DON’T THINK – JUST DO!

It’s been a funny old week this week and it seems that one particular topic or theme has been rearing its ugly head in more ways than one for both myself and my clients… And this demon I’m speaking of is ‘overthinking’. Overthinking is the enemy of progress, change and success – but all too often it creeps in and makes us doubt ourselves, worry or become anxious. I’ve had a very successful week on prep in terms of body composition changing, weight dropping, and I also had a mega photoshoot with Toby Harrison on Monday morning which was amazing – but I’ve also been suffering with a minor injury in my left shoulder which has caused me some pain and affected my training. Panic mode! Enter all the overthinking questions – will it heel? Should I get it checked out? Will I be able to train my shoulders properly? What if I can’t train? Will this affect my prep? All questions that are relevant – yes – but when running them through my head and overthinking in this way I lose control over my thoughts, actions and progress moving forward. I’ve also been working closely with my prep clients who are just a few weeks out from their first competitions this year and they too are having a bad case of overthinking, self-doubt and stress. However, it’s my job to put them at ease and remind them that this stress will serve them no purpose and actually hinder their progress with cortisol levels raised, water retention and ultimately not feeling their best because they are not focusing on the present moment and ticking the boxes daily. Removing these thoughts is hard – granted, but it requires work on our part and a degree of trust and the ability to not think and just DO. I don’t need to be worrying about my shoulder – I need to rest it. My girls don’t need to be worrying about whether they will be ready in time – they just need to eat their meals, train and get their cardio done. It’s that simple. But for all of us we struggle with overthinking from time to time – it happens… So in this week’s podcast episode I give you my thoughts on ‘overthinking’ – what it is, how it affects us and how we can learn to overcome it.