Overthinking and The Spaces Between Thoughts: Mental Strength Tip #162

How to stop overthinking is an essential aspect for personal success and personal growth.

In order to progress in our human development we must take time to contemplate personal development as well as various topics of personal growth, such as how to stop overthinking, which is exactly the intention of these virtual personal coaching sessions.

Personal success is achieved through the disciplined execution of a fully established personal development plan.

These virtual personal coaching sessions are to assist you in your self-improvement, personal growth and personal development.

If you’re someone who spends a lot of time “in your own head” mulling over things ad nauseam, you may think you’re alone.  You’re not… Not by a long shot!

Overthinking is a natural part of life for many of us, even when we’re not aware we’re doing it.  Research has shown that overthinking is prevalent in young and middle aged adults, with 73% of 25-35 year-olds identified as overthinkers.

More women (57%) find themselves overthinking than men (43%), which is a significant difference.  This means the majority of women are overthinkers, and the majority of overthinkers are women.

Take your time with this topic, carefully consider your responses to the questions and write them down.  Personal growth is not supposed to be easy, it takes courage to face yourself.  But when you develop the courage and mental strength to do actually this, you will be building confidence.

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Objective of this Mental Strength Tip on Overthinking

To help you understand the benefit of creating space between your thoughts for optimal thinking.

Let’s Get Started:

When Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” this is most likely not what he had in mind. Persistently dwelling on distressing situations from the recent or distant past (called rumination, as in that thing a cow does when it constantly rechews food) can be one of the most destructive mental habits. It’s closely linked to depression, and it can sap our confidence, our ability to solve problems, and our sense of control over our lives.

This consistent overthinking is actually filled with brief “pauses” in the stream of thoughts.

All peak performers know to rest in the space between their thoughts.

Questions to Uncover Beliefs about Overthinking:

• Do you believe clarity and depth of thoughts are created when you are overthinking?
• Do you believe the brain has a limited capacity for thought?
• What do you believe are the most effective tools for how to stop overtaking?

Unsupportive Beliefs about Overthinking:

• I don’t have time to escape my overthinking.
• You can stop overthinking if you’re mentally strong enough.
• Overthinking has no adverse effects on decision making.

Mental Strength Beliefs about Overthinking:

• Mental and cognitive rest and recovery are as important as physical rest and recovery.
• Psychological rest is a catalyst for creativity.
• Escaping from overthinking will boost your physical and mental energy

Outrageous Questions about Overthinking:

• Are you using the space between your thoughts for rest and recovery as a peak performance stagey?
• If you built in more mental rest and recovery into your daily schedule would you be more successful?
• What mental recovery strategies have you used in the past and how did they work for you?

Reflective Questions about Overthinking:

• Do you believe mental recovery is an excuse for goofing off, or it is an effective peak performance strategy?
• Is it possible you are underestimating the magnitude of the impact escaping overthinking can have your reasoning ability?
• How do you make the distinction between emotional, mental, physical and spiritual overload?

Mental Strength Coaching on Overthinking:

Overthinking isn’t something you’re born doing, it’s a learned habit you form over time, probably as a defense mechanism to the possibility of failure.  So before going any further, let’s see what we can do about it.

One reason that we may be primed to ruminate: Our memories are linked by powerful emotional associations. When an unpleasant event puts us in a despondent mood, it’s easier to recall other times when we’ve felt terrible.

If you find yourself overthinking, you need to change the channel in your mind immediately.  Simple, right?  It mostly is.  The caveat here is that while the solution is simple, putting it into action takes ongoing practice.

But just like most things, the more you do this, the better you’ll get at it next time and the time after that.  Here are some ways you can change your current thought process:

Final Thought

Here are few things you can do to help stop overthinking:

1. Avoid situations and people that can lead to overthinking.
2. Be mindful about how you talk to yourself.
3. Commit to a project that maps to your goals.
4. Distract yourself.
5. Enforce a time limit to your thinking and document your thoughts.
6. Turn overthinking into a next action in a project plan
7. Realize that being perfect isn’t possible.
8. Work through overcoming fear.
9. Think about the big picture.
10. Grab a copy of Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior.

You can get started today on stopping overthinking and request your Introductory Consultation by going HERE.