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Rod Phillips watched the tears falling from Brett Favre's eyes and saw the classic case of an athlete with a broken heart.

A top athlete's real love affair is with his sport, said the president and chief executive officer of Shepell-fgi, a company that specializes in guidance and transitions. Athletes go through the same difficulties as other top-flight professionals when life changes.

The testing times, the victories, the thrill and adulation all feed a top performer's obsession. That obsession is what makes a good pro. Being a pro means having to focus on today at the expense of tomorrow.

"The all encompassing nature of the work is so absorbing. Some people love their jobs to the detriment of developing other parts of life," said Phillips, whose company is cited on the Canadian Olympic Committee's website as one available to help athletes in transition. The end of an Olympic cycle means many athletes will be looking at retirement and finding real jobs, reintegrating into everyday life.

"When it ends, it ends hard," Phillips said. "It's one of the reasons you see so many athletes, like Michael Jordan and Gordie Howe come back. In the absence of a second chapter to their story, they go back to the first."

Giving up a great career that one has lived for is like a death, says Toronto psychologist Dr. Douglas Misener. "Who wants to deal with the uncertainty and the shock that come with death if they haven't planned for something after? From what I've seen it reflects the predisposition of the individual beforehand: all the self-esteem and identity is wrapped up in the career. Some rock bands, for instance, don't know what else to do, so they keep having farewell tours."

A career, like a story, has to be a beginning and an end, but in pro sports it happens very publicly. An athlete has to start very early to understand that the limelight goes out — sometimes suddenly because of an injury.

"The planned transition is always better than the unplanned," Phillips said. Pro athletes often put earnings aside but need to think ahead to ways they can convert their passion, intensity and competitiveness to post-sport careers.

"The forced [injury] transition is hardest as all, because you didn't know it was coming. It's a dramatic end to life as you knew it. But at least the career ending injury is definite. You're forced to move on."

Olympic careers tend to follow four-year cycles. Some athletes ready themselves early because they can predict when the end is coming.

"Some people have a realistic view. They get an education, consider career opportunities while they're still athletes. They start to plan almost upon starting an elite career... even though the psyche of the top athlete is that you keep thinking you can be No. 1 and it's not going to end.

"But while you're an athlete is the time to find out about these things. Don't start thinking about it after it's over. It's always easier to find a job when you have a job."