5 Ways To Stop Overthinking

Ever heard of the term “Analisys Paralysis”?  This is something that happens whenever you over analyse a situation without taking any action.  Your own thoughts paralyze you with different mental scenarios you’ve considered, about what you’re facing.  This is more commonly known as Over-Thinking, a human condition that most of us face from time to time, some more than others.  Fortunately there are ways in which this “condition” can be combated and minimalized, and here are five of them.

1- MEDITATION

A regular practice of meditating for at least 20 minutes a day will go a long way towards helping you stop overthinking.  The practice of meditation helps you build will power, mindfulness and focus, which are key elements in controlling what thoughts and how many of them, are being processed at any given time.  This will allow you to be more present and your thoughts not dwelling in the past or fearing the future, but enjoying the here and now.

2- DECISIVENESS

Being decisive is having the ability to make a decision on how to proceed and following through with it. The quality of being decisive is a key factor in battling overthinking, because the sooner you can make decisions the less time you spend thinking about them and not acting.  One way to improve your decisiveness is to implement a time limit on decisions you have to make.  Over time this will becoming second nature and thinking on your feet will become normal to you.

3- REGULAR EXERCISE

Developing a regular work out regime will benefit you in several ways towards overcoming overthinking.  Despite the obvious health benefits, maintaining a regular exercise schedule will help you develop self-discipline, which will overlap into other areas of your life.  Having a disciplined mindset in the way you approach things will allow you to be less undecided and take more action, which will lessen overthinking.

4- SOLIDIFY YOUR VALUES

Having a set of values is similar to having a belief system that influences how you live your life and what you consider important to you.  Having a clear identification of what your values are makes it easier to organize your thoughts when facing any given situation.  How you view the situation as well as whatever decision you make will be processed through the lense of your value-system, therefore shortening the time taken to make a decision.

5- LIVE WITH PURPOSE

Living your life with purpose brings direction in your life, which means confusion is something you rarely experience.  Most of the decisions you’d make, and even the mind-sets you’d adopt, would mostly be based on furthering your life-purpose which would naturally make you someone that spends less time thinking and more time taking action.  Purposeful living is among the most powerful weapons against overthinking

Overthinking is one of those very subtle weaknesses, but significantly dangerous in how much it can hold you back.  The less we can be paralyzed by our own thoughts the more proactive and less burdened we can be in how we go about living our lives.  The less occupied you are by your thoughts, the happier you are.