Sometimes thoughts circle around in our heads, making us second-guess every decision we must make, or in the worst-cases, they stop us from making decisions at all.
Any leader knows that thoughtful deliberation is both sensible and necessary. But when thoughts become intrusive, contradictory, or result in a stress-loop that feels impossible to get out of, this is “overthinking”. This can affect anyone, including world leaders. Former Prime Minster Anthony Eden and US President James Buchanan for example, were famously indecisive; a criticism levelled at several Presidents and Prime Ministers since.
Studies have shown that overthinking elevates stress levels, inhibits creativity, and makes solutions harder to find. The consequences can stretch beyond our professional lives, too, even leading to anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions. The good news for overthinkers, is that it’s possible to stop that negative spiral in its tracks before it does too much damage to our work or our wellbeing. In this article Rita Trehan, business transformation expert and CEO of Dare Worldwide explains.
Get some perspective
The first step to combating overthinking is noticing when you’re doing it. If the morning has slipped away as you consider one task, step back and make a note of how long it took you, what your thought process was, and any negative or contradictory thoughts that undermined your confidence or productivity.
Later, when looking back at your day, think about the decisions you made without overthinking, and compare them to the ones that overly preoccupied you. What do you notice? Is there a pattern? How does it make you feel when you overthink?
Next time you approach the sort of task that you’ve identified as triggering you to overthink, see if you can approach it differently by focusing on the most important and achievable aspects of the task at hand.
Where possible, go for the quick win. This won’t instantly stop overthinking but identifying and understanding your reactions will be useful. And by replacing these with positive action, you will start to make long-term progress.
Talk to someone you trust
Many of us are working from home. But businesses, like people, don’t exist in a vacuum and even the very best leaders (especially the best leaders) need sounding boards and feedback to help with decision-making.
Once you’ve identified the tasks that prompt you to overthink, talk to a colleague or colleagues and set up a process that will enable you to swiftly discuss and solve those problems together.
This will not only make you a better colleague or leader but will enable others to be open with you about their own feelings or limitations and will make the business culture a more nurturing and collaborative environment. The value of inclusivity cannot be underestimated in business. Earlier this year I conducted a survey of 1000 US employees to measure corporate performance and business identity. The research found that purpose, connection, and collaboration emerged as the strongest indicators of company performance.
Keep moving forwards
Decision-making paralysis is one of the most destructive results of overthinking. It can make simple tasks feel impossible, as you undermine yourself with doubts and worries at every turn.
One way to combat this is simply to push on. Even if you know that email isn’t perfect, if it’s good enough, then send it. If you don’t know the answer, find someone who you can ask.
Perfectionism can stop us in our tracks, so the answer is to find a way to build momentum again, even if it feels painstaking.
Moving forward slowly will help override negative thoughts and allow you to reach a solution by increments. If you stop completely, the problem becomes so big it can feel overwhelming.
If you can use the help of a trusted colleague (see above) and get a gauge of your own triggers, trust yourself simply to keep going, all the while noticing and accepting your responses.
Prepare for the unknown
Some of us feel happier when we know exactly what is going to happen and when. But at work, as in all areas of life, this is impossible.
Something that can help overthinkers taking some time to consider different outcomes, while not investing huge amounts of time and effort into planning for them.
Understanding that there are limits to what can be controlled, and thinking ahead about the ramifications of various outcomes, can keep your thought processes positive.
It can also help to delegate some of this planning, so that if and when the unexpected happens, there is a team in place to discuss it with.
Give yourself constructive constraints
Creative constraints is a process of forming good habits by designating specific time to thought and decision-making.
Doing this can help overthinkers to stop filling all available time with worries and fears and prevent problems that could be easily contained into ballooning issues.
For example, a CEO might give themselves only one hour to proactively think before making a key decision before Monday’s team meeting, rather than spending all week with it nagging at the back of their mind, only for it to sneak up unannounced when it is unwanted.
Put these creative constraints in your calendar, set a reminder, tell colleagues that’s what you’re doing. Make them immovable deadlines that are part of your working life. You might not stick to it at first, but if you persevere you can set an example while building positive habits over time.
Conclusion
In stressful and changing circumstances, its easy to think about all the things that could go wrong or have gone wrong in the past. Such a negative feedback loop will undermine your confidence and your productivity. Life is rarely a straight-forward linear process, and the best people have all made mistakes and will continue to. The main thing is that you press on and try to make progress – even in baby steps. This means acting, and not overthinking while you are doing it. ‘Nothing will come of nothing’ as Shakespeare wrote, so keep going!
