Mindset Monday - 2 Rules For Better Performance

This is episode 108 of the Empowered Athlete podcast. This is the Empowered Athlete podcast Mindset Monday 10 minutes with Kari Schneider to learn new mindset tactics and tricks to optimize your performance in sport, business, and life.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

It is Mindset Monday day and I've.

Got the song in my head, can't help myself.

I want to say Sugar pie honey bunch, but I think the song is.

Can't Help Myself and it's the Sugar.

Pie honey bunch, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't know all the words clearly.

But that's in my head because on our morning power up call for the team Empowered, we. I played that song because we're about to come into sweet free September, baby. So if you're looking for a solid challenge, then join us for a month of no sweets in September. That's what we're gonna do. So that's why that song's in my.

Head is from this morning. And I don't want to, you know.

Dread it for two weeks that it's.

Coming, but it is coming.

So if you want to join us or pick another thing to challenge yourself, then do that. But today we are talking about two rules. Two rules that can make some of the most tedious things in your life so much better. And there's something that came about because of my daughter and these two rules I started to reflect on and go a lot deeper for myself, and they make a huge difference. So if you have found that a thing you used to look forward to.

Suddenly becomes meh, especially things like zoom.

Calls, you've probably been on a ton of those, or maybe things have changed. Something you used to look forward to.

Kind of goes bleh.

Or something that you've never done you're really anxious about. There can be all kinds of these things in our lives that once were amazing and then they suck. Or maybe you just are apprehensive about something new. Either way, these two rules will work for you. The way they came about is about three or four years ago when my daughter was apprehensive about going to gymnastics. She was really into gymnastics. Things were awesome. She tried out and made the next level. And then when she got to, it was different than she thought it was going to be. You ever experience that you think something's going to be a certain way and it turns out it ends up being different than you thought it would be. And so your enthusiasm takes a big, hard dive. And we'd invested all this time, all this energy into her going to Gymnastics. So we were kind of like, hey, you know, you have to put the energy and the effort in, at least to give it a good hard try. You have to give it a solid effort, a good hard try. Try your best. Go for it. Because you used to love it, and now you really wanted this next level. This is everything you were working for, and now you've got there. And maybe it's different than you thought you thought it was, but you owe it this really hard effort. So this is where rule number one comes in. It's try your best. So we started to implement this. You know, we all got to try our best. But then, you know, I'm not into being a hypocrite. So I started to turn the mirror on myself and realize that, holy crap. It doesn't matter whether it was a communication with my husband, maybe a meeting or energy that I had towards a meeting, I started to take a look at things going, oh, well, I wasn't really looking forward to that thing, and I didn't really put my best effort in. But then there's this distinction where we take a look and go, for me anyway, that trying my best I associated with really gritty hard work or, you know, really putting your head down. And it's gotta. It's gotta be a struggle. It's gotta really be tough now. Sometimes it is. But does it have to be like that all the time? Absolutely not. And I certainly didn't want it that way for my daughter heading into this next level that she was apprehensive about. So this is how the second rule came in. And it was not only try your best, but have fun. Have fun. Just go and look for the fun in it. Find a way to have fun. And this is where the second rule came in. And of course, I had to turn the mirror back on myself and go, wow, I've been adulting a whole lot for a really long time and coaching and doing all these things, and sometimes the fun just freaking creeps right out of it. So I started to insert a little more fun. It was so easy to do. It might have been a joke here, a tickle there. It might have been some music, might have been playing a game, adding more engagements like that that were a whole lot of fun, little laughs, making fun of myself. All of those little engagements of fun elevated the experience not only for myself, but for other people. And there's a really, really important part of this, and it was the fact that the having fun, most of us expect to show up and get the fun. Given to us or experience the fun because of the thing that we've shown up to. Doesn't matter whether it's a meeting, an event, a game, a whatever. We expect for the fun to be there for us or someone else to bring it to us. And that's not the way it works. And this is what we did, a deep, deep dive in. In the last reset in May, we talked about be, do, and have. It's the being something first, then the action, then you get the outcome that you ultimately wanted. So I discussed this with my daughter really recently, last night, coming from soccer, and. And I said, did you have fun? And she's like, yeah, that was such a fun practice. It was awesome. I was like, you know, there's lots of things that aren't always fun, right? And she's like, yeah. And we celebrated the fun. I asked her what was fun about it. She told me some of the things. Because when we can identify what was fun or what makes something our best, then we know how to replicate it down the road. So I asked her what was fun. But then I also pointed to, you know, how you can really be a fun person, you can really have fun, but you're really fun and you can be that way. And when you're like that, you bring fun to other people. And she got it right away how she could be fun. She could be that person that was fun in that environment. She didn't have to wait for it to be fun for her. She could actually be fun. And that's the second rule is really having fun, but being able to draw it from yourself as well. So I want to give you some three takeaways on these two major rules. Number one, if you're having a hard time going, well, what does my best even look like on this boring as hell meeting? Or what does my best even look like for something I've never even done before? So what would my best look like? One of the first steps to do that is remember when you were your best in some other thing. Doesn't have to be even remotely related, but some other thing. Remember when you were being your best and take a look at what elements were there, what factors were there? Did you prepare a certain way? Did you have a certain mindset? Did you do different things? And that can be a template or exemplify what your best is. So that can be a first way for you to draw into yourself. How do I be my best in this new situation or this different environment that I'm not used to being my best and Then the next thing is taking responsibility for your impact on others. Because most of the things that we're referring to have to do with other people when they have to do with other people. Us being our best influences everybody around us. We don't like to acknowledge that all the time. We think that we can be however we want and that it's just us. Doesn't matter, no big deal on other people, but it has a massive difference and impact on other people around you. So take responsibility for that. That if you don't show up as your best, you know that's going to impact somebody else adversely. It's going to impact somebody else in a way that you may not want. So take responsibility for that as well. And number three, make light of adversity. This is part of the fun. If we can have fun. You've noticed me posting a few, you know, funny joke or videos about COVID Because if we can't make light of almost any situation, then, I mean, you know, maybe there's some situations we don't want to make light of. I get that there's some pretty heavy things in the world right now. However, if we can make light of adversity as much as possible, then we can also bring the fun. It's like practicing bringing the fun. It's like when it's pouring rain out, you're like, oh, I really needed that bath. Or just making funny little jokes. That can bring the lightness to an environment. That can be pretty heavy. That, too, has a positive impact on the people around you. So just to wrap up on this, the two rules are, try your best or do your best. Be your best. Bring your best to whatever the situation is. And two is have fun. I've been using that for the last few years with my daughter, and it's had a profound impact on how she approaches going to school. Things that are new, we've moved. We're in a new neighborhood. Sports. And it's really brought the mirror right back on myself to be able to have me ask, am I bringing my best? Was I being my best? Was I doing my best? Was I putting my best effort in? And where's the fun? I might as well make it really freaking enjoyable. If this is something that I endeavor to do, I might as well bring the fun in. So we are about to head into two things, and I want to bring this to your attention because you matter to me. Number one, Sweet Free September is coming up. If that remotely interests you or scares you, then maybe you should do it. No sweets no sugar for the whole month of September. That's what we're about to do. So join us if that's something you're interested in. And secondly, our second reset is coming up and it's got frontline workforce as the emphasis. So frontline workforce, that's who it's for. It's for our food workers, our physicians, our paramedics, our police, our firefighters, our nurses, all these people who have been driving through Covid and never really getting to come up for air. And that's who our next reset is for. It's 21 days of resetting with three nights in the middle of it as a getaway in Muskoka to the most beautiful cottage you can imagine. So we are beyond excited for it. We're doing a ton of prep for it. There is an application process for this because we're really, really sensitive to the type of people we bring together so that there can be the most impactful results. So this reset is coming up very fast. It's from the 14th of September to the 4th of October and the three night getaway is the 25th, 26th and 27th in Muskoka. So this is really for the people who are willing to make that jaunt up to Muskoka and really dive deep. This is for people who know they need to recharge, who know they want their energy back, who know they need to grow for themselves. That is who this reset is for. And we're stupid excited about it. So here you'll hear more about it. I'm going to post a link in the chat or the comments below, so, so that you can take a look at it further. But if you know somebody who really needs this because they've been busting it through Covid, then pass it on to them because we believe strongly in living our best lives and we know that there's been a lot of circumstances that have been really challenging for people. So that's what this next reset is for. That's why we've focused it on our frontline workforce. So I hope you are well and you are safe and you are living into your best life and practicing what you need to to live your best life. So I hope these two rules today really serve that for you. Being your best, trying your best, doing your best and having fun. Bring them in today. Bring them in for the rest of your week. This is your intention for the week. Have a fantastic freaking day. Have amazing rest of your week. Lots and lots of love to.