Mental performance consultant Cindra Kamphoff wants to change how business owners and entrepreneurs think about their operations. That starts, she says, by accepting and embracing what we can and cannot control.

“You can’t control the things that are changing, like the weather. We can only control our response,” she says. “The sooner we move on from things we can’t control, the sooner we can move from the negativity and be the higher performers we can be.”

Kamphoff will be delivering the closing keynote at the 2020 MN AG EXPO during Thursday’s lunch keynote (12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.) in the Mankato Civic Center’s Banquet Hall. The CEO of Mentally Strong Consulting will speak for about an hour about the principles outlined in her latest book, Beyond Grit, which covers Kamphoff’s 10 practices of high performances.

“My goal is to apply those practices to farmers and help they consider how they can bring their best to their jobs and their lives,” she says. “People who master their mindset with these practices are more productive and confident in dealing with pressures.”

With 20 years of experience consulting athletes and business leaders, Kamphoff can count NFL stars among her true believers. The Minnesota State Mankato professor has a an established relationship providing mental training to the school’s football team; several years ago she started working with future Vikings star wide receiver Adam Thielen, who wrote the Beyond Grit’s foreword. Kamphoff continues consulting Thielen in her role providing mental training to the Vikings and is currently in her fourth season meeting individually with Vikings players.

“There will be a lot of trial and error, and you’ll have to stay committed,” Thielen wrote in his forward. “That’s why I still see Cindra each week. If you don’t keep your why in mind, you’ll have to start from square one again and again.”

Kamphoff, host of High Performance Mindset podcast, says her practices translate across professions.

“When I look at pro athletes, every minute you’re focusing on things you can’t control, that’s one less minute you’re in the league,” she says. “For farmers, for every minute they’re focusing on things they can’t control, that’s one less dollar we’re earning. We’re just wasting negative energy.”

Kamphoff will be explaining how farmers can shed an inherent “negativity bias.” Kamphoff was raised in farm country in Sheldon, Iowa. She didn’t grow up on a farm, but many of her friends did, and she’s delivered speeches to farm groups before.

“As humans, our default is negative,” she says. “In farming, you need to plan for the worst and have contingency plan, so we’ll be talking about how to deal with the negativity bias and how to think more powerfully and independently.”

Kamphoff says she hopes farmers look at their business practices from a fresh angle following her MN AG EXPO appearance.

“I’d like farmers to think bigger about the business they’re building,” she says, “and your mindset about what you’re thinking about relates to how big you can build your business.”