11 mental tricks to stop overthinking
Parent Post
Being a leader requires
Being a leader requires confidence, decisiveness, and quick thinking–none of which are served by overthinking every decision. Overthinking causes us to spend too much time thinking, getting stuck in a loop of inaction and turning positive reflection into debilitating worry.
There’s a time to think, a time to act, a time to reflect, and a time to move forward.
Here are 11 mental tricks to dash the dissecting and stop the over scrutinizing.
Remember the 90-10 ruleThis
Remember the 90-10 rule
This is a formula, a ratio, for how you should calculate how you value yourself, based on 90% self-worth,10% assigned worth.
Overthinkers distort the formula, even reversing it by acting like 90% of their worth comes from what others think or say. So they worry, which takes the form of–you guessed it–overthinking.
Embrace informed ignoranceNews flash:
Embrace informed ignorance
News flash: You can’t read the future, you can’t read minds, and you can’t know everything. So don’t try.
Thinking harder doesn’t activate the crystal ball.
Get outside and playBy
Get outside and play
By this I mean stop spending so much time in your head.
Get outside it and switch gears to connect with what’s going on around you so you can take joy in it.
It can be dark and foreboding inside your head, no?
Reopen the door only
Reopen the door only when new information knocks
Overthinking goes into overdrive when we keep revisiting decisions we make, refusing to close the door on a call that has been made.
Believe that you’ve done your due diligence, and revisit something you’ve already decided only when you’re presented with new information.
Do the mathOverthinking also
Do the math
Overthinking also comes from over-worrying about the worst-case scenario, which of course no one wants to experience.
But ask yourself, “What is the probability the undesirable outcome will actually occur?” The odds are, not very high.
Know that overthinking and
Know that overthinking and problem-solving isn’t the same thing
Constantly ruminating and going over scenarios and possibilities often disguises itself as problem-solving.
Recognize when you’re overthinking something, don’t act like it’s problem-solving, and press fast-forward.
Replace “what if” with
Replace “what if” with “we’ll see.”
Overthinkers keep asking themselves “what if,” which is an impossible question to answer.
If you catch yourself asking “what if,” quickly switch it to “we’ll see,” which is a way of moving past analysis paralysis to acceptance.
Stop framing the unremarkable
Stop framing the unremarkable as catastrophic
Related to the above, this means stop taking small details and turning them into questionable conclusions.
Stop making a mountain out of a molehill. Unlike at the mall, this kind of escalator lifts nobody up.
Evaluate the true impact
Evaluate the true impact of being wrong
We often feel the need to overthink because we simply fear being wrong.
Ask yourself in such moments what the realistic cost of being wrong is. When you can lower the stakes, you raise your ability to get mentally unstuck.
So don’t overthink it. Take the inspiration here and run with it. Without looking back.
Assume good intentOverthinkers read
Assume good intent
Overthinkers read too much into things.
They’re assuming something bad lies underneath, something like a bad perception, someone wishing them ill, or an unfavourable outcome.
When you catch yourself doing this, switch your assumption to what you’re reading into was well-intended, or at least neutral.
Embrace uncertaintyWhen we don’t
Embrace uncertainty
When we don’t know something, we tend to fill in the blanks, often with garbage assumptions.
Many of us would rather be unhappy than uncertain. Garbage assumptions can take many forms, all infusing themselves into the inner monologue of the overthinker.
A Buddhist chaplain tells
A Buddhist chaplain tells how to handle uncertainty through an acronym: OAR:
- Observe uncertainty, don’t overreact to it.
- Acknowledge the presence of uncertainty and accept that impermanence is inevitable.
- Realize that uncertainty brings benefits, like unleashing creativity and resilience.