How to stop overthinking

How to Stop Overthinking: 6 Ways That can Help

What is Overthinking?

The term overthinking is self-explanatory. You think about a situation or an event over and over again. It involves overanalyzing conversations, situations, and outcomes. Overthinking is a negative thought process. It awakens your inner critic. In such a situation, the mind never stops. A constant chatter goes on inside your head. Consequently, overthinking lowers your confidence and creates self-doubts.

Overthinking does not lead to solutions. On the contrary, it tends to lower your morale and creates a vicious circle of negative thoughts. It triggers negative emotions like self-doubt and makes you question your decisions, judgment, and relationships. Thinking about something for too long cripples you, skew your decision-making skills impacting your mental wellbeing.

Constant overthinking changes your perception. What may be a minute error on your part can lead to you questioning your self-worth. A simple example of overthinking is constantly reliving an uncomfortable event or wanting to see hidden meanings in seemingly innocent conversations. You think of all things you could have said or avoided. You tend to over-interpret a regular conversation. Therefore, your perception becomes your reality. It makes you feel attacked or like a victim in a lot of situations.

Origin of Overthinking

Overthinking is an indirect result of a primitive survival instinct. The fight-or-flight mode in the brain makes you overanalyze a troubling scene. This is supposed to prepare you to fight the worst outcomes. A primitive brain believes in seeing things from the worst possible angle. It helps to increase your chances of survival.

Evolved thinking is a result of evolution. It helps you to be more rational and worry less. Therefore, confusing overthinking with evolved thinking is a fallacy. Overthinking leads to clogging your brain with unwanted negative thoughts.

More often than not, overthinking couples with anxiety. It brings about a feeling of helplessness and further adds to your stress.

Difference between Self-Reflection and Overthinking

Both self-reflection and overthinking involve you analyzing your choices and methods. However, they are far from being the same. A common misconception is that overthinking helps you improve yourself. There is a thin line separating both.

Self-reflection is an important aspect of mental growth. It involves a healthy habit of questioning your patterns and decision-making skills. The goal of self-reflection is to unearth something unknown or unexplored about you.

Identifying your mistakes motivates you to correct them in the future. There is a purpose to each of these introspections. What you gain from it makes you a better individual. You can also hone your natural abilities like social skills, analytical ability, interpersonal relations, goal setting, work-life balance, etc through self-introspection.

Overthinking is a negative habit that has no positive outcomes. This does not allow you to find any solutions. Instead, you constantly dwell on unnecessary issues and that is also in a loop. They are irrational thoughts that do not lead to betterment.

Time is not a measure of self-reflection or overthinking here. To put it in simpler words, any amount of time you spend on thinking must be purposeful. Dwelling about things you cannot control or that lead to no outcomes is merely overthinking.

Signs You Are an Overthinker

Identification is the first step to break you free from overthinking. Some common signs of overthinking are given below. Knowing when you overthink can help you consciously stop yourself from doing it.

1. You do not focus on the solution

The chain of thoughts in your head never leads to any significant answers. It mostly comprises worrying and asking the same questions. There is a lack of problem-solving ability. This often leads to mental health deterioration.

2. Your thoughts affect your sleep

Quiet night-time is a gateway for overthinking. Your mind becomes hyperactive with thoughts and worries.

It may feel like your brain will not rest at all. The anxiety that it causes disrupts your sleep pattern. Your thoughts keep you up for long durations and the chatter goes on nonstop. This, in turn, affects health and overall well-being.

3. You find difficulty in making decisions

Most people think twice before making a choice. You are an overthinker if you continuously obsess over your decisions.

The fear of making the wrong choice or its outcomes runs through your mind constantly. This can lead to you becoming indecisive. Even simple questions turn into a debate in your head.

4. You doubt your choices

Being unable to make a decision is one thing. Many times, you question the choices you already made. In the case of a wrong choice, you beat yourself over a minor error.

The road not taken often makes you challenge your decisions. This means that you spend a lot of time thinking about the ‘what ifs’.

5. Ruminate over the same things

You have a habit of replaying events over and over in your head. You spend too much time feeling guilty or analyzing your mistakes. It becomes impossible to accept what has happened.

This harms your mental state. With every cycle of thought, you think of different ways that it can go wrong.

How to Stop Overthinking? 6 Ways that can Help

1. Find a distraction

An empty mind is truly a devil’s workshop. Having too much free time will enable you to overthink. Distract yourself with hobbies or causes that you are passionate about.

Do not look at it as a way of escape from real issues. Make enough space in your mind for only necessary thought processes.

2. Meditate

Meditation is one of the best ways to quieten a chaotic mind. Focus on your breathing, which will help relax your body. Regulating breathing can help you focus and ground yourself. Once the mind is free from unnecessary thoughts, overthinking stops significantly.

Make it a practice to follow a meditation routine every day. You can also try yoga for calm and mindfulness. It slowly teaches you to live in the present.

3. Accept and let go of the past

Mistakes and decisions from the past cannot be undone. It is helpful to accept that there is no way of going back.

Accept your story for what it is and leave it at that. Do not let the fear from your past control the decisions of your future.

4. Change the narrative of your story

This means that you have control over how you see yourself. Get rid of a negative mindset that puts you down or undermines your capability.

Tell yourself that all your choices were your choices and you take full responsibility for them. Do not try to go back in time and spend time idly musing. Start in the ‘now’. Believe that you have the power to make the right decisions.

At first, it may seem hard to rope your thoughts back in. With regular practice and awareness, you will become more present.

5. Maintain a journal

Write your train of thought in a journal. Note down any solutions that occur to your mind. Revisit the journal when you question yourself.

It can help you identify if you are overthinking. Reading your answers written down will help to calm your anxiety.

6. Differentiate your fear and intuition

The trauma of mistakes from the past can cloud your judgment. Identify your fears and write them down. It will help you to listen to your intuition closely. This may cause better decision-making skills.

Should you see a specialist?

Overthinking is preventable with self-practice and dedication. However, it is always a good idea to see a therapist. It is a safe space for you to discuss your thoughts and emotions.

Anxiety and depression are often interlinked with excessive overthinking. It becomes a loop of negative thoughts and lowering mental health. In such cases, visit a psychologist for treatment.

Summary

Overthinking is the repetitive playing of situations in your head. It involves fear and worries over mistakes and possible outcomes. They are irrational thoughts that lead to no self-improvement. Instead, overthinking worsens your mental health and leaves you anxious. It mostly involves regrets from the past or fear of the future or the unknown.

Constructive thought is the main differentiator between overthinking and self-introspection. If spending time on your thoughts betters you in any way, it becomes self-reflection. Any train of thought that is not solution-oriented or is out of your control is useless.

Overthinkers tend to question their decision-making skills and find it difficult to land an answer. Self-doubt and fear of past traumas are common in overthinkers. It can even lead to sleepless nights.

The best way to overcome a self-critical mind is to channelize your energy into purposeful things. Taking control of your emotions and letting go of the past helps too. Some people can benefit from writing it down or seeking medical aid.

The bottom line is, do not fret over unavoidable things and focus on the present. It will make it easier for you to avoid overthinking.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A. OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder is due to the influx of intrusive thoughts. It is often fuelled by fear and anxiety. Both are related in a way that all OCD patients tend to overthink. However, not all those who overthink end up having OCD. Visit a mental health professional for diagnosis.

A. Intrusive thinking acts as a seed for overthinking to grow. Intrusive thoughts tend to gravitate you away from reality. They are often intertwined with strong emotions. They can come in the form of daydreams, fantasies, etc. This pattern may make us question its origin and overanalyze it. As a result, you begin to overthink.

A. One of the main outcomes of overthinking is increased stress and anxiety. This in turn increases inflammation in the body, causing skin flare-ups. You may face hair loss and worsen conditions like psoriasis. Hence, overthinking can indirectly lead to the falling of your hair and skin issues.

A. The reason for this is the fast pace of life. Your daily schedule is filled with things to do. Hence, your mind is distracted from overthinking. Bedtime happens to be a less intense phase of the day. Since no other things are preoccupying your mind at night, you tend to overthink most at that time.

A. There are chances that your loss of appetite or weight loss is related to overthinking. The anxiety that comes with overthinking puts immense pressure on your body. It leads to high levels of stress. Stress often inhibits hunger and this may lead to a loss of appetite. It can have an impact on your weight as well.

How To Stop Overthinking And Relax – 7 Simple Tips

A long time back, I had the bad habit of thinking on and on for no reason. Over the years, I have learned how to stop overthinking and have started maintaining a serene mindset.

In this article, I will share:

Back in the days, I believed thinking as one of the most powerful human abilities. I still do, but I had the wrong approach in the past. I used thinking to create negative emotions and fuel my fears.

If I were making a decision, I would think, “What if things go wrong?” If a lousy event occurred, I would look for all the possible causes to explain the occurrence.

Such thinking only led to further thoughts and a deeper spiral. In most cases, no good came out of it. I ended up mentally exhausted with low motivation.

To beat overthinking, you must identify the reasons behind such behavior first. So let’s dive right into that.

What causes overthinking?

Here is how your brain thinks:

When you encounter a problem, you find a reason to explain the cause. Often, you do not have enough evidence to support the thoughts your brain comes up with. So you either think deeper to hunt for proof or find a different reason.

For example, let us consider the case where you sent a text message to a person, but you did not receive a response. You start with a simple reason that she did not view the message.

Now, if the read receipts are off, you have no evidence to prove that. You try to find a different reason – “it looks like she is busy”. As time passes, doubt creeps in – “she is ignoring me on purpose.” Until you have concrete proof to explain the event, you go on speculating different causes.

Your brain goes through a similar thought process while making a decision too. You presume a possible outcome of your decision. Since you cannot guarantee the result, you think of an alternative. This loop can go on and on until you want to.

For example, let us assume you want to quit your job and start your venture. You start with the assumption that your venture will turn successful within a year.

When you think a little more, you realize you do not have any evidence to prove that statement. So you start with a minor negative thought – “What if it takes longer to succeed?”

In no time, this snowballs into a chain of evil thoughts. “What if I never succeed? What if I lose everything I have.” Fear grapples you, and you end up paralyzed to decide at all.

The main factor which leads to overthinking is – uncertainty.

The tricky part here is, things will always be unclear. You cannot predict the future for every decision you are making. You also cannot collect absolute proof for each event that occured.

Finally, it is your reaction to uncertainty that leads to the overthinking disorder.

Once you get into overthinking mode, your brain forms patterns that don’t exist. Such a tendency is called the clustering illusion.

It is a flaw of the human mind where we find patterns in random information when none exist. Your brain, by default, tries to identify trends to make better decisions.

But guess what you do if you can’t find it? Your brain simply creates one.

We see patterns that do not exist. We see a streak when there are none. We see shapes and symbols in a pile of irregular and random data.

For the same reason, two people can look at the same cloud and observe a different shape.

Our brain has a hard time accepting that the information was random or an event occurred due to coincidence. The behavior gains more prominence when we have a small amount of data. The lack of data prompts us to think we have the ability of a clairvoyant wizard who can predict the future.

Don’t let overthinking create problems that don’t exist

The other factors which lead to overthinking

How busy you are

The more time you have at your disposal, the more the opportunity to overthink.

The impact of the event

If the consequences of the event are minor, you feel comfortable brushing it off. When the stakes are high, you start thinking longer.

The people involved

Folks involved with the event makes a difference in how badly it bothers you. If people associated are among your trusted folks, you find it easier to let go. If anyone suspicious has a connection to the event, your skeptical mind turns on.

Your mindset

Whether you look at the positive or negative side of life determines how you think. The reality remains as is.

What you choose to believe is what shapes your thoughts. One person looks at a mishap and thinks someone did it intentionally. Another person looks at the same setback and finds areas to improve.

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Common examples of overthinking

Though overthinking differs from person to person, it occurs in 3 broad categories. Consider them as symptoms for overthinking if you like to. They can apply to overthinking about work, relationships or calamities.

1. Worrying about the past

When a rare event occurs, you start fearing the same could happen to you. After a shark attacked Bethany Hamilton, people stayed away from the waters for a couple of years. Some fear a shark attack even today.

While such risks are real, they are far rarer than they appear.

The dramatic factor and the rarity of the event lead to a more significant fear. You worry more about a terrorist attack than a heart attack even though the latter has a much higher chance.

The fear induced by the scary events forces your mind to worry. You grow anxious about such tragedies happening to yourself, which in reality never occur. To make that worse, stress affects your health too.

2. Fear of the future

The uncertainty of events leads to worry about the future.

The future will remain uncertain whether you overthink or not. The best you can do is make decisions based on research and facts. Some of the choices you make will have to be a leap of faith.

3. Assuming bad intentions

When you face a situation where things went wrong or against your liking, you can categorize the reasons as follows:

The reasons such as negligence, error, or stupidity, do not occur to you first. Even if they do, you dismiss them as too obvious or boring.

If a colleague does not reply to your email, you assume he is doing it on purpose. Your mind starts looking for proof that justifies your assumption. “Does he want to hinder my growth? Is he seeking revenge? He dislikes me for no reason.”

The thoughts escalate from one bad intention to another.

How to stop overthinking and relax

Unfortunately, there isn’t a one fit for all technique to stop overthinking and worrying. Various factors trigger such worry and not one method can solve them all. Try applying these techniques and see what suits you and the occasion the best.

1. Use philosophical razors

In philosophy, razors are principles that help you “shave off” bad thoughts and actions. Two major razors provide wisdom to avoid overthinking.

Occams razor:

The principle states that, if there are 2 explanations for the event, the simpler one is the likely cause. In other words, it says, the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely the reason is.

The Occam’s razor helps you overcome the category of overthinking caused by the fear of the past.

Hanlon’s razor:

The principle derives its roots from the Occams razor itself. The law suggests avoiding assuming wrong intentions when stupidity, negligence, incompetence, or errors could explain the cause. The chances of the event occurring due to wrong intentions are far lesser than you assume.

The Hanlon’s razor helps you avoid the category of overthinking caused by assuming bad intentions.

2. Operate within your locus of control

Thinking does not help you change things, acting does. Unless your thoughts help you modify the consequences of the event or reduce its occurrence in the future, you are only disturbing your peace of mind by overthinking.

You have a locus of control depicted in the orange circle below. You can only influence those areas by putting in the effort to change the outcome. No matter what you do, you cannot change anything outside your locus of control depicted in the blue circle.

You can break your head all night, but if the area lies outside your locus of control, you can do nothing about it.

3. Change your stories

Your mind is full of stories you choose to tell yourself.

If your crush hasn’t shown up on your first date yet, you can tell any of the two stories:

You can change the story to see things in a positive light to avoid overthinking. Sooner or later, you will know the truth. Until then, do not have to give yourself an anxiety attack.

4. Find something else to do

An idle mind is a devil’s workshop. If you have nothing to do, your brain starts thinking. But if you engage yourself in other tasks, you reduce the chances of overthinking.

Your mind has a hard time focusing on two tasks that require conscious attention. So switch to a job that requires you to apply your brainpower. The more focus a task needs to execute, the more likely you are to stop overthinking.

Be wary about ignoring problems by finding a replacement activity. Sometimes you might find a temporary workaround to a real problem.

For example, if you are overthinking about your job, drinking alcohol isn’t the right way to get it off your mind. Make sure the technique does not lead you to overlook the evident issues you have.

5. Focus on the solution

Most of the things you worry about have either already occurred or are yet to occur. What will overthinking do to either of them? Nothing.

You are better off trying to find a fix than lamenting over the past or worrying about the future. Also, the process of finding a solution keeps your brain cells engaged and busy.

When you find yourself overthinking, ask yourself, “How can I solve the problem I’m worried about?”

If you can think of a way, start working on it. If you have no idea how, you are helpless anyway. You might as well not think about it as much.

6. Ask yourself if overthinking makes the situation better

Thinking too hard helps if you’re using the right approach. If not, it makes no difference. It can even make things worse. If you assume bad intentions and follow up with overthinking, you only make things worse for you.

Whenever you find yourself overthinking, ask yourself if that is of any use. Though you are asking an obvious question to yourself, your brain realizes it’s folly the moment you start probing.

7. Try to tweak your emotion from a negative to a positive state

You can change your emotions by changing your actions. Multiple methods can help you based on the reason that led you to overthink.

Change Posture:

If you’re overthinking and angry, you can change your body posture to break out of the anger. Have you seen an angry cat? Along with the elongated body posture, the cat also meows in a different tone.

In the flight or fight mode, most mammals change their body posture in response to a threat. Human beings are no exception. When you are angry, your chest and head tilt forward. At the same time, your shoulders rise like a bodybuilder posing for Mr. Olympia.

You can break your body out of the flight or fight mode by dropping your shoulders. To make it easier, you can intentionally raise your shoulders further and then drop them.

Do a positive activity:

If you’re feeling sad due to overthinking, do anything which lightens up your mood. You can do an activity which makes you happy like listening to your favorite song or eating the dish you love.

Do not provide fodder for your negative emotion by doing the opposite. For example, stop listening to emotional songs when you’re feeling low.

Performing an act of kindness can elevate your mood too by releasing oxytocin. Science has shown that witnessing or performing a noble deed can help you get out of the rut.

Practice rhythmic breathing:

Another method of changing your emotional state is by rhythmic breathing. Long rhythmic breaths help in maintaining a calm mindset.

Here are the TED talks by Dr. Alan Watkins which explain the technique. The videos are in two parts. The first one explains the science and second illustrates the technique. Though the videos are long, they are worth watching.

Conclusion

Overthinking starts and ends within you. You can look up as many tips as you like from articles, books, and podcasts. But in the end, only you have the ability to change your thought process. If you don’t, none of the tips will work. If you have to learn how to stop overthinking and relax, you have to start acting.

Overthinking happens to every single one of us. For some, it occasionally occurs while for some others, it is a daily chore.

Even if you solve your problem of overthinking for now, you might slip back into the habit again and again. Make the practices of avoiding overthinking a part of your lifestyle.

Overthinking isn’t your problem unless you make it one. If you have already done that, it is time you start worrying and start living.

“Overthinking is parasitic. It’s viral. It’s deadly, even. Letting yourself fall victim to overthinking doesn’t just kill your happiness, it destroys who you are. The mind is a beautiful and complex thing, and the only person who can hurt it is yourself.”

My goal is to help people 1 million people pursue their dreams. Share the article and help me with this mission.

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Maxim Dsouza has spent over a decade experimenting and finding various time management techniques to improve his productivity. He strongly understands the fact that time is a limited commodity and tries to make every second count. He has extensive experience in leadership in startups, small businesses, and large corporations.

He has helped people of different professions and age groups gain clarity on their goals, improve focus, revise their time management skills and develop an awareness of their psychological cognitive biases.

How to Survive Overthinking

This article was co-authored by Chloe Carmichael, PhD and by wikiHow staff writer, Amy Bobinger. Chloe Carmichael, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who runs a private practice in New York City. With over a decade of psychological consulting experience, Dr. Chloe specializes in relationship issues, stress management, self esteem, and career coaching. She has also instructed undergraduate courses at Long Island University and has served as adjunct faculty at the City University of New York. Dr. Chloe completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York and her clinical training at Lenox Hill Hospital and Kings County Hospital. She is accredited by the American Psychological Association and is the author of “Nervous Energy: Harness the Power of Your Anxiety” and “Dr. Chloe’s 10 Commandments of Dating.”

There are 16 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.

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Do you ever find yourself weighing the pros and cons of a situation for so long that you forget to ever take action? Or maybe you play out a conversation in your head so many times that you feel like you’ve actually talked to the other person. If so, you might be an overthinker! While everybody gets caught up in their head once in a while, chronic overthinking can make it hard to actually deal with problems, so it’s important to learn new strategies so you can get out of your head and back into the present moment.

10 Simple Ways You Can Stop Yourself From Overthinking

Here are 10 simple ideas to help overthinkers stop spinning their wheels.

Overthinking doesn’t sound so bad on the surface—thinking is good, right?

When you overthink, your judgments get cloudy and your stress gets elevated. You spend too much time in the negative. It can become difficult to act.

If this feels like familiar territory to you, here are 10 simple ideas to free yourself from overthinking.

1. Awareness is the beginning of change.

Before you can begin to address or cope with your habit of overthinking, you need to learn to be aware of it when it’s happening. Any time you find yourself doubting or feeling stressed or anxious, step back and look at the situation and how you’re responding. In that moment of awareness is the seed of the change you want to make.

2. Don’t think of what can go wrong, but what can go right.

In many cases, overthinking is caused by a single emotion: fear. When you focus on all the negative things that might happen, it’s easy to become paralyzed. Next time you sense that you starting to spiral in that direction, stop. Visualize all the things that can go right and keep those thoughts present and up front.

3. Distract yourself into happiness.

Sometimes it’s helpful to have a way to distract yourself with happy, positive, healthy alternatives. Things like mediation, dancing, exercise, learning an instrument, knitting, drawing, and painting can distance you from the issues enough to shut down the overanalysis.

4. Put things into perspective.

It’s always easy to make things bigger and more negative than they need to be. The next time you catch yourself making a mountain out of a molehill, ask yourself how much it will matter in five years. Or, for that matter, next month. Just this simple question, changing up the time frame, can help shut down overthinking.

5. Stop waiting for perfection.

This is a big one. For all of us who are waiting for perfection, we can stop waiting right now. Being ambitious is great but aiming for perfection is unrealistic, impractical, and debilitating. The moment you start thinking «This needs to be perfect» is the moment you need to remind yourself, «Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress.»

6. Change your view of fear.

Whether you’re afraid because you’ve failed in the past, or you’re fearful of trying or overgeneralizing some other failure, remember that just because things did not work out before does not mean that has to be the outcome every time. Remember, every opportunity is a new beginning, a place to start again.

7. Put a timer to work.

Give yourself a boundary. Set a timer for five minutes and give yourself that time to think, worry, and analyze. Once the timer goes off, spend 10 minutes with a pen and paper, writing down all the things that are worrying you, stressing you, or giving you anxiety. Let it rip. When the 10 minutes is up, throw the paper out and move on—preferably to something fun.

8. Realize you can’t predict the future.

No one can predict the future; all we have is now. If you spend the present moment worrying about the future, you are robbing yourself of your time now. Spending time on the future is simply not productive. Spend that time instead on things that give you joy.

9. Accept your best.

The fear that grounds overthinking is often based in feeling that you aren’t good enough—not smart enough or hardworking enough or dedicated enough. Once you’ve given an effort your best, accept it as such and know that, while success may depend in part on some things you can’t control, you’ve done what you could do.

10. Be grateful.

You can’t have a regretful thought and a grateful thought at the same time, so why not spend the time positively? Every morning and every evening, make a list of what you are grateful for. Get a gratitude buddy and exchange lists so you have a witness to the good things that are around you.

Overthinking is something that can happen to anyone. But if you have a great system for dealing with it you can at least ward off some of the negative, anxious, stressful thinking and turn it into something useful, productive, and effective.

How To Stop Overthinking: 7 Simple Ways

Table of contents

A few weeks ago, I got a chance to interview Justin Kan.

“I want him to like me but also I want to interview him properly and I also don’t want him to just think that I’m using him for the content…”

Unnecessary, right? The worst/best part is that once I actually did the interview, all these thoughts went away and I quickly realised it was just good old overthinking.

While overthinking might sound petty, once it turns into an ongoing habit it can keep us away from ever finishing our work, lead to procrastination, and even cause serious mental health issues.

So in this post, I’d love to share the 7 techniques that my creative friends and I use to cope with overthinking. Plus, I’ll share a few findings to give you a big picture of why overthinking is worth discussing as well as tips for learning how to avoid or at least cope with it.

What causes overthinking?

Basically, there are two types of overthinking:

When we’re worrying about future events, (eg: an exam or a job interview), we tend to prep even minutes before the event. When Naval Ravikant (normally a master of zen) was a guest on The Joe Rogan Podcast, he admitted that even though he didn’t want to prepare for this podcast, he couldn’t stop his mind from having an illusory conversation.

“A few days leading up to this [episode], my mind was just running and normally my mind is pretty calm. It was just running, running, and running. And every thought I’d have, I’d imagine me saying it to you. My brain couldn’t help but rehearse.”

This happens because we want to gain control and make sure we cover (and somehow predict) all possible outcomes. Being prepared is a good thing but at some point, it’s much better to calm our mind instead of feeding it with new information.

Our thinking works in a similar fashion to our income with diminishing returns. Just like making more money can make us happier only up to a certain level, thinking more can yield better results only to some extent.

Some people who struggle with overthinking do it because of the ‘more thinking equals better output’ approach. And just like with personal finances, after you move past a certain level, more thinking can actually equal worse outcomes.

When people start making more than six figures (on average) their level of happiness goes down. The same mechanism works in thinking. It’s bad not to use our brainpower to prepare for the exam or a job interview, but if we do it for too long we’ll find ourselves with worse results compared to spending fewer hours on preparation.

Some things in life are universal but the time allocated to thinking isn’t. The one-size-fits-all approach drastically fails when we apply it to thinking but anxiety can make us use it anyway.

Following this approach can drain our energy levels with just a few simple tasks. When we’re preparing for an exam, we need to be focused for a couple of hours using notes, textbooks, and various slides. But if we were to use the same level of thinking to buy groceries for example, we’d get stuck overthinking which type of butter to buy.

Why overthinking is bad for us

While everyone ruminates or worries from time to time, constant overthinking comes with serious repercussions.

🔥 Rumination exacerbates depression

Although it’s not common, studies like this one published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology show that overthinking can lead to serious mental health issues including depression.

“[..] Rumination was a mediator of the longitudinal association between self-reported stressful life events and anxiety symptoms among adolescents and adults and both males and females. In addition, rumination significantly mediated the relationship between self-reported stressful life events and increases in depressive symptoms in adults, but not in adolescents.”

So, if a stressful event wasn’t enough, our overthinking can take it up a notch turning it into depression and anxiety.

🤯 Overthinking overloads our brains

Overthinking is also the #1 enemy of every creative person. That’s because we’re more creative when certain parts of our brains are “quiet”.

A recent study suggests that the less-is-more approach to thinking works great for creative output. Plus, you’ll save a lot of time that you’d otherwise spend overthinking.

😕 Overthinking impairs problem-solving

Equally, our brains are capable of processing lots of data but it’s still possible to overload them and end up in a creative dead zone. This finding becomes more important when we take a look at another study run by scientists from Yale and UCR. Researchers from these two universities were wondering to what extent rumination exacerbates depression, enhances negative thinking, and impairs problem-solving. Surprisingly, it turned out that rumination is to depression what oxygen is to flame—maintaining and exacerbating its effects.

“Specifically, rumination appears to more consistently predict the onset of depression rather than the duration, but rumination interacts with negative cognitive styles to predict the duration of depressive symptoms”

That’s an even more concerning effect for creatives as rumination enhances negative mood-congruent thinking and impairs problem-solving. When we combine these findings with why we overthink it turns out that we’re causing the exact same problem that we’re trying to solve. We think more to have better results while, in fact, we turn on the analysis-paralysis and further worry.

“[. ] rumination maintains and exacerbates depression by enhancing negative mood-congruent thinking, impairing problem-solving and instrumental behaviour, and deterring social support.”

How to stop overthinking?

If it’s so bad for us then it’s worth asking: How do we avoid overthinking?

Remember that the processes involved in overthinking are useful skills. Therefore, to beat overthinking we need to transfer these skills to useful purposes instead. While there are many ways to do it, most techniques and strategies focus on two aspects:

With a clean slate and a certain plan for the day, you can avoid overthinking and focus your brainpower on things that matter to you.

In the next section, we’ll go through 7 techniques that work best for me and other creative people who once struggled with overthinking.

7 ways to stop overthinking

🧘 Meditation

Meditation is a concept that I’ve been dabbling with since early 2019 when I tried to meditate with Sam Harris’s Waking Up app but ultimately failed to build a consistent habit.

Whenever I talk to creators, online entrepreneurs, or so-called ‘successful people’, they all tend to agree that meditation was the one technique that helped them clear their mind.

Let’s go back to the Not Overthinking episode with Justin Kan. It turned out that Justin is very bullish on meditation:

The same thing popped up in two of the Deep Dives episodes.

August Bradley who’s a business performance coach, strategist, entrepreneur and Notion expert said that:

“Practising meditation enables you to recognise that the thoughts and stories that are generated by your mind are not who you are. By meditating you learn to step out and observe those thoughts and stories rather than believing them.”

Same story with my friend and fellow YouTuber UnJaded Jade:

“Meditation is not just about sitting quietly for a few minutes every day – it’s about training the brain to filter out negative thought processes that hamper us daily.”

Meditation, although simple at its core, is quite hard to get into as it requires us to do nothing. And for overthinkers, that’s a very tough call to make. But it’s also a perfect way for us to clear our mind, settle the internal dispute, and prevent further rumination or worry.

Probably the easiest way to start practising meditation is to follow Naval’s tip that he shared during the earlier mentioned podcast episode with Joe Rogan. And that is to:

“Sit down, close your eyes, comfortable position, whatever happens, happens. If you think, you think. If you don’t think, you don’t think. Don’t put effort into it. Don’t put effort against it. [. ] You just sit.”

🙇‍♂️ Seek forgiveness rather than permission

Thinking through one idea over and over might happen because we’re scared of committing to our choices. When we’re afraid to push the button, worrying can become our default state.

If that happens to you, think about the worst possible consequence of what you want to do. Chances are, the reality is less scary than you initially assumed. Plus, you’ll likely find out that the chances of the worst-case scenario happening are negligible.

In one of my recent videos on 21 Tips for My 18-Year-Old Self, I share the advice to

“Seek forgiveness rather than permission”

This means that rather than sitting on that idea you have and overthinking the consequences you should do it and then (if needed) seek forgiveness.

🚪 Prop your door open

Another way to stop overthinking is to create intentional distractions from what makes you overthink.

In my video on 10 Cheap Purchases that Improved my Life, I chose a doorstop as one of the best bang-for-the-buck purchases I’ve ever made. When I was back in university, I quickly realised that spending a couple of hours more to get a 1% higher grade wasn’t worth it. So, while others were closing their door, I decided to prop mine open and invite anyone who wanted to interrupt me while I was working.

This created an intentional distraction and kept me away from worrying too much over the exam or spending too much time revising that one paper. And, as a nice second-order benefit, it led to many fun and entertaining conversations with my new friends.

Therefore, try to find how you can implement intentional distractions that are going to break the overthinking loop that you’d otherwise get into.

📜 Journal like a Stoic

Seneca, one of the most well-known Stoic philosophers, used to journal every night to reflect on his day. Such a practice makes it easier to let loose of constraining thoughts and rumination by transferring them onto paper. The way I implement journaling for better mental clarity is by writing Morning Pages.

Another way that I dabble with journaling is by using a Notion template that I use every morning and night to properly start and close the day. Inside the template, there are questions such as:

By filling out these points I push my mind towards more mindful thinking about the day and by reflecting on all the things I’ve done I leave no room for ruminating over the past.

This Notion template was created by one of my friends, Valentin Perez who I’ve interviewed in one of the Deep Dives (check it out here). And, if you want to grab the Morning Pages template, you can get it here.

Going back to Stoicism, I’ve found that adopting the right mindset is one of the best ways to beat issues like stress or overthinking, at least in my life. When we focus our mind on the things that matter to us and find a way to be happy, the rest will take care of itself. If you’re interested in learning more about this, I have a whole Skillshare Masterclass on Stoicism that you can sign up for below. It’s 100% free and once you’re there, you can check out the rest of my Skillshare courses along with lessons from hundreds of other creators.

🙌 Be more grateful

Once again we’re going to steal some ideas from Justin Kan In the same podcast episode, Justin shared how gratitude journaling is one of his keystone habits.

There are many different ways to approach it but the way that works best for Justin is to just write down 3 things that he’s grateful for. This ridiculously simple practice can, as many people back up, improve your happiness and make you see the highlights of your life.

Similarly to meditation, it’s the technique that I’d love to explore in-depth and in fact, I’m committing to gratitude journaling and will continue with the habit for the next couple of weeks (which I shared in my recent March Goals Report).

🤝 Acknowledge your successes

We often put too much emphasis on things that went wrong which makes us forget about all of our accomplishments.

Overthinking can take our self-esteem to an all-time low so it might be worth having an ace in the pack that we can use to counter such feelings. One way to do it is to keep all the nice things about yourself in one place.

Did someone compliment you? Write it down. A subscriber wrote a nice comment? Copy and paste. A stranger sent you a thank-you email? Forward and save.

My favourite method for this is Day One. It’s a journaling app that makes it easy to save and organise things like screenshots, images or emails. All these features make it a perfect solution to create a good-things directory that I can use anytime things seem not to work out.

Another way to stay more mindful of your successes is by reflecting on all the things you’ve accomplished. The way I implement it in my life is by making an Annual Review. It’s a once a year practice that is probably the most productive thing I do each year. So what’s the deal with it?

My Annual Review is my way to reflect on pretty much everything that happened over the course of the past 12 months. It’s got 3main steps, with the first one called Reflect. I break this particular step down into four smaller points:

While I’m making the Annual Review it feels like the time goes slower. Suddenly I can remind myself of all the awesome things that happened this year. Most importantly, it gives me time to reflect and leaves no room for ruminating or even worrying as the next two steps (Plan and Execute) are all about getting ready for what life has to offer in the next 12 months.

💥 Spot Cognitive Distortions

Perspective can change how we interpret any situation. What we might take as a loss, someone else can treat as a victory. By just changing how we look at things, we can reframe negative scenarios as successes.

Why? Let’s break down both approaches.

Be mindful of what you might be interpreting to your disadvantage. Reframe it or dump it completely if it doesn’t make you happy.

Success isn’t about getting more done, it’s about having more fun.

If you’re having fun, productivity takes care of itself.

Conclusion

Overthinking is a product of using useful resources in the wrong way. Luckily, it’s also a sign that we have these resources so all we have to do is to flick the switch.

Most importantly, overthinking stands in our way to being productive and happy so it should be our priority to find a way to tame it. And for creative people, like you and me, creating more brainpower and room for thinking will only be a good thing.

And don’t give up if one technique doesn’t work. Some habits won’t stick or it’s not the right time or environment for you to implement them. Experiment with all seven and find the one or two that feel like the missing piece of the puzzle.

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