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Peaksports.com News

Golfer's Mental Edge: An 8-Week Program for Ultimate Golf Confidence. Dr. Cohn's new CD and workbook program teaches you the top eight lessons to play with mental toughness on the course. Read more about how to improve confidence in golf...

Boost Confidence for Tournament Tennis! Learn how to boost your tennis confidence with Dr. Cohn's unique 8-week mental training course for tournament tennis players!

Improve Sports Kids' Success with Kids' Sports Psychology! Kids' Sports Psychology is a one-stop, exclusive 10-step plan for boosting confidence and cultivating positive mental game skills in young athletes! Download age-specific confidence-boosting mental game e-books for young athletes. Learn how to boost sports kids' sports success...

Download a Free Mental Game Report! Golfers: Improve Your Preshot Routine. Baseball and Softball Players and Coaches: Improve At-Bat Routines. Tennis Players and Coaches: Improve Your Mindset Between Points! Parents and Youth Coaches: Boost kids' confidence and success in sports!

Locker Room Talk

Feature Mental Game Article

Do You Over-Think Your Performance?
By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

I recently watched the Scripps National Spelling Bee with amazement. The 12 to 13-year-old contestants are amazing spellers. I have to admit, I wasn't a good speller when I was their age. Anyway, what caught my attention was something one of the announcers said during the spelling competition, which I think applies to sports in a big way.

A few times, a commentator said the contestants were making the task of spelling harder on themselves than need be. He said, "Don't overanalyze the word, trust your instincts." A few of the competitors got stuck on words that you can spell easily by sounding them out. They were over-thinking or over-analyzing and not trusting their instincts or what they learned from studying.

Your performance in sports follows the same rationale. Many athletes I coach tend to over-think what they learn in practice and over-analyze their performance in competition. For many athletes, the problem with thinking too much is that it feels right to them especially for more analytical persons or even perfectionists. How can you over-think your performance, you might ask? Isn't being smart and coaching yourself good in sports? Being "smart" in sports is both an advantage and disadvantage.

Very intelligent athletes tend to over-think their performance. You'll find many ways to over-think your game. Some ways include:

1. Thinking too much about "how-to" perform instead of trusting your instincts or what you have learned through practice. This happens when you get too technical with your at-bat, for example. You focus on the proper technique to make a good swing and presto, the ball is already in the catcher's glove.
2. Over-analyzing your last mistake or play. You break down the details of the last backhand you hit out in the match and focus on how you can fix it right away. You get stuck in the details of your stroke instead of reacting to the ball during the next point. Worse yet, you focus on how you can AVOID the same mistake next time.
3. Focusing on everyone's tips and strategies instead of what you need to do. You try to please your teammates, coach, and parents all at the same time when running plays in football. Your mind gets clogged with too many details about what others want you to think about or do.
4. Over-analyzing the outcome of the competition. You focus too much on the what ifs after the game and the consequences of winning or losing the game, which does not allow you to focus in the moment. By the way, this is one of the causes of tension or performance anxiety in sport.
5. Getting stuck between two plans of action. If this happens to you, you become indecisive when trying to select the right club for the shot, for example. Your mind is trapped between two options, which does not allow you to commit to one plan of action, causing an unclear mind.

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I'm sure you can identify other ways to over-think or over-analyze your performance. What's the end result of too much thinking or analyzing?

First, your performance will be tentative at best. You will not perform with freedom or perform instinctively. Second, you'll fear mistakes. You become fearful of making the same mistakes in the competition, and thus tighten up and pass the ball instead of shoot it for fear of missing again. Third, your mind is stuck in the past dwelling on what you did wrong and how to fix your mistake. You don't have a clear mind to perform in the present moment. You are too occupied with unimportant details.

"I can't be a robot and not think at all," you might wonder. How much should you think when you perform? Obviously, you're a thinking being. The point I'm making is that you can over-think anything including your performance. A batter must have a plan. The football player must know the play. The golfer must have a target in mind. And the soccer player must have awareness of her teammates. Many top athletes say they perform their best when on autopilot and don't think at all. What they mean to say is that they perform well when reacting to the demands around them.

How do you know when you are thinking too much or over analyzing your game. You'll find a fine line between thinking too much and thinking just enough. I believe at the minimum, in most sports, you must begin with a plan, be committed to the plan, and trust in your skills to execute the plan. The golfer, for example, must select a plan for the shot, be committed to the target, and trust that his swing to hit the target -- allowing him to react to the image in his mind.

If the golfer has six different swing thoughts (when competing) given by his instructor, he' thinking too much. You might think this is an oversimplification of your game, but I prefer my student's error on the side of simplicity instead of making your performance or execution too complex or harder than it needs to be.

One way to find out is use your past performances as a guidepost. For example, what were you thinking when you played your best game? How much were you thinking when not playing well? You can compare and contrast these performances to help you get started.

Also, test my theory out during practice. A basketball player might hit some jump shots or free throws reacting to the basket and test how many he makes. The same player might simulate thinking too much. He could focus on his form, elbow position, release, trajectory, etc., all at the same time while trying to hit shots and see how many he makes. Yes, this is a simple test you can do in practice, but it's a starting place.

Your mental game tip for today... trust your instincts - they are usually right. Allow yourself to react based on what you already have learned or over learned through practice. "Just do it." See the ball and hit it as Hall of Fame hitter Hank Aaron would say about his simplistic approach to hitting.

Want more tips to help you perform your best in competition? Check out The Confident Athlete Sports Psychology CD and workbook programs - to boost your confidence, composure, focus, and trust before and during competition!

Sports Specific Mental Training Tip

"In Every Game, There Are Swings in Momentum."

Momentum is huge in hockey and in any sport for that matter. How you react to swings in momentum will determine your success or failure...

“In every game there's these swings of momentum. It's how you react to them and how you weather them. Obviously we started off very well and they turned around and got the lead. Then the same thing in the second period. We maybe didn't play as well coming out, but we were able to battle through that and get the goal to tie it up and swing the momentum in our favor. And you have to be able to do that. You just can't keep letting them come at you.”

~Brian Rafalski, Detroit Red Wings

Podcasts of the Month

The Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week’s tennis psychology session, you’ll learn how to help tennis players by giving constructive criticism. Many tennis players have trouble accepting criticism and take it personally. Dr. Cohn teaches you the top mental strategies to boost your tennis players confidence. The Tennis Psychology Podcast by Dr. Patrick Cohn helps tournament players, tennis coaches and parents improve confidence, focus, and composure.

• Show me the Tennis Psychology Podcast of the Month!
• Watch the Tennis Confidence Video series!
• Tennis Players & Coaches: Improve your mental game between points with this free report!

The Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
In this week's golf psychology session, mental game of golf expert and author of The Mental Game of Golf, Dr. Cohn, answers a question from a golf parent whose son throws his clubs on the golf course. Do your players become angry or frustrated when they aren't performing up to their expectations?

• Show me the Golf Psychology Podcast of the Month!
• Watch the Golf Confidence Video series!
• Golfers and Instructors: Download a golf psychology report to improve your preshot routine overnight!

Pro Athlete Quote of the Month

Ask Doc Cohn

"How can I lower my scoring average?"

Golfer:

I have been playing golf for about 12 years now but I haven't been able to bring my average score below an 85. Do you have any tips on how I can lower my average score?

Jump to Dr. Cohn's answer now!

Most Valuable Product (MVP)

Golfers Mental Edge: An 8-Week Plan for Ultimate Golf Confidence NEW!

Golfer's Mental Edge: An 8-Week Plan for Ultimate Golf Confidence. What's the one big sign that your mental game is the weak link in your golf game? When you can't play consistently as well as you can perform in practice! The “Golfer's Mental Edge Program” is a complete brain dump of the TOP eight mental training sessions Dr. Cohn teaches his personal students to help them boost their mental game and improve consistency on the course. In each of his 8 coaching sessions, you eavesdrop as Dr. Cohn teach four golfers his top mental strategies and learn right along side his students.

Read more about The Golfer's Mental Edge CD Program!

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Dr. Patrick J. Cohn is the President and founder of Peak Performance Sports of Orlando, Florida. He earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Virginia in 1991, and founded Peak Performance Sports in 1994. Dr. Cohn is an author, speaker and one of the nation's leading mental game experts. His coaching programs instill confidence, composure and effective mental strategies that enable athletes and teams to reach their performance goals. Dr. Cohn has helped athletes from a variety of sports backgrounds (both amateurs and professionals) identify and develop the mindset needed to achieve peak performance. World-class golfers, runners, shooters and auto racers, as well as motocross, tennis, baseball, softball, football and hockey players, are among those who have benefited from his mental game coaching and training.

Boost Your Success with The Confident Athlete Series!

NEW! The Confident Athlete Series by Peak Performance Sports brings you the latest cutting-edge mental training strategies in a practical step-by-step 14-day achievement plan. Each program consists of 2 Audio CDs and an easy to follow workbook to help you apply the mental strategies. Perfect for any competitive athlete or team coach! Boost your confidence... Buy All 4 Programs and Get "The Relaxed Athlete" FREE! (**Plus Free Shipping!**)

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