If you watch the professional athletes they all have routines whether it is pre-game routines, during the game or post game routines. Some will say that they are superstitions but there is a difference. Developing routines allows the athlete to find consistency and can help the athlete to maintain a controlled state whether they are winning or losing. Routines are important as they are all individual and are designed by the athlete upon knowing what is comfortable and what works for them. Athletes on a team may have to work together as a team and they may have to warm-up as a team but a good coach will also allow each individual to go through their own routines.

People today are driven beyond their limits trying to keep up with everyday living. They worry about family, jobs, money, paying the mortgage, and providing a good life for their family. At the end of the day, they are drained, tired, and exhausted.
Dr. Jerry Teplitz, a doctor of holistic health sciences says, "If you're in a job, if you're a homemaker, if you're taking care of kids or whatever you're doing that disaster day, the last four hours are not productive. You're not effective communicating, you're not fun to be around even around yourself versus on that energized day. When all that switches, you can get more done, your stress level is lower, you're more effective in communicating and you're more fun to be around."
Dr. Teplitz was a college student in the '60's and got peer pressured into trying yoga, meditation and new nutrition ideas. He was skeptical, didn't care about it, and was even a little scared of these new ideas.

Most books on sports psychology have been mostly steered towards techniques and interventions that coaches and athletes can use to enhance sporting performance. Nevertheless, these techniques will be largely ineffective if the athlete is not coping with personal difficulties off field. Consider this scenario: a tennis player who is expected to win an important competition gets knocked out in the first round. He is embarrassed, ashamed, and feels like he has let himself, his coach, and his parents down. He loses his passion for tennis and considers quitting the sport. Immediately implementing a goal setting program to “motivate” this athlete will not only be ineffective, it may also minimise or dismiss his emotional response. Any performance enhancement intervention by itself probably will not help this athlete until he has worked through his psychological response to the tournament.

 Every athlete strives to attain their "Ultimate Performance Zone." But what really is this Ultimate Performance Zone (UPZ) and how can an athlete achieve this state on a more consistent basis? I have called it the UPZ because this state varies for each individual and it is up to each athlete to identify their own UPZ through self - education. As a professional athlete, I was aware of when I was in my Ultimate Performace Zone but being so young I didn't realise how I could control it and what the cues were that triggered these feelings. If an athlete could achieve their Ultimate Performance Zone more often then their results would obviously improve.