Do you find yourself spending too much time thinking, but not enough time acting? If so, you’re not alone. Millions of people around the world struggle with overthinking, and as a result, some of those people are not able to reach their full potential.
We want to help people going through this issue by showing you how acting can help you overcome thinking too much. There are plenty of examples where overthinking will get you into trouble, and we want to highlight some of those instances today.
Additionally, we will take a careful look at various strategies you can use if you find yourself in a situation where you’re overthinking, and your professional or personal life is suffering.
Let’s dive in!
Learn When to Back Up
Have you ever been in a situation where you thought it was necessary to back up and analyze and rationally think through the circumstances? If so, there’s a good chance your brain ended up going into overdrive and forced you to make a split decision when you weren’t ready.
Most people end up making irrational decisions when they are under pressure because they feel like it alleviates some of the stress. While this statement isn’t exactly wrong, you could be setting yourself up for failure in the future.
When you don’t back up and logically think through your decisions, you’ll eventually find yourself in a situation where one of your bad decisions comes back to haunt you. The result of this interaction can vary depending on stress and what’s going on in your life.
In almost every case, you can benefit from taking a couple of extra seconds to think carefully before you act instead of making quick, irrational decisions. Thinking is obviously helpful for improving your life, but awareness and the ability to understand nuance play an equally important role.
Decide On Controllable VS Uncontrollable
While we are on the topic of nuance, let’s talk about controllable and uncontrollable situations. When we are stressed and overthinking, we often forget about the element of control. Just because we want something to play out a certain way, it doesn’t mean it’s in our power to make changes.
If you can learn to focus on controllable scenarios while putting uncontrollable circumstances on the back burner, you’ll have a much easier time acting.
For example, let’s say you are creating a website and just published it for the first time, but no one can see your home page. This is a controllable situation, and you have the power to fix it. Simply put your site into maintenance mode, and figure out the problem.
But if the same issue happens to a website that you don’t own, this is an uncontrollable situation. There’s very little you can do to fix something that’s out of your power.
This example may seem simple, but it’s a prime example of how controllable situations can be acted upon, while uncontrollable circumstances can cause unnecessary distress and turmoil with no clear solution.
Don’t Let Vague Fears Impact Your Decisions
Fear is something we all have in common, and it plays a significant role in how we handle situations. If you’re an overthinker, you can’t let fear become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Let’s say you really want to start a blog, but you have a general fear of failure. This vague problem is holding you back from acting, and as a result, your site will fail — because you never got started. This scenario is nothing new, but you can prevent it from happening to you.
Instead of thinking about what can go wrong, think about the things that can work out for you. Consider the benefits of starting a blog instead of letting your vague fears impact your decision making.
Admittedly, this is the hardest challenge to overcome when you want to start acting and stop overthinking. We are hard-wired to listen to our fear impulse, no matter how irrational it might be. Instead of letting your fear control you, focus on the positives, and turn your fear into a motivator.
Write Down Your Goals
Finally, we can’t stress the importance of writing down your goals. Believe it or not, documenting your plans on paper or your smartphone can dramatically improve how much action you’re willing to take to reach your goals.
The reason for this phenomenon is two-fold. First, writing something down is in itself an action, which is the catalyst for larger actions in the future.
Secondly, when you write down goals, you have an easier time figuring out how to meet your expectations. So when you write down “make money online” on your list of goals, you’ll start actively thinking of ways you can turn that dream into reality. Small thought exercises like this help you come up with some compelling solutions, which can encourage action.
Back to You
Believe it or not, you have the power to fight back against overthinking. If you want to make it in this world, you have to think about the various scenarios you encounter throughout the day in your personal and professional life.
The key to overcoming this barrier is to stop thinking about the situation as much when you come up with a solution. Avoid second-guessing yourself too much, and understand that we all make mistakes. The more time you spend making decisions, good or bad, the better prepared you’ll be when instances of overthinking arise.