Pod Insights Change Wired 5 Core Mindset Shifts that push your forward instead of keeping you stuck. Grit psychology 101 and lessons from 18 years of coaching high performers. 5 Core Mindset Shifts that push your forward instead of keeping you stuck. Grit psychology 101 and lessons from 18 years of coaching high performers. Change Wired
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About this episode Your inner voice can push you forward or quietly keep you trapped in the same loop. What does yours do? We break down 5 mindset strategies I’ve seen work across high performers in all fields - athletes, executives, business owners, leaders, and everyday humans who are serious about growth, from better workouts and sleep habits to cleaner communication in relationships and at work. The goal is simple: shift your focus so your thinking starts producing better outcomes instead of more self-sabot...
Transcript 0:09 Speaker 00 Hey guys and welcome back to another episode of Change Wired Podcast. My name is Angela Shurina. I'm your host, I'm your partner in change, personal and collective transformation, your executive master health, sleep, stress management and high performance coach, and just someone who's really passionate about what we can achieve as humans, our potential, unlocking and using more of it and creating better world every single day with the fact that we are living in it. You know, I was just walking outside and thinking to myself, I think, just like everything else in nature, this like natural drive to evolve, we are a part
0:54 Speaker 00 of our process. And it's very natural, once we get beyond survival and once we're in a good place of thriving, to want to grow, to evolve, to get better and to contribute to the betterment of the place all around you. I feel like that's what we are made of. Besides that, by the end of today's podcast, you're going to learn five mindset strategies or tools, how to shift your attention, how to shift your focus, how to shift your thinking process, so that, so then you get better and better outcomes in your life versus having the kind of mindset
1:37 Speaker 00 or inner dialogue that holds you back or keeps you in the loop that isn't moving you forward. And how did I get to learn those five mindset strategies? A combination of things, reading a lot of books on psychology, on coaching, on self-development, on different therapeutic approaches like CBT, ACT, motivational interviewing, listening to a lot of podcasts from Navy SEALs, high performance coaches, reading their books, working in coaching for 18 years. With a lot of high performing leaders and seeing them transform themselves and people around them and their mission when using and applying these tools.
2:21 Speaker 00 So that's how podcasts like this came to be. And I'm just a natural squirrel who picks it all up and then creates or combines them into beautiful methodologies and step by steps that are applicable to different situations in your life. I just recently learned that my thought leadership style is one of a squirrel. Not to create something completely new necessarily, but I'm really good at understanding a lot of those approaches and methodologies and tactics and tools from all kinds of different schools of thoughts and then putting them together to apply in a very novel way
3:02 Speaker 00 to a specific situation or a specific area of development. That's what I'm great at and that's how podcasts like this came to be or come to be. So mindset strategies to help you move your life and yourself, your personal development further and further faster than again being stuck in the loop. And I always say, you know, in life, when we talk about any self-development tool or tactic, you don't necessarily want to know like what's the best, what's the most right thing for me. You just wanna get your own toolkit or assemble your own toolkit of things that are useful to you.
3:46 Speaker 00 It's not the question of what's the best or what's the most right. It's a question of what's the most useful to you right now. And often asking yourself this question, is this the way I'm thinking, the way I'm looking at the world, the way I'm operating, is this serving me? Or is it holding me back? And that question, let that question be the ultimate guide and judge of what you're gonna keep in your life and what you're gonna let go or leave behind saying, hey, that might be the best thing on earth, but it's just not right for me, right? So is it serving you right now, whatever it is you're using?
4:27 Speaker 00 Speaking of those things that serve you, hopefully these five tools will serve you better, just like they serve better a lot of leaders, Navy SEALs, high performers, all kinds of all kinds, and just people committed to doing their absolute best in this life. So number one, vision, have a vision or destination or where you're trying to get behind everything. I was talking to a leader in a session a couple of days ago, and we kind of laughed about it, how we often don't know like what to do next, what the best thing is. But somehow our brain is quite good at when we set the vision, when we sort of draw a
5:11 Speaker 00 picture of where we want to arrive, whether that's a conversation, a business deal or negotiation, when we draw a picture, hey, this is where I'd like to be on the other side. Our brain is actually really good at giving us a sense of what can be a better strategy from everything that we know, right? So creating that vision, that also is very applicable to having difficult conversations. Let's say you are about to have one, whether that's again, negotiation or some developmental conversation, or just personal conversation in your relationships. Where do you want to arrive? Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy, right? What's the vision? What do you want to preserve? What's the main thing as the outcome of this conversation? Where are you trying to get?
5:55 Speaker 00 Keep this vision in mind whenever you are about to start your workout, your day, your work project, or again, a difficult conversation, just keep that vision in mind. And when you have the clarity about where you want to arrive, you'd be surprised again how good your brain is at giving you a sense, nudging you towards the best possible word or sentence or approach to that specific challenge you're about to face. Or again, just starting your workout, what's the outcome you want on the other side of this workout? And your brain will help you to focus on the right things. Number two. Do a slightly harder thing.
6:40 Speaker 00 Choose to do in every situation a slightly harder thing. What I mean by that is you wake up and you don't wanna make your bed. Make your bed. You wake up and you don't wanna splash that cold water in your face, even though you know it makes you feel good. Splash that water. You wake up, you don't wanna drink that water before your coffee or your workout. Drink that water. You have your meal, you don't wanna wash those dishes. Wash those dishes. You did, I don't know, have a garbage in your hand, a piece of garbage, and the trash bin is, I don't know, further away. Hold the garbage, put it in your bag, wait till the next trash bin.
7:24 Speaker 00 You don't wanna, I don't know, help someone out on your way to work when you're already rushing. Your brain tells you to do this thing, help them out. And when you do that, not only you're gonna move through life easier and faster and somehow your journey will be accelerated, even though it might seem like you don't have time to do those extra small things. But what, again Navy SEALs and other high performers that I learned from, that I listened to, that I got certified with, people who went through a lot of hard stuff in life and in their line of work.
8:09 Speaker 00 What they learned when they analyzed their journey looking backwards is that those small things, they might seem like a little bit more time and a little bit more effort, but when you look at a bigger picture of your life, when you zoom out, they actually save you time, save you effort, and make your life just a little bit smoother. You know, slow is fast, or whether you call it, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. So do that extra hard thing. My personal hack or take on it is In order to make that harder thing, like reading your book instead of scrolling,
8:49 Speaker 00 like doing a little bit, a more prep for that presentation that is challenging that is in front of you, uh, to do a little extra, you wanna focus on that vision that we talked about in step one. When you focus on the result that you want, let's say you finish your workout and all you wanna do is go to sauna, but you're like, hey, there is this cold plunge and I know it actually really good for me. Think of the, think on the other side of the emotion, of the outcome, of the vision, even if it's a vision of yourself who does harder things. Think of the vision,
9:28 Speaker 00 put a reward in front of that hard thing, hang this carrot in front of your eyes, understand why you're doing this, why it's worth an extra, take step, extra bit of effort, understand that and doing the harder thing will get a lot easier. It is a lot of people push themselves like I just gotta push through, but, but why? And if you don't have a clear answer, that's when your discipline and willpower or strong mindset start to wobble. Like really get into the core of why you do the things that you do and why harder thing is worth a little
10:12 Speaker 00 extra effort. Number three, uncomfortable emotion is not a sign to stop or pull back. Uncomfortable emotion, whether that's fear, anxiety, I don't know, some sort of uncertainty. Uncomfortable emotion is a sign to go slower. Your brain wants you to pay attention to something, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the time to stop, to avoid, to distract yourself or do something else. What you wanna do every time you feel this uncomfortable and pleasant emotion is to ask yourself like, what's the reason I'm feeling this? And what do I need to?
10:53 Speaker 00 Maybe learn more or investigate, or maybe it's the sign to lean in and it is uncomfortable because you've never done it and you're about to break the pattern that has been keeping you stuck for ages. Right? Fear, anxiety, all those uncomfortable emotions. They are not a black and white, meaning they are not the recipe to necessarily go forward full speed or to get back and, you know, do something else. They are the signs, and that's again based on my eighteen years of coaching and learning from people wiser than myself. Those uncomfortable emotions are a sign to look into what's in front of you a little bit deeper and ask yourself,
11:35 Speaker 00 why am I feeling this? And what would be the step that I'm either proud of or that moves me towards where I wanna grow, where I wanna go, what I wanna create in my life? So negative emotion, uncomfortable emotion, it's not a sign to stop and pull back and do something else. It's a sign to look into it, like, why am I feeling this? And what is the step that I need to take to move me where I wanna go? Number four, have a script. For whatever it is you wanna do and you're not sure how to do it, whether that's that difficult conversation or managing a team
12:18 Speaker 00 or working the project that you've never worked before. Have a script means there are people who've done it before. There are books, there is AI, there are people you can reach out to. There are so many playbooks which are better than yours because they come from more experience. So don't go blind, don't reinvent the wheel, don't just play dumb. Like, you, you're not living in the most connected and knowledge accessible information full kind of world. Look in what's already there. You know, there is a manual, how to cook a perfect pancake or omelet, or how to ride a bike, or how to start a business.
13:03 Speaker 00 Like, for every single challenge you're battling with, there is a playbook. Hey, it might not be the most customized to you and personalized thing, but I'm sure it is better than just going blindly and.
13:19 Speaker 00 Throwing things against the wall, seeing what's gonna stick. Like, you know, there are better playbooks. So try them out before you go completely blind into the thing. But also don't forget to have a vision, be back to step number one. What is you're trying to achieve that will help you to actually choose a better playbook? And judge whether what's you're trying, working for you or not working for you. Right? So have a script to get some sort of script. Number five, take ownership.
13:53 Speaker 00 And I feel in in my practice with other leaders, I often see that people can, the people really confuse what taking ownership, especially leaders, like what taking ownership is all about. Taking ownership of your life, of things in your life is not about trying to control the uncontrollable outcomes or what others do. No, it's focusing predominantly on what you can do. Let's say it's a difficult conversation you are about to have. Like you don't know what the other person wants. You don't know what kind of mood or energy the other person gonna come into this conversation. You don't know what they're gonna say, what they're gonna say.
14:38 Speaker 00 But you can work on putting yourself in the right state of mind of energy and having clear vision. You can control what, how you're gonna start this conversation. You can control what's gonna happen, when you're gonna hear what you don't wanna hear. You can control what questions you ask. You can control whether you're gonna be a more patient one or more impatient one. Those things you can control. So take ownership of those things, right? Or whenever there is an awkward or uncomfortable situation, ask yourself, what can I do better? For creating a better possible outcome? Not like what the other person should do, or they should say this, or do this, or etc.
15:23 Speaker 00 Or, you know, other people need to follow the plan, etc. Like, what can you do? That is the only thing you ultimately can control the outcome. You cannot control it fully. You can only influence it by the actions that you take. Other people, you're also not in control of other people, no matter whether you lead them or manage them or superior to them, you can't control other people. You can't even control your cat. It will resist you with all its willpower. So taking ownership, again, what I learned from like amazing leaders that I work with.
16:00 Speaker 00 Where leaders still get it wrong, when we say take ownership, it doesn't mean try to control everything, even yourself. It means do your best to take actions and manage your thinking process, your emotions, how you organize the environment, how you prepare, do your best
16:19 Speaker 00 to create, to influence the best possible outcomes that you want. And that again goes back to step number one, have a vision, where it is you're trying to get. What is the outcome you're trying to create? Where you wanna go? What is the more favorable outcome that you wanna, that you wanna influence? And then take those actions, do what you can, and then let go of the rest. Because it's never in your control, never gonna be, never was. And that is what taking ownership is all about. Before we sum it up and review the full five strategy list, don't forget guys to please share this podcast with at least one other person
17:04 Speaker 00 who might be struggling with their inner conversation, with their inner life, and maybe they don't have the best mindset that propels them forward, but instead a lot of things in their mind that keeps them stuck, right? Better mental models is one of the most powerful. Toolboxes that will shape everything else that you feel and you end up doing so. Share better mental models with other people. So together we can create more forward momentum and evolution and more positive impact and influence in the world. And now back to the episode and recapping the episode. Number one, have a vision of the outcome that you want, no matter what you do, whether
17:47 Speaker 00 that's your workout, your sleep or a hard conversation. Number two, do a slightly harder thing, not trying to figure out a shortcut and going for the easy thing, right? And to make it easier doing a slightly harder thing, have a vision in mind. Why are you doing this? What's it all for? Number three, uncomfortable emotion, not a sign to stop, to distract yourself, to get back, to avoid it. It's a sign to slow down and look into what's happening, why it's happening and what it is that you wanna have on the other side of that situation. Number four, have a script. Do not reinvent the wheel.
18:32 Speaker 00 You'll have chance to figure things out and personalize and customize. But when you're starting something, check out other people's playbooks. There is good stuff out there and AI makes it more available than ever. And number five, take ownership. And again, not in a sense of trying to control everything and everyone, which is beyond your control, but focusing what you can do, what you can influence with your actions. That's it for today, guys. Hope this podcast episode has been incredibly useful to you. Share, review, rate, that helps to reach more people. So together we can create more personal and collective evolution and positive impact. And till next time, keep growing.
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