081 5 WAYS FOR ATHLETES TO STOP OVERTHINKING 🤯

Athletes: Have you ever struggled with overthinking about ALL THE THINGS? Mistakes you made, bad performances, disappointing your coach/teammate/parent, responses that you had that you wish you could take back...?!

This episode is ALL about OVERTHINKING.

In this episode:

What overthinking actually IS
Triggers for Overthinking
Resources for athletes who overthink
Actionable tips to help ease your anxious brain

We have a BRAND NEW FREE RESOURCE FOR YOU!! 🎉

FROM WORRIER TO WARRIOR: The Athletes Checklist to STOP OVERTHINKING
➡ https://www.readysetmindful.com/⬅

Train Hard, Be Well & Stay Mindful 🌿

Kerri, Athlete+Therapist+Mindset Coach

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Transcript

 Hi, I am Kerri Bicskei, professional athlete, licensed therapist and mindset coach. I created ReadySet Mindful as an online mental health resource for athletes and high performers like you. And this is the ReadySet Mindful Podcast.

 What's up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Ready Set Podcast. I am your host, Kerri Bicskei, athlete, therapist and mindset coach, and hope everybody is having a good start to the week. By Wednesday you'll be listening to this episode, um, or maybe another day, but we'll be midweek. Through that point.

Um, so I'm just trying to survive the humidity to be honest. Uh, it's late July over here in Tampa and it is like 96% humidity, no joke. And it's just so depleting and exhausting to be outside. It's, it's intense. It's such a shock to the system. So talk about mental training, man. Like being, being out there in the heat really forces me to just.

Grab hold of all of my mental fortitude and trudge forward into the heat because it's not something I enjoy. I really miss being back in Washington and the mountains and the cool air and, uh, yeah. But, so anyway, just, just hanging out, hanging out over here. Um, in the ac thankfully, so, Uh, hopefully you are comfortable or not wherever you are.

Um, but yeah, glad you're joining us for this episode, and we're gonna dive in this week to five things that can trigger overthinking. Uh, so if you're an athlete or a high functioning, high performing person listening to this podcast, you probably struggle with overthinking. Um, you know, we're gonna talk about.

What that is, what it's a symptom of, um, things that make overthinking worse and then what we can do to combat overthinking and have you feel a little bit more, um, you know, soothed and relaxed and. Uh, competent, uh, over your emotional overthinking, overactive brain. So let's just dive on in. So, overthinking.

What is overthinking? Um, you know, overthinking is, I. All of these fun swirling thoughts that we have when we ruminate or we worry about the same thing over and over again. Um, we could be overthinking about the same thing, maybe the same mistake that we made or something that we didn't do. Um, our brain, our brain just constantly is reminding us of something that we didn't do.

Um, something that we're not, you know, Or something that we still need to do. So it's when we overthink and we're really paralyzed by the thoughts, by the worries, and we struggle to. Take action. Um, anything that can help us. We we're just so cerebral. We're, we're so in our heads with overthinking. So it can be really overwhelming, um, you know, and it contri and can contribute to depression, anxiety.

Um, it can be pretty serious and pretty, pretty mentally crippling or, you know, for people. So overthinking is a symptom of anxiety. It's a symptom of an overactive anxious brain. Um, You know, typically athletes overthink a lot because we have full plates and we juggle a lot. Um, there's, there's a lot that we have going on throughout the day.

So obviously there's room for mistakes to be made, um, for you to dwell on things that did or didn't happen that you, that you did well, that you didn't do well. Um, So oftentimes our brain will focus on uncertainty, uh, or fear or trauma or perfectionism. So all of those, all of those super fun things that athletes, athletes have going on.

Um, so when athletes tend to be perfectionistic, uh, you know, we have high goals, high expectations for ourselves. That comes with the territory. Overthinking kind of comes with the territory, so, Um, some things that can make overthinking worse for us. And, you know, I have struggled a lot with overthinking. I, uh, am an exam anxiety therapist for athletes and work a ton with athletes and people who struggle with overthinking and anxiety because I.

I know that game. Like I know that game. I know that struggle very well. So I feel like I am in a great position to help out my clients, to help out athletes because I've been there. I know what that can feel like. I know how that can resonate in your body. I know how that can, um, you know, Dictate performance and influence your negative self-talk and make your relationships harder and more complicated, and just really have a negative impact on your day.

So I, I get it. I, you know, I, I get overthinking and so that's why I love working with athletes who have these struggles because I, I've been there before, right? I have, I've been in that situation. I struggled with anxiety so much when I. Was playing in college. Um, you know, and I, I played for a coach that, you know, I think it's such a blessing to have different coaching styles and different people in your life who are authority, you know, authority figures who have different, um, coaching styles and who you have to adapt to.

I think that's so special and so important for athletes to be able to. Adapt and respond and to figure things out. Even if you have coaches or parents or other adults in your life who make things harder for you sometimes, or, uh, they might yell at you or, you know, make you feel bad about yourself for whatever reason.

How are you bouncing back? How are you, how are you responding to that? You know? So I had, um, I had some hard coaches in, in college and overseas who really, um, like when you made a mistake, for example, like you'd be ripped out of a drill in practice, which is an por, you know, which is like your chance to make mistakes or, so I thought, you know, that was, that was the thinking practice is your chance too.

Take risks to make mistakes. Um, but I remember like my freshman year, I'd make a mistake like in a drill and I'd be yanked outta the drill and forced to go to the back of the line and, and wait a couple times till I would be able to go again. And so of course all of that time I'd be thinking like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna mess up again.

I'm gonna mess up again. Um, freaking myself out, freaking myself out, um, beating myself up for that mistake, and of course, overthinking every single little thing that I was doing. Um, I remember it was a passing drill my freshman year where I was, I was yanked out of a passing drill and you know, I'm six one, I'm a, I was a middle and a right side.

Um, in college and overseas, and so wasn't the strongest passer in America. Um, but, you know, I was trying, and I, I knew how to do it, but when I was yanked out of a drill and that message that I received was, you are not good enough. Um, and then my brain started to play tricks on me when I was overthinking.

Like, you don't know how to pass. You don't know how to put your arms together. You can't even do that. So that, and when it gets to that point where that negative self-talk becomes so detrimental, it becomes so negative, ugh. It's so, it's so hard. So then you start to talk yourself. Um, you start to believe what your emotional brain is telling you in those moments.

Like, you can't even do this. You can't put two and two together. Um, and that was so, you know, that was just so hard for me overthinking that to that extent. Um, other things, like another example of overthinking. That's not related to performance that I see clients overthink a lot, our conversations or texting, you know, responses, things like that, um, where they're constantly overthinking.

Sending a text or having a conversation with somebody and then they're circling back to that conversation or that text and like mulling over it, uh, after the fact and beating themselves up for what they did or didn't say, um, or how it went and, and how it didn't go. So those are other examples of overthinking that show up for people with.

With anxiety, anxiety, um, anxiety. So yeah, it's, it's such an issue. Overthinking. It can be so, so stressful and, and take a lot of energy, a lot of mental, um, energy from our day. So I'm gonna talk about five things that can trigger overthinking. So we're gonna talk about comparison to others. That's a big one.

I gotta catch my breath here. Geez. Why am I so out of breath? I'm an athlete, I swear. Just gonna take a deep breath here.

Not overthink the podcast. Just kidding. But seriously. Um, so one thing that can trigger overthinking is comparing ourselves to, you know, our teammates, our friends, our coworkers. Maybe our siblings. So comparing ourselves to others or people who are on social media, right, who are in a similar field or in the same sport doing what we want to be doing or what we are doing.

So comparing ourselves to those people, you know, triggers all of these thoughts of. I'm not this, I'm not that. Um, look what she has. Look what I don't have. Right? These, these thoughts of comparison definitely get the, the ruminating, anxious, brain fueled and not in a good way, right? It gets us, it gets us spinning.

So that's a trigger for overthinking. Um, our second trigger for athletes who overthink is. When we make mistakes, that is a cue, that's a signal, a message to our overthinking brain that crap. We screwed up. We did something wrong. Um, how do we come back from this? How do we fix it? Why did that, why did that happen?

Um, so oftentimes, like it's not the action questions that are coming first. Like, how can I fix this? What can I do? It's oftentimes like the beating yourself up, um, reflective questions that come after we make a mistake. Like, I'm not good enough. Like, why did I do that? Like a lot of self-judgment, um, overthinking.

Questions and thoughts that we're having in that, in that moment. So making a mistake, um, which happens a lot like during the day, I make so many, I make so many mistakes during, during the day, right? Um, It's not great to keep track of them, but to just know that you do and it's normal. You're human. It's a normal part of life to make mistakes, to not be able to catch your breath during a podcast to, uh, you know, not have the best workout in the morning.

Or maybe you were really distracted during your meditation, or I mean, Whatever you consider to be, quote unquote a mistake, right? Like, you spill something or, you know, whatever, whatever that is. Like, that's, that's a normal part of your, of your day to day. Um, but we can go into self-judgment from there. So that's a big, a big trigger for overthinking.

Um, the third trigger for overthinking is feeling out of control, right? Having an intolerance to certainty, feeling out of control. Um, I mean, and, and really our whole day, like we don't have control over so many different things throughout the day. Um, other people's responses, how other people show up, if other people are going to show up.

Um, we only have control over our attitude, our energy, our responses, what we're capable of. Um, but that's a big trigger for, for overthinking. Um, and for the, the perfectionist athlete who. Likes to have all the things together, likes to have all the ducks in a row, likes to be able to control as as much as possible.

Um, it's gonna be a really big trigger for overthinking when something, you know, steps out of line. And when your routine doesn't go, how you want it to go, how you expect it to go. Um, so yeah, that's, that's, that's a big one. That's a big trigger for overthinking. Uh, Trigger for overthinking is letting down coaches, teammates, parents, friends, like whenever we disappoint or we feel like we disappoint people with our actions or with our responses, or with our performance, or whatever that.

Gets us really into a frenzy of overthinking. Like, oh my gosh, are these, you know, are, are these people still gonna love me? Are they still gonna come to my games? Are they still gonna, um, care about what I do? I disappointed them. I feel so bad. Um, how am I gonna come back from this? Um, you know, it's, it's not fun to disappoint people.

Um, oftentimes we're our worst critics, right? So I remember. So many games that I've, you know, lost or had, you know, really crappy performances and where I felt like I let down the crowd. I let down my coach, I let down my teammates, like I was so hard on myself and beat myself up so much, and. Really, honestly, it's like how self-absorbed am I to think that people really care that much about, you know, my performance.

Um, I, I, I cared so much and really it's, it's a natural human, like competitor instinct, have to care and to want to, um, perform at a certain level. But when we. When it gets to the point where we're, you know, it's stopping us from moving on the next day, or we take it into the next practice with us, or, um, you know, whatever, where it's really disruptive, that's when it's like, okay, this is beyond the point of I'm having a natural human instinctual reaction and now it's just really slowing me down.

So we have to kind of look at how disruptive it is to your, to your day-to-day. How disruptive is that overthinking, um, to that letting, letting people down? How disruptive is that to your, to your life? So the fifth, uh, trigger to overthinking is obviously losing, you know, it's, it's not fun to lose. That kind of goes hand in hand with letting down coaches, teammates, whatever.

Um, but yeah, it's not fun to lose because when we lose, when we have poor performances, what does that trigger, that triggers. Anxiety, um, that triggers feelings of shame or embarrassment or, uh, unworthiness. It, it, it triggers us. Feeling judged or judging ourselves. Um, so that can really bring up a lot of overthinking.

Like, who am I? Um, I can't even do anything, right? Like, who am I if I, I keep, I keep losing. Um, am I good enough to be here? We start questioning like who we are. Um, lots of thoughts, lots of overthinking thoughts, lots of emotion obviously comes up when we lose, when we have poor performances, things like that.

So, If those sound familiar to you, like, just know that you're, you're not alone. Overthinking is such a natural part of. Caring and being an athlete with anxiety. Um, but obviously we don't want to overthink a ton. We don't, we don't wanna be overthinking all the time because it's freaking exhausting to be honest.

It really is. So if you're an athlete and you find yourself overthinking a lot and you want to stop overthinking, you wanna manage your overthinking, um, head on over to Ready Set mindful.com. I just created a new. Freebie for you guys. Um, a new checklist I'm so excited to share. It's called from Warrior to Warrior, uh, an athlete's checklist to stop overthinking.

So that's a checklist that I put together for you guys and a planner and a few. Of my favorite golden tips to stop overthinking. So head on over to Ready set mindful.com and go and grab your free, um, checklist over there. So a couple of things that I will share that are really helpful that can stop overthinking things that I do throughout the day, um, that I find to be helpful and that I share a lot with clients is, you know, I, I'm really mindful about my nutrition and about my coffee, you know, caffeine consumption throughout the day, uh, because I know that.

With overthinking comes really fast, thoughts, really rapid heartbeats, um, really fast breathing. Everything is fast, fast, fast. So guess what my brain does when I'm over caffeinated. Um, or I have too much sugar running through my, through my veins, my brain. Works on overtime, like it's super overactive, it's over anxious, all the things.

So if you're someone who loves your caffeine, I've been ditching caffeine lately. Well, I wouldn't say ditching caffeine. I've been going decaf lately. I've been having matcha. Which fun? Side note. Did you guys know that matcha actually has more caffeine than decaf coffee does? Shocker. I thought I was being really good by drinking matcha.

I was like, oh, I'm just gonna have a matcha be super healthy. Which it is healthy, but it has a lot more caffeine than I actually thought. Um, decaf has a lot less, so just go decaf. Um, but matcha iss amazing. I still am on a matcha kick for sure. I've been drinking macho with, um, I put like a little bit of maple syrup in it, which is absolutely amazing.

Austin, if he's listening to this, he'll be very proud Whenever I put Vermont maple syrup in anything, it just like, Puts a smile on his face. So anyway, matcha with maple syrup and I f broth it and it's super amazing. That's really good. Um, or decaf rather than, you know, three. I would be, I, I used to be having like three cups of coffee a day, just like, Very much overloading my system.

Um, and I would find myself being more anxious and definitely overthinking throughout the day when I was drinking a lot of coffee. So if that's you, just be super mindful of your, of your caffeine consumption. 'cause that can make everything, all your systems, all your processes in your body and your brain, um, just move faster and yeah, increase speed.

So, uh, slow everything. Down. Um, another helpful tip for overthinking. If you find yourself kind of spinning and you're stuck and you're not able to think about the action steps or what you're going to need to be doing to get yourself out of this, this funk, this thought, thought tornado, as I call it, just stand your butt up and go walk outside.

Um, and. Just hope that you're not in Florida, or be thankful that you're not here because it's not fun to walk outside right now. But switching up your environment is so, so helpful Just to disrupt the, the anxious brain, disrupt the thoughts, um, you know, slow everything down. Um, you're just gonna be looking at different scenery.

Maybe you just need a little switch up from. Looking at your screen, um, you know, whatever you're doing in that moment that's causing you to overthink, like just, just get out of that room, get out of your house. Um, just take five minutes to go and switch up your environment. That can be really helpful for you.

Uh, and the third tip is if you are looking at your phone, you're looking at your screen, you're on social, um, you're getting caught in, you know, looking at other people's pages and you're feeling a little bit bad about yourself. Here and there, maybe you're replaying mistakes or performances that you've had that didn't go great.

Um, you know, put down your phone. And again, just to go back to going, going for that walk, switching up your environment. Doing something that's gonna disrupt those thoughts, even for a moment, right? And just disrupt those thoughts. Um, with, with the breath, always come back to the breath. When the overthinking brain is going fast, fast, fast, the best thing for you is to slow everything down.

And how do we do that? We do that with our breath. We have to connect the brain and the body to make everything work cohesively. Um, so we're one unit. We're brain and body. So make sure that if you do struggle with overthinking, you're leaning into your breath first, and everything else will follow and get better from there.

So, Hopefully this episode was helpful for you guys. I hope that you got something out of it. Um, go and get the, from Warrior to Warrior, the athletes checklist to stop overthinking. Um, and I'm so excited to have a course. I'm gonna have my very first course Yay. Coming out in two months. It's the Common Confident Athlete course.

So if you're someone who struggles from overthinking, , perfectionism, performance anxiety, All the fun things. This is gonna be a great course for you. So if you wanna dive in a little bit deeper, um, you don't want to pay for therapy or, , you love the freebie, but you want a little bit more, this is a great next step.

So it's all of my favorite tools and a lot of therapeutic value in this course. So make sure to , join the wait list@readysetmindful.com and you can get all the goodies there. All the fun stuff. So I will see you guys on the next episode. Have a fantastic rest of your week. Train hard, be well, and stay mindful.

 Thanks so much for joining us on this episode of the ReadySet Mindful Podcast. With me, Kerri Bicskei, if you like what you hear, make sure to like, comment and subscribe to the podcast. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram or visit ReadySet mindful.com for free resources, courses, and other ways to work with me.

Until next time, be well. Stay mindful.