Looking to boost your confidence? Struggling with self-doubt or imposter syndrome? Dr. Cindra Kamphoff, bestselling author of “The Confidence Habit,” breaks down why confidence is a habit you can build. Andrea and Cindra dig into the difference between confidence and credibility, why 68% of Americans believe we’re in a confidence crisis, and the small daily practices that rewire self-belief over time. You’ll learn Cindra’s three-word mantra for bouncing back from setbacks, how to “capture your wins” even during your hardest days, and why confidence is often borrowed before it is built. CONNECT WITH ANDREA 🌐 Website: https://talkabouttalk.com/ 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreawojnicki/ ✉️ Andrea’s Email Newsletter: https://www.talkabouttalk.com/newsletter/ 🟣 Talk About Talk on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-about-talk-communication-skills-training/id1447267503 🟢 Talk About Talk on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3afgjXuYZPmNAfIrbn8zXn?si=9ebfc87768524369 📺 Talk About Talk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@talkabouttalkyoutube CONNECT WITH CINDRA 🌐 Website: https://cindrakamphoff.com/ 📖 “The Confidence Habit” book: https://link.amazon/B08i6oLDl 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindra-kamphoff/ 🎙️ Listen to Andrea on Cindra’s “High Performance Mindset” Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/774-unique-is-better-than-better-how-to-communicate/id1034819901?i=1000788323865 RESOURCES 📖 The Gifts of Imperfection byBrené Brown: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1455884324? TRANSCRIPTION: Cindra Kamphoff: Confidence isn’t built in big wins or spotlight moments. It’s built in the small, often unseen choices: how you talk to yourself after a mistake, how quickly you recover, and whether you act without feeling ready. With repetition, these responses become automatic, and that’s what the confidence habit is. Andrea Wojnicki: That was Cindra Kamphoff, PhD, and author of a new How to Build the Confidence Habit best-selling book called The Confidence Habit: 7 Core Practices to Transform Self-Doubt and Self-Belief. How to Build the Confidence Habit In this episode, you’re gonna learn how to create your own confidence habit. You’ll get clarity on the difference between confidence and credibility, and you’re gonna learn how to create your identity. You’ll learn a new three-word mantra to help you get over life’s biggest challenges, and we’ll talk about capturing your wins. We’ll talk about borrowed confidence and more. Let’s do this. Let’s do this. Let’s talk about talk. Welcome to the Talk About Talk podcast. My name is Dr. Andrea Wojnicki. Please just call me Andrea. I’m an executive communication coach here at Talk About Talk, where I coach leaders and aspiring leaders like you to communicate with confidence, yes, confidence, and credibility so that you can achieve your career goals. You can learn more about me and what we do at Talk About Talk if you go to talkabouttalk.com. You’ll see all the information there about my corporate workshops, keynote speaking, online courses, and lots of free resources. Okay. I am really excited about this episode. Let me tell you a little bit about Cindra’s incredible background, and then we’ll jump right into the interview. And at the end, as always, I’m gonna conclude with a brief summary of three things that I want to reinforce for you, so you don’t need to take notes. About Dr. Cindra Kamphoff I met Cindra Kamphoff a couple of months ago when she had me as a guest on her top-rated podcast called High Performance Mindset. I’ll leave a link to her podcast in the show notes so you can take a listen. Anyway, after our conversation, I immediately invited her to be a guest on this Talk About Talk podcast as well. Cindra Kamphoff, PhD, is a keynote speaker, professional certified coach, and certified mental performance consultant for leaders, professional athletes, and championship teams around the nation. She’s the founder of the Mentally Strong Institute, whose mission it is to help 10 million people become mentally strong over the next 10 years. She’s worked with impressive organizations, including the Minnesota Vikings, USA Track & Field, Verizon, Bobcat, and Target. She speaks more than 125 times a year. And, as I said, she hosts the top-rated podcast called High Performance Mindset. And now, she’s the author of two best-selling books. Here we go. Thank you so much, Cindra, for being here with me today with the Talk About Talk listeners, to talk about your new book, The Confidence Habit: 7 Core Practices to Transform Self-Doubt to Self-Belief. CK: Thank you so much for having me. I can’t wait to just serve the Talk About Talk listeners today. So Andrea, I loved having you on my podcast as well. You gotta check it out, everyone, episode 774 of the High Performance Mindset. AW: Yeah. So this is how we met, and after the interview was over, I was like, “Cindra, you need to be on the Talk About Talk podcast. I know the listeners are gonna l- learn so much from you.” And since then, you have become a national bestseller, and you were featured on Good Morning America. I’m so proud of you. I’m so happy for you. CK: Thank you so much. AW: Okay, okay. Let’s get in. CK: It was incredible. AW: Yes, I know. We were talking. CK: As you can imagine. Why Confidence Is a Habit, Not a Feeling AW: Yeah, we were talking about it off, off camera, right? I’m so happy for you. I’m thrilled. But, but let’s get into this. Uh, my first question. Okay … actually is related to the title of your book. It’s this. Mm-hmm. Why habit? CK: So I want you to think about how confidence is four things. It’s a feeling that actually comes and goes, it’s an action or a decision you get to make in the moment, it’s a skill you get to keep growing. And as I’ve been doing this more, I’ve realized that more and more people are going through transitions and times that their confidence is shaken. And it’s a belief in yourself. And there’s a part in my book that I wanna summarize, ’cause this is my favorite paragraph in the book AW: Oh, wow. CK: And it says, “Every day presents moments that test confidence, and those moments are unavoidable. What differs is the response. Confident people don’t feel fearless, doubt-free, or fully ready. They respond differently. They regulate, refocus, and take a controllable next step. Each time they do, they strengthen self-trust. Confidence isn’t built in big wins or spotlight moments. It’s built in the small, often unseen choices. How you talk to yourself after a mistake, how quickly you recover, and whether you act without feeling ready. With repetition, these responses become automatic, and that’s what the confidence habit is.” And what I would say to summarize is that we have to make confidence a habit. It’s something that you have to keep growing and resetting throughout your lifetime, no matter how old you are, no matter what you do. AW: I know, Cindra, that you have extensive experience coaching high-performance athletes, and as you were reading that paragraph, you know what kept coming to my mind. I’m sure you can guess, is muscle memory. Is it like confidence- Mm-hmm … is like a muscle? Do you like that metaphor? CK: I like that metaphor. You know, and what people have been saying to me, “Well, should we just fake it till you make it?” Mm. I don’t think you should fake it till you make it because that means, like, your, your confidence is fake. So I want you to think about building real, authentic confidence. What does that authentic confidence mean to you, and showing up in an authentic way? And when I think about muscle memory, you know you have neuroplasticity in your brain, which means that you can change the way your brain operates, and you can change how it functions. And so if you’re continuing to interrupt those patterns of negativity towards yourself about the world, that’s what you can do to, like, think more confidently about yourself in the world. And I would say, like, there’s been definitely moments of my life where my confidence has wavered. Mm. I can certainly, like, dive into some of those today. Several of those reasons are why I studied confidence and, you know, why I do what I do today. AW: I would love to hear one of your, I don’t know, favorite, most impactful stories of when you personally experienced lack of confidence or maybe imposter syndrome. CK: So I would say there’s two moments of my life that kind of connect to my purpose. And when I was a high school athlete, I loved cross-country and track. In my senior year, I ran the fastest mile in the state of Iowa. Ooh. And so believe it or not, Andrea, there are still records that stand today in my name, you know, some 20-some years later. Wow. And I had this huge goal. I know, and you know what? It was really easy for me in high school. Um, my dad was around a lot, like, teaching me about the psychology. He was, like, learning about the psychology of sales, and he was teaching that to me and applying it to my running career. So I was learning about psychology all throughout my running career, and I had this huge goal of making it to the Olympics. And to be honest, it was a time period that really, I really struggled. I thought that the way to get ahead was to beat myself up. You know- Mm … to tell myself, like, you know, “She’s so much faster than you or better than you. Like, just shape up, Cindra. Come on. You’re not fast enough. You’re not skinny enough. You’re not good enough.” And I thought that that would motivate me. And you know what? I… You know, there wasn’t, at that point, any podcasts or books or- Mm … there was no social media or, you know, videos you
