“What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it” – Dean Smith,

Sport psychologists have recognized for a long time that one of the main reasons athletes choke under pressure is because they overthink skill execution.

Your performances take a sudden and dramatic nosedive compared to your normal functioning due to overthinking.

When you look too deeply into something, you see things that your mind made up due to your expectations. Your mental game can be significantly hindered because of this factors.

What causes overthinking?

Overthinking is the most damaging to your mental game, and is one of the main reasons for choking on the court.

When you think too much about a specific minor detail, it will cause you to be more nervous and oversee the more important issues at hand which will slow down your performance.

Overthinking is a problem everyone, even non-athletes, faces.

In basketball psychology, this is called analysis-paralysis, which means to over analyze something to the point that you freeze from fear or lose focus on what is important.

The habit of overthinking can be rooted in self-doubt because you lack the confidence to make the play without analyzing every minor detail.

Doubt is something that creeps in and clouds your judgment with worry and fear, especially in intense situations.

How to overcome analysis-paralysis:

You have to be confident in all that you do to avoid overthinking.

A person who believes in himself or herself and has high-self esteem sees no need for thinking too much about everything; they just go for it!

Becoming mentally tough through positive thinking and surrounding yourself with positive energy it the starting point.

It is so important to learn to control your negative thoughts by learning focus strategies. This will decrease the overthink.

However, it is not as easy as it sounds, players have to cope with so much pressure from all kinds of expectations on a daily basis in basketball and life.

The first thing to do is to clear your mind and just relax.

A common way to trigger your inner-peace is by thinking of a specific memory that makes you feel calm. Do this before a game when you feel the weight on your shoulders. Then implement your pre-game routine.

Essentially, improving your overall mental toughness will contribute a great deal in controlling your thoughts, hence no overthinking.

Adhering to a routine that allows you to be organized and your mind to be clutter-free can help.

For example, making a list of your duties or things on your mind that is unrelated to the game. Make a plan for those things so that during the game you will not be stressing over them, but rather only focusing on your game.

After the game is over, you can revisit those things and take care of them.

*Download the free mental game assessment and get started on Improving your Mental Game in Basketball.