Stop Overthinking
Overthinkers
Chronic overthinkers rehash conversations they had yesterday, second-guess every decision they make and imagine disastrous outcomes all day every day. Thinking too much prevents them from getting anything done. And it wreaks havoc on their mood.
6 Ways to Stop Overthinking Everything
Destructive thought patterns
Overthinking often involves two destructive thought patterns--ruminating and incessant worrying. Ruminating involves dwelling on the past. "I should have stayed at my last job. I would be happier than I am now.""My parents didn't teach me how to be confident. My insecurities have always held me back." Persistent worrying involves negative predictions about the future. "I'm going to embarrass myself tomorrow when I give that presentation. I know I'm going to forget everything I'm supposed to say."
Notice when you're stuck in your head
Overthinking can become such a habit that you don't even recognize when you're doing it. Practice paying attention. When you're overthinking past or future events, acknowledge that your thoughts aren't productive. Thinking is only helpful when it leads to positive action.
Keep the focus on problem-solving
If the problem is 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.
Challenge your thoughts
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?
Schedule time for reflection
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 onto something else. When you start overthinking things outside of your scheduled thinking time, simply remind yourself that you'll need to wait until your "thinking time" to address those issues in your mind.
Learn mindfulness skills
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.
Change the channel
Telling yourself to stop thinking about something will backfire. 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.
Overthinking vs. problem-solving
If you’re proactively trying to gain a new perspective, you might find thinking about an issue is helpful. If you’re repetitively thinking about how you wish things were different or imagining all the things that could go wrong, you’re overthinking. Is there a solution to this problem? Some problems can’t be solved. Am I focusing on the problem or searching for a solution? What am I accomplishing by thinking about this?
Ask Yourself These 3 Questions to Stop Overthinking a Problem
Put a Deadline on Your Thoughts
To avoid over-ruminating about a decision, give yourself a time frame to think about it. If it’s a small issue such as what paint color to paint your office, perhaps a deadline of 10 minutes is sufficient; whereas a larger decision such as whether to accept a new job offer in another city may warrant a couple of days of thought.
How to stop overthinking your decisions
Schedule Your Thinking Time
To avoid thinking about problems all day long, schedule a specific time where you give yourself the freedom to think about the issue you need to make a decision about. If thoughts about the issue creep into your brain before your scheduled thinking time, tell yourself “No, I’m going to think about that after dinner, not during this meeting”.
Problem Solving vs. Worrying
Dwelling on a problem, thinking “this is horrible, I can’t handle this” or rehashing things that happened in the past are an unproductive use of your time. Thinking about what steps you can take to improve the situation or actively thinking of a solution to the problem are helpful toward moving forward.
Take a Break
Letting the inactive parts of your brain work through the problem can let the answer come to you when you’re not expecting it. When you find yourself overthinking about a problem, try moving on to another subject or changing your physical space by going for a walk, or moving your laptop to a conference room to work on something else.
Over-thinking doesn't lead to insight
You want an understanding of which decision will be best. For this, you need a level of insight into what each decision will lead to. Thinking this through, however, is futile. Acting, therefore, leads to clarity. Thought doesn’t. Why? Because you never, ever know what something will be like until you experience it.
10 Ways to Stop Overthinking and Start Living
Your decision will never be final
You must be aware that however much critical thinking you apply to a decision, you may be wrong . Being comfortable with being wrong, and knowing that your opinions and knowledge of a situation will change with time, brings a sense of true inner freedom and peace.
Why over-thinking is harmful
Studies have shown rumination to be strongly linked to depression, anxiety, binge eating, binge drinking, and self-harm.
Keep active throughout the day
... and tire the body out. One of the reasons for over-thinking may be the fact that you have time to do so. A mind rests well at night knowing its day has been directed toward worthy goals. So consider daily exercise—any physical activity that raises heart rate and improves health.
Become the ultimate skeptic
If you think about what causes thinking to be so stressful and tiring, it’s often our personal convictions that our thoughts are actually true. Ask yourself: “Can I be 100 percent sure this is true?” By seeing the inherent lack of truth in your beliefs, you will naturally find yourself much more relaxed in all situations, and you won’t over-think things that are based on predictions and assumptions.
Seek social support, but don’t vent
Research has long shown the powerful impact of social support in the reduction of stress. But even better than that is getting a fresh, new angle on the topic. Better than confining your decisions to your own biases, perspectives, and mental filters, commit to seeking support from loved ones.
The skill of forgiveness
Forgiveness can induce the ultimate peace in people. Forgiveness has also been shown on many occasions to help develop positive self-esteem, improve mood, and dramatically improve health. It’s a predictor of relationship well-being and marital length, and it has even been shown to increase longevity.
Plan for conscious distraction
When you know the time of day rumination will begin, you can plan to remove that spare time with an activity that engages your full faculties. But be picky about what you distract yourself with, and make sure it fosters positive emotion and psychological wellbeing.
Get perspective
Solve another person’s problem first. Helping others puts your issues in order by reminding you that we all go through tough times, some much more than you ever will. That’s not to discount the struggles you’re going through, but helping others will restore balance and harmony in your life.
"Perfect" decisions
Don’t worry about the perfection of your decisions. Be swift to move forward, even if it is in the wrong direction. Boldness is respectable; carefulness has never changed the world.
Dangers of being an overthinker
It increases your chances of mental illness . And as your mental health declines, your tendency to ruminate increases. It interferes with problem-solving . It will cause you to dwell on the problem rather than look for solutions. It disturbs your sleep . You'll be more likely to toss and turn for hours before you drift off.
Science Says This is What Happens to You When You Overthink Everything
Put things into a wider perspective
When you are thinking and thinking about something ask yourself: Will this matter in 5 years? Or even in 5 weeks? It allows you to stop thinking about something and to focus your time and energy on something else that actually does matter to you.
How to Stop Overthinking Everything: 12 Simple Habits
Set short time-limits for decisions
For small decisions like if you should go and do the dishes, respond to an email or work out, give myself 30 seconds or less to make a decision. For somewhat larger decisions that would take you days or weeks to think through in general, use a deadline for 30 minutes or for the end of the workday.
Stop setting your day up for stress
Get a good start , that will set the tone for your day. (read or work-out and then start with the most important task of the day). Single-task and take regular breaks . This will help you to keep a sharp focus during your day and to get what’s most important done while also allowing you to rest. Minimize your daily input , especially from social media consumption. It will clutter your mind as the day progresses.
Become a person of action
When you know how to get started with taking action consistently each day then you’ll procrastinate less by overthinking. Set deadlines and a good tone for the day. Take small steps forward and only focus on getting one small step done at a time.
You cannot control everything
Trying to do so simply doesn’t work because no one can see all possible scenarios in advance. Trying to think things through 50 times can be a way to try to control everything. To cover every eventuality so you don't risk making a mistake, fail or looking like a fool.
Don't get lost in vague fears
Ask yourself: "What is the worst than can happen?". You will find that the worst that could realistically happen is usually something that is not as scary as what your mind running wild with vague fear could produce.
Get plenty of good quality sleep
When you haven’t slept enough then you become more vulnerable. Vulnerable to worrying and pessimism. To not thinking as clearly as you usually do.