Think more. Overthink less.

The biggest problem with overthinking isn’t that it wastes your time. It’s that after all that thinking, you still don’t know what you actually want.

Not all thinking is the problem. Creative thinking, the kind that happens on a walk, in the shower, between things, gives your mind room. You come back with a new lens, and the solution feels obvious. It was in you all along. You just needed the space to hear it.

Overthinking is the opposite. It crowds your mind until your own voice is the last one you can hear.

Here’s how a typical overthinking spiral goes…

Option A has too many downsides, so jump to option B. B is worse, so maybe C. Or some mix of A and B with a dash of C.

Still can’t decide, let’s ask a friend. 🤔 But the friend gives you Option D, and now you kind of owe them and feel like it would be unfair not to go with what they suggested. So, now you ask your partner instead because they know you better. And on it goes…

At the end, you’ve got a mess. Hours are lost. Other people’s certainty borrowed. The worst part isn’t the wasted time, or the stress, or the workout you skipped because decision fatigue ate your day.

The worst part is that none of those thoughts were yours to begin with.

You’d think overthinking is over-connecting with your inner voice. It’s the opposite. External expectations, fear of disappointing people, the need for validation: all of these come across as “thinking” but they are not.

Overcoming overthinking isn’t about thinking less. It’s about thinking less of thoughts that aren’t yours.

Overcoming overthinking is about thinking more, actually, but only the thoughts that are yours. The kind you hear after a walk, or a shower, or a coffee with someone who doesn’t need anything from you.

Picture a runner loaded with water bottles, electrolyte packs, and extra snacks stuffed into a backpack. Each one was meant to help. But packed together, they slow you down. They harm the very thing they were meant to support.

So you drop them, one by one. You finish light, your own body doing the work.

Overcoming overthinking is the same. You shed the voices and expectations that were supposed to help, and you run with your own.

There’ll be drinking stations along the way. Corrections are possible. What matters is that the choice is yours.

No one knows better than you what you need, what you want, what you think.

Overcoming overthinking is reaching your own thoughts after shedding all those that aren’t yours. ❤️