or action helps you do that. And then the return is you build yourself back up. You remind yourself who you really are and it's, you know, for you, it might be like, I'm the why guy and I, I, I'm here to impact a billion people. Right. And so you refocus your attention, build yourself back up. Because so many times when we make a mistake, we, we just our heads down, we feel sorry for ourselves instead of moving on more quickly.

Learn, burn, return. So learn from the Whatever happened, good or bad? Mostly bad. Is it typically in a bad situation or both?

I think you could use it anytime. But what I find is most people have a, most people hold onto things that haven't worked for them. And, you know, I just would say, like, what do you need to let go of? And this is how you can use the Learn, burn, return. Anytime you're overthinking or even anytime you've, like, you know, are thinking about a past unresolved challenge, ask yourself, what do you learn? Then burn it, then return.

Ah, like that. Yeah, I guess you don't want to burn it. If it was a good something good. You want to save it.

You want to save it. You want to, right? You want to. That's memories you want to think of as you're laying in bed at night is what, you know, what went well today instead of what didn't.

So how did.

Big, strong Minnesota Vikings players feel about taking advice from five foot two? Four?

Yeah. On a good day.

Yeah. Two little blonde gal. That is a long distance runner.

Yeah.

How did that go over?

Well, that's a great question. So I've done quite a bit of work in football over the years, and I do have the ability to maybe what is a Beyonce, you know, what is her stage name? Sasha Fierce.

So I do have an ability to stand in front of a big group of strong men and deliver tools that make a difference. But that's the deal is like, hey, if I know that I can learn something from Dr. Syndra, I'm going to listen. And if I know, hey, so and so and so and so and so and so use these tools to help me be a better football player. Maybe I should use those too. Right? And I Think the cool thing is every single athlete knows when I ask them, hey, what percentage of. Do you think your sport is mental? Most athletes will say 80 to 90%. Well, if 80 to 90% is mental, why are you not trained in that? Right. And so most people kind of let their, their mindset. Training to chance instead of being really thoughtful and intentional about it and developing more tools and skills they can use to move on quickly to stay in the present moment is so important in sports. So I think when you start like putting it in practical terms that they can use, there's a live in Minnesota, and I love working with our local football team, Minnesota State. They've won. They've gone to the national championship game like three, three years, I think it is in the last 10. I love working with those guys. And it's really fun to be on the sidelines. You know, I think that maybe if I would have grown up now, I would have been a football player, you know, but when I was in that school, girls don't play football.

Maybe.

So you're. The titles of your books have the word grit in them.

How do you define grit?

Great question. So grit means to me that you can stick with yourself and your goals over the long term and that you stay passionate and, and, and purposeful actually with them. And the really cool thing is we've done a lot of the research to show the power of grit. And also a woman named Angela Duckworth, which maybe people are familiar with her research shows that grit contributes to higher gpa, more likelihood to graduate. I mean, it's been, it's been linked to like entrepreneurial success, more income, teacher effectiveness. I mean, so that's why it's been described as the number one predictor of our success. We did a study last year, Gary, where we interviewed professional athletes about how they developed their grit. And you know, you. Some of the things we found was things that you would expect. For example, they said their parents and their coaches and their mentors were the most important people to help them develop their grit. So other people, right. Social support. But then 3/4 of them said something I didn't expect. And they said that grit came from overcoming the most difficult part in their lives, such as like a seizing ending injury or a parent's divorce or their own cancer. And they said if those difficult things wouldn't have happened, they wouldn't have become a professional athlete. And so what's interesting is kind of what we are talking about, our lenses, the words we used to describe events, right? They could, you know, they could have this mindset of like, whoa, versus me. You know, my parents divorced, or, oh, my gosh, I have a seizing, ending injury, Life is over. But they develop the skills to be able to overcome that. And, and those are the things that help them develop their grit. So grit doesn't just come from successes. It does come from. Of difficulties and failures and disappointments. But I would say moving on quickly from them is going to be one way that you can protect your grit.

So it makes you wonder if we ought to be protecting our kids from all the.

You know, challenges that they're going to face or throw them into the fire more and help them swim. Right?

Yeah, I think it's about helping them reframe those difficult moments. I mean, I think so. I have two teenage boys, and I, I, I do protect them in lots of different ways, which I don't always know is, is, is helpful, you know, but it's like, how can you help them work through difficult things? Because, you know, it's, it's. I think about, for me, why do I do what I do today is because of these difficult moments. And I, I didn't say this to you yet, but I think I shared with you that I was at the Boston marathon bombing in 2013, and that was like a huge catalyst for me because as I was sitting in the hotel room, you know, a couple blocks from the. Where the bomb went off, I was questioning my purpose and my why. And I felt like at the time I was playing pretty small. I was a college professor, which, which sounds great, but I was publishing a lot of journals and, like, articles and journals, and wasn't necessarily getting out there with my message. And it was the, the marathon that helped me wake me up to my own purpose and just get out of my own way. And you step into my, my calling more.

Wow. What about that event helped you step into your own calling?

I think it was this realization that life is really short.

And at the end of my life, would I have some regrets. And I had some pretty big goals I wanted to go after, like, working with the Vikings, writing a book. But all that was really scary. Right. And so I think that people thrive when they do things that just are a little bit scary every day. You know, can you continue to get outside your comfort zone? Because if you're not, if you're just staying in your comfort zone, you're just small. You're just playing small. And, you know, can you do something scary every day if it's just even. It's just a little you know, a little scary, like getting on more podcasts or raising your hand more often at work. But that's how you grow and that's how you step into your potential.

So in.

In.

Yeah. It's the challenges that we face that push us to do to the limits that we didn't know we could do.

Absolutely.

Wow. Well, last question for you, Cindra. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given or the best piece of advice you've ever given?

Best piece of advice I've ever given or that I've been ever given?

I think the best piece of advice I've ever given or I've been given. There we go. Is actually from my dad, and he was a big source of support for me, still is today. And, you know, there was one point where he just said, cinder, you have to keep on dreaming big. And that's what I still try to keep in my mind is, you know, how can I continually push myself.

10 times my goal, you might say, like, I just think we are either growing or we're dying. And so can you continue to dream big? Dream big about yourself and your impact and what you can contribute to the world? And Even when we're 60 years old, 70 years old, 80 years old, 90, whatever, we still need something to look forward to, and we still need a vision to keep growing into. So I would say keep dreaming big. What's your vision for this year? If you don't have a vision written down, write it down.

I love it. That's awesome. Well, Cindra, if there are people that are listening and they want to connect with you, want to follow you, want to work with you, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

I would say the best way they could get in touch with me is you can head over to our website, Mentally Strong Institute, and that's where we have a group of coaches where we work with elite athletes and entrepreneurs and business leaders. So if you want to learn more about our coaching, check that out. Or you can email me@cinderendra campoff.com and I will respond to your email. So, pretty easy. First name, Cindra Cinderendra Campoff.com.

You better spell that.

Oh, I better spell that.

Yeah.

Okay.

Cindra C I N d R A. @ Cindra C I N D R A K A M P H O F f dot com. Easier way is if you just go to drcyndra dot com. You can find my email.

There.

Well, Sandra, thank you so much for being here today. I loved hearing your stories. I loved hearing how you found success and are now helping so many other people find that success. So thank you for spending the time with us, and I look forward to staying in.

Touch. Absolutely. Keep up the great work with the Y Institute. I'm very inspired about everything that you're doing and the way you've grown it so. And if people haven't taken the Discovery Tool, they better do it.

Now.

I really hope you enjoyed today's episode and that through today's guest, you heard how important it is to know your why and how impactful it can be in your life and the lives of those around you. Be sure to head over to whyinstitute.com and discover your why today. Remember, the more you know about yourself, the more you'll know about others. I'm Dr. Gary Sanchez, and I'll see you on the next episode.