Why We Overthink?

When we talk about overthinking, we're talking about a couple of different things. On one hand, overthinking is when you get caught in those loops where you're just thinking about one single event over and over. You might start over analyzing something that happened, regretting an action you took, or worrying about the future of something. On the other hand, you can overthink decisions in a similar way. Here, you'll often analyze them into the ground to the point where you can't make a decision anymore.
Either way, overthinking is basically when you can't think about anything else, and it's affecting your life in a negative way. The end goal here is the same: get out of that thinking loop and move on.
 



If you're overthinking an idea you can actually do something about, the best thing you can do is take action now. This doesn't mean you have to suddenly run off to make something, it just means you start taking a step forward.

For example, let's say you're considering moving to a new city. You can't move immediately, but if you sit and think about the process, you're going to go around in circles in your head. So, it's important to do something. In this case, you can start planning. Make a list of where you want to go. Start researching housing prices, jobs, and whatever else. Create a financial plan and goals. Write out a timeline. It doesn't matter what you do, you just need to make a move toward the idea you're overthinking. Making those plans and comparisons may even help you make your decision
Moving is a pretty simplistic example, but the basic process works for everything you're overthinking related to your own future—from quitting a job to asking someone out on date—you can draw up a plan of action to make yourself feel better. Writing for the Huffington Post, author Bob Miglani sums up this idea:

One tip that I've learned that did more than detox my mind from overthinking is to turn my often worrisome thoughts about the future into effort and work. Taking action, doing something, working on your craft does wonders for your soul.
Each time I would start getting worried about the future, I would make a proactive choice to physically get up from the place I was sitting and walk to the computer to start writing or working on my book. Sometimes I would go outside to work on planting the tomatoes in my vegetable garden. If I was at work during the day, I started writing ideas on how to improve my work or work on something really interesting. Whatever the work or project we choose — make sure it is a difficult one because that's when we start to get flow or momentum. That's the place where so much of our success happens.

As we've pointed out before, getting started is everything , and that's a big part when you're overthinking projects. We tend to overthink because we fear failure, but if we just start working, that dissipates quickly.