Dwelling on your problems isn’t helpful—but looking for solutions is. If it’s something you have some control over, consider how you can prevent the problem, or challenge yourself to identify five potential solutions. If it’s something you have no control over—like a natural disaster—think about the strategies you can use to cope with it. Focus on the things you can control, like your attitude and effort.

2. Keep the Focus on Problem-Solving

It’s easy to get carried away with negative thoughts. So, before you conclude that calling in sick is going to get you fired, or that forgetting one deadline will cause you to become homeless, acknowledge that your thoughts may be exaggeratedly negative. Remember that your emotions will interfere with your ability to look at situations objectively. Take a step back and look at the evidence. What evidence do you have that your thought is true? What evidence do you have that your thought isn’t true?

3. Challenge Your Thoughts

Overthinking often involves two destructive thought patterns—ruminating and incessant worrying.Ruminating involves dwelling on the past.Persistent worrying involves negative—often catastrophic—predictions about the future.Like all habits, changing your destructive thought patterns can be a challenge. But, with consistent practice, you can train your brain to think differently. Here are six ways to stop overthinking everything:

Destructive Thought Patterns

Stewing on your problems for long periods of time isn’t productive, but brief reflection can be helpful. Thinking about how you could do things differently could help you perform better in the future.Incorporate 20 minutes of “thinking time” into your daily schedule. During that time period, let yourself worry, ruminate, or mull over whatever you want.When your time is up, move on to something else. And, when you start overthinking things outside of your scheduled time, simply remind yourself that you’ll need to wait until your “thinking time” to address those issues in your mind.

4. Schedule Time for Reflection

Telling yourself to stop thinking about something will backfire. The more you try to prevent a thought from entering your brain, the more likely it is to keep popping up. Change the channel in your brain by changing your activity. Exercise, engage in conversation on a completely different subject, or work on a project that distracts you. Doing something different will put an end to the barrage of negative thoughts.

6. Change the Channel

It’s impossible to rehash yesterday or worry about tomorrow when you’re living in the present. Mindfulness will help you become more aware of the here and now. Just like any other skill, mindfulness takes practice, but over time, it can decrease overthinking. There are classes, books, apps, courses, and videos available to help you learn mindfulness skills.

5. Learn Mindfulness Skills

Overthinking can become such a habit that you don’t even recognize when you’re doing it. Start paying attention to the way you think so you can become aware of the problem. When you’re replaying events in your mind over and over, or worrying about things you can’t control, acknowledge that this isn’t productive. Thinking is only helpful when it leads to positive action.

1. Notice When You’re Stuck in Your Head

If you're an overthinker, you need (and deserve) to not think too much about everything. Here are six ways to stop today.

Destructive Thought Patterns

Similar ideas to Destructive Thought Patterns

Destructive thought patterns