How to Stop Overthinking in Sport (3 EASY Tips)

picture this after months of hard work throughout an entire season all the Blood Sweat and Tears comes down to one single moment you have the opportunity to seal Victory if you just keep your cool all you need to do is carry out the movement you've practiced hundreds of times before all you need to do is let your muscle memory take over but suddenly your body tenses up as your mind wanders away from the task at hand and onto thoughts about how big this moment is you become distracted by the sound of the crowd and the fact that all eyes are on you your brain now locks focus on four simple words what if I miss you realize the clock is ticking in so you rush through the motions you miss you lose you overthought overthinking can be an athlete's worst enemy it always seems to pop up during those times that we need complete mental Clarity and calm but there are some athletes who seem to have permanently defeated this enemy they play with monk-like Focus their heads are empty of distractions and their brain follows the automatic sequence of actions needed to seize the big moments so how can you be like them well let's find out so what is overthinking and why does it happen overthinking is a cognitive process characterized by excessive repetitive and often unproductive rumination on thoughts events or decisions hold up a sec that definition is even making me overthink if we simplify overthinking is basically any time that we get consumed by our thoughts and typically these thoughts tend to be overwhelmingly negative where they cause us to dwell on various possible outcomes and unfortunately most of these outcomes tend to be the worst ones things like missing that last minute penalty jump shot or putt obviously this is bad for performance because overthinking is a distraction from the task at hand and usually ends up leading to increased stress and anxiety things you know cause you to make mistakes why overthinking happens is a bit more complicated it really depends on you as an individual typically we all do it but just for different reasons but there are a few common ones firstly perfectionism and the fear of failure athletes who strive for Perfection fear-making mistakes may find themselves trapped in overthinking the fear of not meeting their own or others expectations can lead to over analysis and self-criticism inhibiting your ability to act intuitively secondly a general lack of confidence if you're facing a period of low self-confidence or self-doubt you're a lot more prone to overthinking athletes who doubt their abilities May constantly question themselves and their actions and this is ultimately going to interrupt your natural flow think of a striker who goes on a gold drought his confidence drops a little every game he doesn't score and the longer this goes on the more he questions his ability and if he does this he's not going to have the confidence to make certain runs or be more physical with Defenders it becomes a really difficult spiral to get out of and the third reason is something called anticipatory anxiety basically what this means is that overthinking can be caused by anxiety that builds up in anticipation of certain events or outcomes athletes may become preoccupied with what could go wrong if they fail or Miss particularly when thinking about this in relation to Big goals for example it's super common for a really good athlete to start playing poorly if they know a scout is watching them or they seize up when on the cusp of Victory this was seen with Jean Van develle during the 1999 open when he was leading by three Strokes going into the final hole and he needed just a double bogey to claim the title but a comedy of errors then happened where he hit the grandstand then hit the ball into the water then Into the Bunker before then making a triple bogey to join two other players in a playoff that he ultimately lost overthinking in these cases happens because we get so close to an ultimate goal and we begin to start worrying about that future outcome when instead what we need to do is focus 100 of our attention just on the present moment so if these are some of the most common reasons for overthinking how do you overcome them well let's run through three very simple practical tips that you can Implement in your game so great first tip is that you need to practice Under Pressure most athletes find that the skill they've been practicing all week in training they can nail almost every time but the second a touch of pressure is added on game day or match day that's when they start doubting themselves or let their minds run wild and that's because most athletes will only practice in a 100 safe environment but the truth is during the heat of the competition You're Not Safe there's so many added pressures that you need to be able to block out so that your performance doesn't waver so think of some ways that you can add some extra pressure to your practice and this requires a bit of experimentation and creativity you'll probably come up with some ideas that are a bit stupid at first but over time you refine them into the perfect strategies they're going to give you the edge if you watch the Arsenal All or Nothing series you may recall Michael better brought out speakers to play You'll Never Walk Alone whilst his team were training for their upcoming visit to anfield to play Liverpool and the goal of this was to get them accustomed to that hostile and intimidating environment so that it didn't phase them on the day now they did end up going on to lose that game for nil but the point is arteta was starting the habit of thinking outside the box of coming up with various ways that would help his players get accustomed to pressure a more successful example comes from Adam PT a three-time Olympic golden eight-time world champion swimmer in preparation for competitions he would do his practice runs as though as the world or Olympic final so he'd walk out to the pool to take his Lane whilst playing a soundtrack of an announcer introducing all the top swimmers in the world just like he would have on race day and this helped him become so familiar with that high pressure and quite nerve-wracking experience of taking his Mark during the biggest races of his life the point in these cases is to try to mirror the in-game conditions and get used to the added pressure that comes with them the more you practice Under Pressure the more desensitized to it you become doing this means it becomes normal to play with distractions or things that just make your life a little bit more difficult next up you want to eliminate deceptive self-talk now what I mean by this is that a lot of athletes think they can stop their overthinking by using certain mantras or sayings they think will be helpful but actually they end up being more harmful for example a lot of athletes will say to themselves don't miss or don't screw up and the problem is in the heat at the moment during high pressure moments our brain likes to take shortcuts and we'll always look for and fix upon the most Salient information so when you say these things to yourself a lot of the time what your brain will do without you realizing is just focus on the instructional aspect of that self-talk so it will just focus on Miss or screw up and that will obviously cause more Panic nervousness anxiety or just result in extra tension filling your body so instead what you have to do is focus on desired outcome self-taught so you have to remove the don'ts and the attention being given to the outcome that you're trying to avoid and instead only allow your brain to focus on the positives and the outcomes you're trying to achieve so you'd want to replace don't let him get past me with block him off or don't miss with caressence of the cup doing this keeps your brain focused on the task at hand and also gives it a clear instruction to follow they say where the Mind goes the body will follow so if you fill your mind with self-talk statements about a certain objective you have it's going to do all it can to help you fulfill that objective and lastly perhaps the best but most overlooked technique is mindfulness this is something all athletes should use if they want complete mental Clarity and to stop the cycle of overthinking all mindfulness is is the practice of purposely bringing attention to the present moment and most people achieve this through meditation and breathing exercises but you honestly don't have to become a Buddhist monk to experience the benefits even just five minutes a day can help you start building the mental muscle of controlling your mind when it matters most the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo Novak Djokovic and LeBron James all swear by practicing mindfulness as a key habit that has helped them learn to deal with high pressure moments Ronaldo's deep breaths prior to taking a penalty or free kick that's not just for show that's an example of micro doses of mindfulness to Center him and clear the mind before striking the book studies show that regular mindfulness practice can increase the ability of athletes to heighten their focus be able to push out distractions manage Stress and Anxiety better and also enhance their decision making obviously these are all things that if you develop you're in a much better position to put in Peak performances so to start building this habit you just need to do five simple things firstly just find a quiet space where you won't be distracted this could be a bedroom or if you're training go to the toilets or a corner of the changing rooms secondly you just want to make yourself comfortable you don't have to sit with your legs crossed like you see a lot of people who practice mindfulness just sit down on a chair or sit up on your bed try to have your back straight but a little bit relaxed and just let your arms fall onto your lap thirdly set timer for five minutes and let your eyes close and then after that just devote all your focus to your breath inhale and exhale however feels natural but try to take full breaths and just keep that focus on your breath with every breath in and every breath out keep your focus on how your chest is rising or falling or where you feel the breath going in terms of filling your lungs and then passing back out through your mouth and then lastly as random thoughts pop into your mind which they will just accept them acknowledge them but then bring your focus back to your breath just focusing on your inhalation and exhalation and try to do that for the whole five minutes and it's as simple as that and as you get more into the habit of it just try to add on an extra one or two minutes you know I personally find a 10 to 15 minute session of this is more than sufficient I know it seems like effort but just like working out your body working out your mind is not meant to be easy so just be patient the more you practice this the more you'll find it easier to be able to break that cycle of overthinking to learn more about this great practice check out this next video here on Novak djokovic's mental strength

Channel: Sam Martin - Peak Performance

Views: 44,684

Keywords: how to stop overthinking, stop overthinking, how to stop overthinking everything, how to stop overthinking and anxiety, how to stop overthinking in sport, how to stop overthinking in football, how to stop overthinking as an athlete, how to stay calm under pressure, how to have mental clarity, how to boost mental clarity, lionel messi mindset, sports pyschology, performance psychology, how to play with instinct, how to play with confidence, athlete motivation, mindset, football

Id: J7pVME4vm2o

Length: 8min 26sec (506 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 13 2023