Signs of Over-Thinking
Fatigue — One indicator of over-thinking is related to how you feel at the completion of your bowling competition. If you finish feeling mentally drained and very tired, there is a good chance you are thinking too much about your bowling between shots.
Suggestion: Choose to take your mind off your round and on to something positive or neutral that allows you to mentally “rest” between shots. Remember once you make the decision in Quadrant #1 (Think Box), you can now relax.
Distrusting Alignment — Another indicator of over-thinking can be the degree of difficulty you have in trusting your physical game (swing, release, etc), lane play, etc.. As you think more about bowling mechanics, you become too involved with playing “mechanical bowling,” making it difficult to use your natural and trained skills.
Suggestion: Make a commitment to yourself to not work on your any part of your physical game while you are bowling in a competition.
Frustration — Higher than usual frustration levels can also indicate over-thinking. Players that have high expectations and extreme desires to bowl well can slip into trying too hard to get results from their game. Behind it all is a mix of conscious and subconscious obsessive thinking about scores, making perfect shots, stats, making spares, making money, impressing others, winning, etc.
Suggestion: Recognize that priorities for your bowling have become too outcome or result oriented. Challenge yourself with new goals that emphasize simpler thoughts related to the process of making shots.
Rushing or Slowing Your Routine — Changes in your routine can also signal over-thinking. Aggressive players usually rush their normal routines and submissive players generally slow them down. In either case, the results are generally not good because the player gets away from seeing and feeling his or her shot as they do when they are playing well.
Suggestion: Concern yourself with the quality of your routine rather than the importance of the shot when preparing to make the shot. Emphasize (1) commitment to your shot, (2) visualization of your shot, and the (3) feel of one physical thought. A good routine will displace excess, negative and irrelevant thoughts if you make it your priority. In the sport of golf, take a lead from Jack Nicklaus and be especially mindful of coming to a complete stop for a brief quiet moment behind the ball before every shot and putt to get a clear picture of what you want the ball to do.