The inaccessibility of quality sport psychologists is a universal problem, but our athletes suffer enormously due to extreme scarcity of sport psychologists in our sports system. I receive numerous queries about overcoming distraction, developing quality focus, recovering from emotional and psychological setbacks, developing positive images and other mental skills to remain in the right zone and thus maintain the winning edge in competitive sports.

Athletes and teams that remain positive and fully focused in the face of distractions and adversity always win the big events. In modern day sports athletes usually face the issue of overload that hampers their performance severely.

Professional athletes of the modern era have to face numerous challenges from various quarters. The phenomenon of overload is quite common among the team leaders and super performers, who feel being pulled in too many directions at once. Their focus drifts from one thing to another, their tension rises and their gut knots up when they think too much about meeting everyone’s demand. This is the time when athletes lose their sense of inner harmony and let the little things bother that normally he would let go.

The best way to cope with overload is to avoid additional demands. Find a quiet place where you don’t have to answer anyone, not even your cell phone. When you isolate yourself mentally or physically from what created the feelings of overload and allow yourself to relax and reflect on what you were feeling, you can usually put things back in perspective. Instead of continuing to play, short time-outs to relax and reflect can put you back in control of your life and performance.

Athletes must allow themselves a little time to embrace simple joys and regain a more balanced and positive perspective. Athletes must slow down and relax. Breath, relax and focus. Just focus on one thing that you can do immediately or in other words, just focus on one step at a time. If you start listening to your personal signs and relax your pace before the overload becomes too heavy, you can save yourself from a lot of fatigue and grief. Instead of running in different directions, just take it easy. The best is to focus on connecting fully with your good past experience.

Relax in the shower, in front of the fire, in the sauna, in your favourite places. Eat relaxed and drink slowly. Do something that you love to do, listen to music. Focused prayers are a great way to reduce overload. Relax the muscles in your body, stretch out on grass or beach bare footed, because grounding is one of the best ways to drain your negative energy.

If people you love are feeling neglected because of your overload, talk with them about your feelings and commitments. Reassure them that you love them. Just talking with them may reduce your load and help you put things in perspective. Remember that the greatest gift you can give yourself is harmony within yourself.

As you become more skilled as an athlete, coach or performer in any field, people and circumstances place more demand on you. The expectations shall increase. The better you get the greater the demand. Regardless of your sport or profession you will encounter periods when the demands of life seem to overwhelm your capacity to meet them. This situation is common among developing athletes in most sports.

To prevent overload, you must first think about priorities and what balance means to you. How many additional commitments you can take. Don’t be carried away with modern management jargon like multi-tasking.

Most of the time you can predict how much you can handle and adjust your pace or perspective before getting into trouble. Avoid unnecessary stress, because stress inhibits the immune system and contributes to diseases that may cut your career short. You have one life to live. Make good choices. Choose to live fully and wisely.

In our context where players are not much educated it is the responsibility of coaching staff to make sure that athletes are properly briefed and communicated about their work load and overload is avoided.

A critical part of preventing overload and maintaining top physical, mental and emotional health is scheduling to do some healthy things that you love to do outside your performance domain. Make time for reflections or for doing something that lifts you, makes you feel joyful and alive.

This kind of personality uplifting experiences will help you enter any context in harmony, more balanced, more resilient and less likely to overreact to whatever challenges you may face.

Life is a constant process of growth, transition and adaptation. The better you become at finding the positives, the healthier and more fulfilled you will be. When an athlete manages his workload, his or her focus increases. The athlete feels more connected to ground realities and performs far better in a relaxed manner.

I am sure that if our top performing athletes and coaches understand the concept of overload and manage to handle it competently, the performance of athletes will increase significantly.

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