You're overthinking, instead let's focus on this...

Don’t overthink it — we say this often to those who seem stuck or confused. In sport, coaches use this phrase in attempt to snap the athlete out of it. Thinking if one just stops all thought — it will clear the problem. But what many do not realize, don’t overthink is another way of saying just calm down, and unfortunately, these types of reflex responses fail to fix things and can press the athlete further into their worrisome state.

For years psychologists have teased apart overthinking-comments to figure out why they do more harm than good, even when said in good intention. Many assume that these statements will help the receiver, but research reveals the opposite: the comments end up only relieving the messenger, temporarily enabling them to feel in control by stating the obvious. The receiver already knows they are in a rut and struggling to get their ruminating thoughts to form into a clear idea. Confirming their anxiety, sustains the anxiety instead of shifting the focus to fixing the problem in an organized way. To support an athlete going through a challenge, it works best to take a step back from the lit emotions and look at the situation factually and then apply a plan. Below is a template of 3 steps that are helpful to use.

Pay attention to the approach

Show support — a genuine vote of confidence shifts the focus from a downward spiral of oh no to let’s try. It can be simply communicated in the statement, we got this. Next, be empathetic, acknowledge that the issue is real, but can be reset. Empathetic acknowledgement may sound like this: It might seem tricky, but it is entirely doable. Finally, create a clear picture of the next best step. This is where it helps to be in top mental condition to define the task at hand to the athlete in the clearest way possible as well as come up with more ideas if old ones are not doing the trick. Some coaches struggle to ask for assistance – they shouldn’t -- it is always helpful to take a little time to research different “out of the box” techniques or grab another coach for an additional set of eyes on the situation.

Breakdown the issue by classifying the WHAT, WHY & HOW

First look at WHAT is causing the issue. Sometimes things stare us in the face, but we do not see the clear picture because of hyper focusing on the wrong thing. For example, many coaches focus on technique when an athlete also needs to accelerate – they tell an athlete to take it easy thinking that this will ease their fear in the approach and enable them to feel more in control. The truth is, no matter how technically-sound a movement is, if it is too slow, a change can’t be made. Of course, it is not smart to tell an athlete to go crazy-out of-control. Instead find the medium and help the athlete regulate the corrections with ample power to follow through. To help an athlete with complex moves requiring both speed and power, it is best to prep simple ways to communicate these steps to the athlete. To save time in the moment, it is helpful to have a categorized list of common issues to look at such as technique, visual, spatial, physiological, psychological, cadence, lack of flexibility or strength etc.

Next step is to look at WHY it is happening. It is easy to assume from a distance that explaining the WHY would and should come naturally but emotions can change everything including our communication skills. So, when it comes to challenging situations, it is truly helpful to have very concrete memorized statements, or scripts. The goal is to simply explain in a brief phrase WHAT the issue is and WHY this is happening.

Here are examples of WHAT/WHY scripts:

(Identify the WHAT) Your flip is low because (explain the WHY) your set is off.

or

You wiped on that turn because… you didn’t lean into it.

or

You missed the open space for the best pass option because…your head was down.

The final step is to explain THE HOW: it is of utmost importance to relay the HOW clearly, concisely and consistently. Pick one specific technique or idea that is not only the most important to focus on but will be the catalyst for further motivation. It might be the easiest step (this is ok!) because often an athlete needs the feeling of accomplishment to build back their platform of self-confidence and self-powered strategic thinking.

Instead of bulldozing a cerebral athlete’s thought processes by telling them to cut it off, we can use the challenges as a learning point and teach them efficient problem solving -- highlighting the important ideas and discarding the rest. Coaching this way, is not only great for increasing focus in sport but a lesson that they can carry into the work-world, relationships and elsewhere.