1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,800 It's one of the cool things about this form or this piece of our overall resilience or 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:11,680 overall mental toughness mindset is that we get to make a choice on how we approach different 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,680 situations. 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,000 Welcome to the Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast where we give you real tools to train ultimate 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,480 humor performance both on and off the emergency scene. 6 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:25,480 I'm your host Kevin Housley. 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:27,720 Let's get to it. 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,840 Firefighter Craftsmanship Podcast is brought to you by BruteForceTraining.com. 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:36,920 Enter the code FIREFIGHTERCRASMENSHIP at checkout for 10% off your entire order. 10 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,880 BruteForceTraining provides unstable and odd object load training systems that are adaptable 11 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,480 to 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00:01:30,240 The definition from Webster on Mindset is a mental attitude or inclination or a fixed 22 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:31,640 state of mind. 23 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:38,840 It's kind of an interesting paradigm there where we have one definition from the dictionary 24 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,040 that kind of talks about like an attitude and an approach or maybe just a general trend 25 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:51,560 on how you approach things with an inclination and then a glaring contradiction to that of 26 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:52,840 a fixed state of mind. 27 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:59,240 When I hear fixed state of mind I think, oh wow, that's pretty hard to break out of. 28 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:04,560 And for sure for some of us and depending on the situation for all of us we absolutely 29 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,960 have an inclination, a certain approach, a certain attitude and at sometimes a fixed 30 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:11,440 state of mind. 31 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:17,140 So in preparation for this podcast I thought I should probably write down what is my definition 32 00:02:17,140 --> 00:02:18,760 of mindset. 33 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:24,600 What I came up with was an approach or choice and how you react, calculate or forecast a 34 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,080 situation or event. 35 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:33,640 And so with our mindsets that's one of the cool things about this form or this piece 36 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:38,760 of our overall resilience or overall mental toughness mindset is that we get to make a 37 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,840 choice on how we approach different situations. 38 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:47,720 And sometimes in our job as emergency responders that choice is just a default. 39 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:53,640 So based on what you get dispatched to you might have a default mentality towards that 40 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:54,640 sort of call. 41 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:58,680 It might even be tied to a certain address or if you know what patient you're going 42 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,960 to see that mindset might change. 43 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,920 It might even change from the first time you see that patient in one shift to the third 44 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:09,600 or fourth time you see that patient in the exact same shift. 45 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:14,200 But really when it comes down to it is mindset is a choice. 46 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,640 And so today we're going to kind of dive into how can we influence and control our mindset? 47 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:19,720 How can we build it? 48 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:21,180 How can we train it? 49 00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:26,960 And then I also get into just some brief brain neuroscience on kind of a cool new development 50 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:32,520 in the scientific world at least cool new for me of called Myelin. 51 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:35,400 So let's jump in. 52 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:40,000 So we have roughly 70,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day. 53 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,880 And these thoughts all contribute to our over mentality and overall approach to different 54 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:45,960 situations. 55 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,720 So again, we'll talk about awareness as foundational. 56 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,640 Have you really ever thought about what you're thinking about? 57 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:54,840 Or do those thoughts just kind of come and go? 58 00:03:54,840 --> 00:04:00,920 Sometimes we jump on on those thoughts and we ride them positive thoughts, negative thoughts. 59 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,400 Sometimes we create a bunch of narratives that turn out to not be true. 60 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,640 Sometimes that we try to forecast those narratives and they do become true. 61 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:13,480 And sometimes really based on our mindset and our approach or our thought life, the 62 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:17,560 things that we start to think about become true because we're kind of forecasting them 63 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:19,000 into the world. 64 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,680 So kind of the exercise right from the jump for this week is really start to pay attention 65 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,760 to what are you thinking about? 66 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:26,280 What is your mindset? 67 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:27,760 What is your approach? 68 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,840 And then start to track that and look at that all through different situations. 69 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:36,400 Is your mindset and approach different when you're driving to work than it is when you're 70 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:37,880 driving home? 71 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:42,160 Or is your mindset different if you're working in a different station or with a different 72 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,960 shift or overtime or something like that? 73 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,360 How does your mindset ebb and flow? 74 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,480 How about after the new year and maybe you have some of those resolutions, which we kind 75 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,760 of talked about in last episode. 76 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,560 How does your mindset help you or hurt you when you're trying to break old habits or 77 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:01,320 build new habits? 78 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:03,920 How do our routines play into this? 79 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:05,120 How about our sleep? 80 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:10,400 Or if you're having trouble sleeping or having trouble falling back asleep, what is your mindset 81 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:16,720 that's tied to things like your bed or your bedroom or your sleeping arrangement if you're 82 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,920 on a 24-hour shift or something like that? 83 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,560 And figure out maybe if that's where you're having a little bit of trouble falling back 84 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,840 asleep, it might just be tied to what is your general overall approach? 85 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:32,040 And we're going to get really deep into sleep here coming up soon. 86 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,600 But just start to think about what is my mindset around rest and relaxation? 87 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,920 What is my mindset around tactical fitness? 88 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:44,800 What is my mindset around 911 response on and on and on? 89 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,000 What is my mindset around relationships? 90 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,720 Am I setting myself up for success? 91 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:56,320 Or am I walking into that situation already on edge or apathetic or anxious? 92 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,960 Start to try to pin these things down a little bit. 93 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,840 And why this is so important is really our thought life when we have 70,000 to 80,000 94 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:06,920 thoughts per day, especially if we have a thought where we ruminate on it, meaning we 95 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,840 keep coming back to it or we can't let it go or we just think and think and think and 96 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:16,360 think and think on it and we just can't really ever escape the confines of that thought itself. 97 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:22,360 When we do that, we start to build basically super highways in our brain. 98 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:27,720 And so the more that we think about something, this is habit formation as well, the more 99 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:32,680 that we do something, the more that we think about something, the more comfortable it becomes, 100 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:34,880 the more we actually don't really think about doing it. 101 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,400 We just, we walk in the door and maybe you'll always hang your key in one spot. 102 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:41,960 Well, that probably didn't happen right from the jump. 103 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,240 You probably lost your keys enough where you got frustrated enough, you had enough pain 104 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,560 where you said, okay, I'm tired of losing my keys, so I'm going to hang them in the exact 105 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,680 same spot every time. 106 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,120 And so that would be that thought pattern that now when you walk in the door, you just 107 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,520 have this habit where you hang your keys up and you don't even really think about it. 108 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,680 That concept applies to your mindset as well. 109 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:06,240 And so let's take a step back here real quick and look at the three different types of mindset 110 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:07,240 that we can have. 111 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:12,640 We can have a positive mindset, we can have a negative mindset, and then we can have the 112 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,680 no mind. 113 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:21,400 And so no mind is really flow and we're not going to talk about flow in this episode specifically, 114 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,560 but flow would be that time where you've been able to either in a creative environment 115 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:30,360 or hopefully at work, you've experienced flow as well, where you are just connecting things 116 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:35,480 together without consciously thinking about the thoughts that they're producing or the 117 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:37,760 actions that you're supposed to do. 118 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:42,760 And so this would be back into that automaticity principle of things are just happening without 119 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,880 you actually thinking about them. 120 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:49,560 You might be looking at other critical factors on the emergency scene and your basic skills, 121 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,720 your transitioning back to those basic skills and you're just connecting the dots, whether 122 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:59,440 that's on an emergency medical or on a different type of emergency scene, the fire ground, 123 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:00,560 et cetera. 124 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,160 So let's look at how do we get to that point where we can create automaticity. 125 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:08,440 And there's this cool thing that I just really heard about in a book called the talent code 126 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:14,040 by Daniel Coyle and I'll link that in the show notes description here about some new 127 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:19,920 brain neuroscience that's happened here within the last 10 to 15 years really. 128 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,920 And they're studying a thing called myelin. 129 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,640 So let's dive into what myelin is really quick. 130 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:32,680 And myelin is basically like an insulator that wraps around the neurons and helps those 131 00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:35,560 synapses fire more effectively. 132 00:08:35,560 --> 00:08:40,200 So when we think about building super highways in our brain or those habits that we have 133 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,760 that we don't even think about, or maybe even that basic skills training, let's say ladder 134 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,880 training, for example, where you can throw ladders without even thinking about it or 135 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,280 forcing doors or stretching hose lines or pulling out your weapon if you're a police 136 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:57,480 officer, all those sorts of things you've developed enough myelin around those processes 137 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,560 around that specific neural circuit that that is happening at a hyper speed. 138 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:04,960 And one of the things I picked up from that talent code book was with myelin and when 139 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:09,840 we have good myelin sheath around that neural circuit, we can increase processing speed 140 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,700 by up to 3000 times. 141 00:09:12,700 --> 00:09:18,480 So basically the more myelin grows, the faster we're able to process synapses and electrical 142 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:24,160 activity in our brains, which hopefully is accounting for positive results. 143 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:29,000 But if we continue to stress and we continue to ruminate and we continue to create and 144 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:35,040 sustain bad habits, then we're building myelin in an unaffective way that's actually hindering 145 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,120 our performance overall. 146 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,680 Because the fact of the matter is, is myelin doesn't care. 147 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:44,240 It doesn't care if you're working on a positive habit or a negative habit or a positive mindset 148 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:49,680 or a negative mindset, it's going to respond to actions and deep practice. 149 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:55,120 And so if you have a negative mindset where you are apathetic or negative towards work 150 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,280 and sometimes you might even be saying that stuff out loud, it's not just happening in 151 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:04,360 your brain, you are actually processing those those neural circuits and responding to that 152 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:09,480 deep practice of having a negative mindset towards whatever is occurring at that point 153 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:10,480 in time. 154 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,320 The other interesting thing that I learned about myelin here was myelin, you can't just 155 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:15,320 unwrap it. 156 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:19,880 So it's not like just taking tape off the spool and saying, oh, I'll just undo that. 157 00:10:19,880 --> 00:10:25,440 You actually have to build an entirely new neural circuit and then develop myelin to 158 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:30,920 act as that electrical tape or that insulator around those neurons to help build maybe that 159 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:36,080 new positive outlook, that new positive mindset, that new positive habit. 160 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:41,640 And so it's not impossible to do, but just realize it takes long term diligent practice. 161 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,840 It takes that good hard work and it also takes failure. 162 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:49,440 So to activate those specific neural circuits, different things have to happen. 163 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:56,560 But basically it needs struggle, it needs failure, it needs success and it needs reward 164 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:59,400 for that myelin to actually start to build. 165 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,280 So with this myelin concept in mind, just kind of take that into different situations. 166 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,120 What is your approach towards work? 167 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:10,900 What is your approach maybe towards admin tasks at work or different things at work? 168 00:11:10,900 --> 00:11:14,400 What is your approach towards when the tones go off at work? 169 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,960 What is your approach to physical fitness that maybe is relevant to your job? 170 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,640 Again, what is your approach to sleep? 171 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:22,200 What is your approach to home life? 172 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,120 What is your approach to the relationship with yourself? 173 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:27,960 What is your approach to rest and recovery? 174 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:32,040 All those sorts of things are going to play into this whole neural circuit superhighway 175 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:33,040 thing. 176 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:37,680 And just remember as you're trying to build positive mindsets and positive approach and 177 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:42,560 start to make that choice of, hey, I control my mindset, which means I can control today, 178 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:45,080 I can win today with my mindset alone. 179 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:50,160 Even if everything goes wrong, I can win today just through my mindset. 180 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,880 But you're going to start with that little teeny trail where you're going to be kind 181 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:58,880 of bushwhacking through the woods in a grander scheme of things in brain science speak. 182 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:03,520 And you might be competing against that superhighway that's been built for many, many, many, many 183 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:04,760 years. 184 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:09,600 So start to work on this concept and just realize like the harder you work and the more 185 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:14,180 pain and struggle and effort that you have, it's no different than trying to build physical 186 00:12:14,180 --> 00:12:17,360 fitness or build muscle or anything like that. 187 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:22,000 That's essentially the exact same thing that's happening with myelin in the brain. 188 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:26,720 So what are a couple of different ways that we can focus on training our mindset and as 189 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,880 a byproduct, building this cool myelin sheath. 190 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:35,680 So one of the easiest ways really is to actually conduct mindfulness. 191 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:41,800 And so with mindfulness, what the whole point of that is is allowing your mind to learn 192 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:46,300 how to be calm and to notice things, but not necessarily jump on them. 193 00:12:46,300 --> 00:12:51,400 So if rumination is a problem that you deal with, which a lot of us do, things like talk 194 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,880 therapy, peer support, all that stuff is amazing stuff, but a mindfulness practice might also 195 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:57,360 help you out. 196 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:01,440 And again, you can check out Headspace, you can check out Calm, you can get on YouTube, 197 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:08,120 I know Spotify, Pandora, all those have mindfulness things that are out there, some are paid, 198 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:09,120 some are free. 199 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:14,320 But mindfulness is a great way for us to start to train how to control our mind and at least 200 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:15,320 pivot our mind. 201 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:20,120 So once we become aware of what is that 70 to 80,000 thoughts I'm having in one day. 202 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,520 Now how do I pivot that to my advantage? 203 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:28,640 So most of the time that pivot is going from a negative mindset to a positive mindset. 204 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,680 And as humans, we are born to be a negative mindset. 205 00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:33,560 That's what's kept us safe. 206 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:38,320 That's how our fighter-flight or our parasympathetic and sympathetic response is built. 207 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:42,120 It's trends us towards negative because it keeps us out of trouble. 208 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:46,640 So being positive and having a positive mindset, a positive approach, really at the end of 209 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,060 the day comes down to being a learned skill. 210 00:13:49,060 --> 00:13:51,640 So mindfulness is a great way to start to train that. 211 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,920 It trains us to be in the present moment. 212 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:58,680 It trains us to be able to focus on what's important, which has lots and lots and lots 213 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:00,160 of positive benefit. 214 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:05,600 Another way to train it is to do hard stuff like tactical fitness that's relevant. 215 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,880 So make sure that when you're getting after it and you're doing physical fitness, or 216 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:14,840 if you're trying to get over that hump and get into a good physical fitness routine, 217 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:20,600 toward yourself with, hey, maybe I'm not where I want to be yet, but I'm working towards 218 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:21,600 that. 219 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:27,440 And today I won because I went to the gym or I got in the cold bath or I finally took 220 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:31,320 a minute for myself as a rest and relaxation. 221 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,320 But think about like when you're doing specific tactical fitness and you're really getting 222 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:41,240 after it and you're in that 80%, I guess really it could even be 60% or higher of your maximum 223 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:42,840 heart rate. 224 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:45,440 Where does your mindset go? 225 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,800 And your mindset's going to start to trend negative of, oh, I just can't do one more. 226 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:51,560 Oh, I need to rest a couple of seconds longer. 227 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:56,160 Because again, that is a safety mechanism that is built into us. 228 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,800 And so that's usually controlled from a thing called the glia cells, which is actually a 229 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:00,800 quit response. 230 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:03,600 We're not really going to get into that brain science. 231 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:08,520 But just realize that there's parts and pieces of in our neurochemistry and our neurobiology 232 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:15,840 in our neuro neurology that is intentionally built to make us stop and to make us be negative. 233 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:21,680 So when we focus on, hey, can I get into a pretty tough workout and have a positive mindset 234 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:26,800 throughout or chunk it up into manageable bits and not slow down the amount of work 235 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,440 that I'm producing, you are winning that battle and you're going to start to trend more and 236 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:36,240 more and more towards positive mindset on things even when you haven't ever really seen 237 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:41,600 that before on tasks that you don't like to do or things that you might be apathetic towards. 238 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,680 Another way to train mindset is through the use of imagery. 239 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:48,680 Some people would call that visualization, but I think imagery is more appropriate because 240 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:50,760 it's not just the visual sense. 241 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:54,800 When we perform imagery, we can really encapsulate all of our senses. 242 00:15:54,800 --> 00:16:00,560 We can hear it, we can see it, we can feel it, we can smell it, we can taste it. 243 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:05,240 And that would be the difference between imagery and visualization. 244 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,680 And so when we try to use imagery for mindset, think about those situations. 245 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,800 Let's say you're coming up for promotion or you're going to start to test for promotion 246 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,560 and maybe you have some stress around that or you have some test anxiety or things like 247 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:17,560 that. 248 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,840 So right away, if I say, oh, I have test anxiety, so I'm probably not going to do very well, 249 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,960 do I have a positive mindset or do I have a negative mindset? 250 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,440 Well, I get to choose on that one. 251 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:34,600 So I might say, hey, in the past, I've struggled a little bit with some testing situations. 252 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,840 However, I've put in the hard work. 253 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:38,840 I've been working hard. 254 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:41,120 I've studied my policies and procedures. 255 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,720 I know that I'm competent with my basic skills. 256 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,600 I have mentors around me that are helping me. 257 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:51,040 And so now I'm starting to build, hey, I have all of these positive things that are confidence 258 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:55,040 builders, but it's changing my mindset from I have test anxiety, so I'm not going to do 259 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,880 well to I've been putting in the hard work. 260 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,480 And now I can also say, hey, I know because I'm putting in the hard work and I've had 261 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:07,600 some struggles in the past and I've overcome those struggles and now I'm changing my mindset. 262 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:12,600 I'm building this cool myelin sheath that is going to help me be positive and to succeed 263 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,320 further in the future. 264 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,360 So practice that in your imagery as well. 265 00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:23,160 So look at that testing situation and feel what it feels like to sit in the room. 266 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:28,280 You can even feel what it feels like if you are in front of an oral board in your stumbling 267 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:34,440 or they ask you a question and you have to sit in that silence that as the candidate 268 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:35,680 you really, really don't like. 269 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,880 But to be honest from being on the other side of that table, when there's silence, the 270 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,760 interviewers, they don't really care about that. 271 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:50,680 They're like, OK, at least he or she is able to cognitively think to calm down in a situation, 272 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,520 to put some thoughts together. 273 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:56,480 And those are the things, especially like in a promotional sense that that board wants 274 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:02,960 to see is are they able to address challenge, to consciously think through that challenge 275 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,040 and then to come up and work to the best advantage. 276 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:10,040 The thing with imagery is we always want to finish on a positive. 277 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:13,400 So you can certainly use imagery and look at struggle like we're using in this test 278 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,200 anxiety example. 279 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,720 But when you finish, you want to see yourself winning. 280 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:19,760 So you want to see yourself coming over that. 281 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,120 So that way we're building that good neural circuit. 282 00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:27,280 We're starting to build that trail through the woods, which now becomes a two track road, 283 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:32,600 which becomes a dirt road, which becomes a paved road, which now becomes a super highway. 284 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:34,520 And it shows me that I win. 285 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:40,160 But I know along the way I'm going to experience struggle and I'm going to overcome that struggle. 286 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:44,040 And so there's a really, really good way for us to use imagery and to get lots and lots 287 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,040 of reps with nobody even knowing that you're doing it. 288 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:52,200 Another great way to do this is, and we talked about this in episode nine, psychological detachment 289 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,840 from work is that end of day journal. 290 00:18:54,840 --> 00:19:00,720 And so you can really start to write down and capture and put pen to paper in a journal 291 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,280 that says, Hey, here's three wins that I had today. 292 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:09,340 And when we talk about wins, wins are correlated to a positive mindset. 293 00:19:09,340 --> 00:19:13,040 And so don't write those things down that were maybe struggles or you write those things 294 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:16,920 down of, Hey, today was a win because I struggled with this. 295 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,000 And this is how I came out on top. 296 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:23,200 Or if mindset is something you really want to work at and control in your thought life 297 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:27,400 is something that you really want to work out here in 2024, you start to write down 298 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:28,400 those wins. 299 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,040 And again, we're starting to build that mile and sheath around those positive neural circuits 300 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:33,440 that we're building. 301 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:35,440 And those things will start to grow. 302 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,920 And then those other circuits that we've had forever, they'll still show up every once 303 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,440 in a while, but it's going to be easier for us to exit that super highway and get back 304 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:45,680 on the positive mindset highway. 305 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:47,760 So start to pay attention to what's your thought life? 306 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,720 Whatever those 70 to 80,000 thoughts, what do they consist of? 307 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:51,720 And are they helping you? 308 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,480 Are they hindering your progress? 309 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:59,120 And really start to intentionally choose to have that positive mindset. 310 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:01,280 And then also help coach those around you. 311 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,680 And I'm not talking about like coming in there and everything is all rainbows and unicorns 312 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:05,680 all the time. 313 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:06,960 And oh, it's always the good ship. 314 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:08,280 That's not what I'm talking about at all. 315 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:13,400 But how can I approach situations that are sticky, that are difficult, that maybe I don't 316 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:20,280 agree with, especially in the business or the work world, the emergency services world, 317 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:24,800 how can I approach those things to change my attitude and make this a positive at the 318 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,160 end of the day? 319 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,960 So get out there, try to train this stuff, start to pay attention, especially when you're 320 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,560 doing tactical fitness or you're doing things that are hard, or when you're doing things 321 00:20:34,560 --> 00:20:39,560 that you're really apathetic about, maybe writing reports or, you know, it's performance 322 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:44,440 review season, that sort of stuff, or maybe not a lot of us are super excited about that. 323 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:48,240 But maybe you can start to change your mindset about that and say, hey, this is actually 324 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,400 important or this is a job requirement. 325 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:54,920 So I'm going to do the best that I possibly can and make sure that I do the job that I'm 326 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,360 tasked to do, even on things that I don't necessarily want to do. 327 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:02,760 Try that imagery trick and see if you can start to change and use imagery to say, hey, 328 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:08,280 can I forecast in a positive way things I can start to see struggle? 329 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:12,440 Or if you have things that you're hesitant, whether it's basic skills training or promotional 330 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:16,880 processes or things like that, how can I change my mindset from a negative to a positive 331 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:24,080 one using the imagery, five senses, full immersion, and then I can see myself winning and I can 332 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:26,640 start to build those positive mindsets. 333 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,080 And then that end of the day journal, just write down three wins for the day, and that's 334 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,920 really, really going to help you out as well. 335 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,360 So thank you for spending your valuable time with us. 336 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:37,560 We really, really appreciate the support. 337 00:21:37,560 --> 00:21:41,960 Please rate, review, follow and share this episode with somebody that you think might 338 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:42,960 need to hear it. 339 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:43,960 You can blame it on me. 340 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:49,800 You can say, hey, Kevin, sent me this specifically to pass on to you and just blame it on me 341 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,600 if you think there's somebody out there that really could use this sort of thing. 342 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:58,520 And I think we all can use the sort of positive mindset reminder along the way in all of our 343 00:21:58,520 --> 00:21:59,920 careers. 344 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:03,280 So please consider rating the review on the firefighter, costumership podcast that really 345 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:09,040 does help us on all the podcast channels to help spread this show and smash on that follow 346 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,440 button so you never miss one of these weekly episodes. 347 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,920 Stay smart. 348 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:18,400 Thank you for listening to the firefighter craftsmanship podcast where we give you real 349 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:22,760 tools to train ultimate human performance both on and off the emergency scene. 350 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:28,760 You can find more information on our webpage at firefightercraftsmanship.com, including 351 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:30,840 all the classes that we offer. 352 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,440 And there's plenty of free resources and training on the site as well. 353 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,160 Reach out to us on social media, including Instagram and Facebook. 354 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:41,960 We'd love to have a conversation and figure out how we can help you achieve your goals. 355 00:22:41,960 --> 00:23:01,440 Stay smart.