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

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

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

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

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

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

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

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

mindfulness

Mindfulness

health

Health

mentalhealth

Mental Health

problemsolving

Problem Solving

6 Easy Ways to Stop Overthinking Every Little Thing (and Just Enjoy…

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” - Franklin D. RooseveltTaking the first step means going towards a different place. Somewhere new, where things may not go as we planned or expected. Taking the first step means exposing ourselves to failure and rejection.

The First Step Is Always The Hardest

The fear of taking the first step is the main thing that sabotages our dreams, both big and small. It’s precisely in that first step where most people get stuck because fear takes a hold of us. However, if we get going, then our fears will magically dissolve. As soon as we hit the road, we’ll most likely end up realizing that we’re a lot more capable than we thought we were when we began.

The Fear of Taking the First Step

Fear is much more complex as there are different varieties that hold us back. Most people hold themselves back due to the fear of:<ol><li>The unknown</li><li>Commitment</li><li>Putting themselves out there</li><li>Failing</li><li>Actually succeeding</li><li>Not being perfect immediately</li></ol>

About What We Mostly Fear

“We control our thoughts and our mind is a powerful tool in which we can use to our advantage. ” - Anonymous<ul><li>Fear keeps us comfortable with where we are at, get out of our comfort zone. </li><li>It’s easier to stay in our routine because we know what to expect day in and day out, experience the unknown. </li><li>Committing to something takes a lot of work and immediate results are rare, however commitment brings progress. </li></ul>

Key Takeaways PT. 1

<ul><li>99% of the world are consumers while we make up the 1% of creators, we’re bound to get judged and that’s okay. </li><li>Failure is only final if we don’t try or give up. </li><li>Don’t let the mindset of “More success = More problems” set you back. </li><li>You’ll never be perfect, enjoy the process of trial and error. </li><li>It’s all in our head, think and speak ourself into existence. </li></ul>

Key Takeaways PT. 2

Summary: Want to get yourself into a new habit or accomplish something new? Find out why taking the first step is so hard and how you can overcome this problem.

productivity

Productivity

career

Career

Why the First Step Is Always the Hardest

Many researches have proven that job stress could shave years off of our lives, therefore causing us to die younger than expected. 
The detrimental health impacts of pressure-filled professions are increasingly getting the attention of business leaders who are concerned with the welfare of their employees along with their productivity, because an employee's well-being is associated with firm performance.

Job Stress and Diminishing Health

Research shows that the top managers might face more health problems than their subordinates.
Taking executive positions takes a toll on their health often causing cardiovascular and immune-system illnesses. Studies showed that the likelihood of a death for upper management was 1.4 times that of lower-level employees.

Riskier for Top Managers

Work-related management pressures vary from company to company.
In order to mitigate work-related stress, additional research is needed to determine the degree and impact of stress on various white-collar workers.

Job Stress Varies From Industry to Industry

A study of General Electric employees by Tom Nicholas shows how the stress of chasing professional success can shorten an executive's life.

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Dying to Lead: How Reaching the Top Can Kill You Sooner

Mental models are tools to get clarity on how things work and helps make good decisions. This two concepts underlie everything you do.For example, how does a rocket engine work (system)? And which type of rocket fuel should you use (decision)?

What Is Mental Model ?

80/20 ruleFor example, 80% of the value you get from socializing comes from the top 20% of your friends. So, preferentially strengthen relationships with those friends and drop many of the rest. Be cognizant of nourishing the friendships that matter.Another example: 80% of your procrastination comes from 20% of your indulgences. So, place those 2-4 top indulgences out of arm’s reach, and you’ll see an outsized gain in weekly output.

Pareto principle

Make long-term life decisions using Regret Minimization: choose whichever option you’ll most regret not having pursued when looking back at the end of your life. This is how you optimize for long-term fulfillment.

Long-term Decision: Regret Minimization

Make short-term decisions using the ICE model: When facing many options needing prioritization, score each on three variables using a scale of 1-10: <ol><li>How much positive Impact the option would have if it succeeded.</li><li>The Confidence you have that this option will succeed if you attempt it.</li><li>How Easy (low resource, low time) it would be to pursue this option.</li></ol>Add the 1-10 scores together then divide by three to get your average. Repeat this exercise for each option you're considering then rank all the options by their ICE scores.

Short-term: ICE

The Eisenhower Matrix helps you make day-to-day decisions: Make a 2x2 grid with its axes labeled "Important" and "Urgent." Categorizse your daily tasks into the four quadrants and prioritize them in this order: important and urgent, important but non-urgent, unimportant but urgent, and unimportant and non-urgent.

 Immediate: Eisenhower Matrix

A blog post that makes mental models actionable. How do you rethink your life through the lens of mental models?

Mental model examples: How to actually use them

<ol><li>Accept the fact that they will be people who will surpass you in some way, and tile the fact that you might envy them. But make that feelings a way of pushing yourself to become a better person</li><li>Understand that as you gain power, those below you will feel envious to you. They may not show it but it is inevitable</li><li>Expect that when people envy you, they will work against you</li></ol>

Strategies For Dealing With Envy

Draws on the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Von Clausewitz, and others, combining them with the legacies of powerful people throughout history to offer essential ideas of the ways of power.

books

Books

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature. In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.   Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.

Robert Greene is an American author of books on strategy, power, and seduction. He has written six international bestsellers, including The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature.

Robert Greene

The 48 Laws of Power

“At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh Living with joy doesn’t hurt anything. It doesn’t diminish your drive or ambition. It doesn’t make you less intelligent. And it sure doesn’t make you any less important. Living with joy makes you free, and that freedom reminds of everything that is possible. Even the serious things.

Joy, The Ticket To Freedom And Good Spirit.

It doesn't matter if you're any good at it, and it's not "wasting time." If it brings you joy, it's worth incorporating into your life.

habits

Habits

creativity

Creativity

If It Brings You Joy, It's Not “Wasting Time”

Without an emotionally intelligent mind, we will simply live our lives at the mercy of life. Although, that’s already kind of how life works, but we have the power to control a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean ourselves. Stephen Covey called this “a lot” our Circle of Influence in his best-selling book, The Seven Habits of Effective People. Taking charge of our emotional intellect doubly causes to take charge of this Circle of Influence. And it will help us live an effective life with others and with ourselves.

How To Be Emotionally Intelligent. 

Read books concerning emotional intelligence, listen to podcasts, and watch YouTube videos.You might not need to take all the advice you see on the internet because let’s be honest, sometimes it’s just a bunch of hooey. However, like they all say, and when I say “they”, I’m not exactly sure who. But, it’s the effort that counts.

1. Constantly Educate Yourself.

Heck, start journaling. I know many people think you have to be a girl or be gay to write about your feelings, but that’s far from the truth.Spending time with yourself will need to become a priority of yours, for you to figure out your emotions; what they do to you, and how they are going to work for you.

2. Invest Yourself Into Learning About Your Emotions. 

Okay, fine. You’ve decided that you want to be a more emotionally intelligent person.You need to pay in the effort to study yourself day in and day out. Stay committed, okay. Stay. Stay. Don’t leave.

3. Be Committed To Creating Yourself. 

Sure, you might not really like yourself, and doing that is not compulsory in this task.In the end, the results always rub off on you even though you don’t expect it or do it for yourself.

4. Realize That The End Results Would Be Benefit You. 

Look around your immediate environment. Who do you notice that embodies the characteristics of someone who is emotionally intelligent, huh?There’s got to be someone, look harder. Anyway, I’d leave you to do that until you find someone. But when you do, stalk this person, and I don’t mean in a way that’d get you arrested by the police. I mean, just pay attention to their behaviours for those key details, and learn every single one of them.

5. Study The Behaviours Of Emotionally Intelligent People.

Sometimes, we know the truth, but because it’s true, we ignore it. Why? Well, the truth fucking hurts. It sucks for someone to tell you the only reason you’re liked is because of your money, so we ignore it and think it’s because we’re superb-looking when that differs from reality.Learn from places you’d least expect to learn from. When someone disagrees with your beliefs, you may not always need to fight back with all the fire and brimstone you can gather.

6. Learn To Accept The Truth. 

Honesty to others may be the best policy. But do you know what’s an even better policy? Honesty to oneself. This is because it’s harder to tell everyone the truth when you are the living manifestation of a lie.If you are honest about your strengths and weaknesses, with your emotional intelligence, you will learn at a faster rate.

7. Be Honest To Yourself. 

Have you ever fantasized about being untouchable; envisioning yourself as this impenetrable brick wall of character that people can’t fuck with no matter how hard they try.Well, you can get there. All you need to do is to make that first step to developing a higher EQ.

8.Aim To Be A Dope Ass Strong Ass Emotionally Strong Person. 

Emotional intelligence is a state you get to when you have eaten enough emotional veggies.When you are emotionally malnourished, you crash and burn when anything puts a strain on you. While those who have digested enough emotional veggies get to draw on the strength gotten from the emotional reserve, and be strong in the face of an adversary. Eat your veggies, kids.

9. Take Emotional Unintelligence As A Malnourishment. 

None of us are perfect. Everything that’s existing in the world today is because of imperfect human beings like you and me, proposing our assumptions of how things ought to be. And I can’t even name how many of these assumptions are biased towards our feelings and emotions.

10. Stop Expecting To Be Perfect. 

In previous posts, we talked about the WHY’S and the WHAT’S of emotional intelligence. Now, it’s “time” for the HOW. For one to achieve anything, time is an important factor. Without time, one can’t simply have enough time to make time. To get fulfill the how’s of emotional intelligence, we need time. Without an emotionally…

Understanding emotional intelligence: 10 ways to be emotionally intelligent.

<ol>
<li>Be vulnerable with your customers. If you're adopting initiatives to prioritize employees' wellbeing, proactively let your customers know. It helps set expectations for how they can work with you, but it also gives them transparency into your culture, values, and priorities.</li>
<li>Prioritize deep work. By having an operating system that values intentional work over time-in-meetings, people have more time to think, create, and reflect. </li>
<li>Set the tone at the top. Building a culture of flexibility and balance only works if employees feel empowered to use it. That's why your leadership team needs to be leading from the front in battling burnout.</li>
</ol>

Battle Burnout in Your Company for Good

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

3 Ways to Battle Burnout in Your Company for Good

Color can play an important role in conveying information nonverbally, creating certain moods, and even influencing the decisions people make. Given that 90% of snap judgments are influenced by the psychological effects of color alone, it’s important to know what colors mean and what responses they can elicit.

Important Role Of Color

Colors can affect what we remember. If there’s lots of red around, we’re more likely to recall negative words. Green, on the other hand, tends to make us hold on to positive ones. That may help us have a happier view of our life and a healthier state of mind.

Color And Our Memory

It is important to note that colors can be subjective—what might make one person feel cheerful can make another person feel irritated depending on the viewers’ past experiences or cultural differences.Color is not completely agreed on universally and can appeal differently to individual countries. But colors and emotions are closely linked no matter what, so we need to take their effects into account whenever we are using colors.

Colors and Feelings Are Inextricably Linked

Cool colors include green, blue, and purple. Cool colors are usually calming and soothing but can also express sadness. Purple is often used to help spark creativity as it’s a mixture of blue (calm) and red (intense). If a company wants to display health, beauty or security, incorporate these colors.

Cool Colors

Red, orange and yellow are next to each other on the wheel and are all warm colors. Warm colors often evoke feelings of happiness, optimism and energy. However, yellow, red and orange can also have an attention grabbing effect and signal danger or make we take action (think stop signs, hazard warnings and barrier tape). Red can also increase a person’s appetite.

Warm Colors

1. YELLOW: HOPE Yellow is carefree and confident. It’s not on the defensive. It acts as a shield against despair and feelings of humiliation. It’s eager for our attention. 2. ORANGE: VITALITY Orange is a little more mature, strong and threatening than its neighbour and sibling, yellow. It almost tips over into something frightening. 3. LIGHT RED: ADVENTURE A bright, light red is adventurous, witty, even a touch heartless. It’s not too bothered by what others think. It isn't harsh, just independent. It’s more interested in being followed than in being a follower.

Pt. 1: Universal Meaning Of Colors

4. DARK RED: POWERThis is the color of thrones, of cardinals, of power and pomp, of ceremony and feasts. Dark red is sympathetic to authority, favours the idea of maturity, assertive and assured.5. VIOLET: AMBIGUITYThe color evoked the idea of an infinite ‘beyond’ that was not threatening or dangerous, somewhere we could long for but which remained always just out of sight.6. LIGHT BLUE: CLARITYIt’s a color for being active. It’s undaunted, cheerful, ready to get on and face all the things we’ve been putting aside. It is logical, clear. It wants you to tidy your desk.

PT. 2

7. DARK BLUE: DISCIPLINE This is the color of order and discipline. It tells us not to give up, to search for reserves of resilience. It is resolute, reliable.8. LIGHT GREEN: SANITYLight green has the fresh, natural feel of sanity. It is summoned when we are grateful rather than envious.9. DARK GREEN: REALISMThe soothing realms of deeper, greyer green are about realism. It pulls us back to sobriety, to patience and moderation.

PT. 3

10. LIGHT BROWN: MELLOWNESSThis is a color that does not want to draw attention to itself. It is conscious of times past, and feels their wistful tug. It likes quiet. It is meditative and gentle.11. DARK BROWN: DIGNITYDignity means not having to try to impress. It's not glamorous, but deeply good and reassuring. It is solid and dependable.12. BLACK: AUTHORITYBlack is the perennial colour of fashion and sophistication in the modern world. It is strong, without illusions. It flirts with cynicism. We need black when we want to keep our cool. Black is lean.

PT. 4

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

philosophy

Philosophy

Color Your World (Or at Least Your Walls) and Change Your Mood

Positive thinking helps with stress management and can even improve your health. Practice overcoming negative self-talk with examples provided.Is your glass half-empty or half-full? How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking may reflect your outlook on life, your attitude toward yourself, and whether you're optimistic or pessimistic — and it may even affect your health.

Positive thinking: Stop negative self-talk to reduce stress

Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:<ul><li>Increased life span</li><li>Lower rates of depression</li><li>Lower levels of distress</li><li>Greater resistance to the common cold</li></ul>Better psychological and physical well-being﻿<ul><li>Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease</li><li>Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress</li></ul>

The health benefits of positive thinking

<ul><li>Increased life span.</li><li>Lower rates of depression.</li><li>Lower levels of distress.</li><li>Greater resistance to the common cold.</li><li>Better psychological and physical well-being.</li><li>Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease.</li><li>Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress.</li></ul>

Benefits of positive thinking

Positive thinking: Reduce stress by eliminating negative self-talk - Mayo Clinic

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