Overthinking, the Killer of Initiative

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Live Your Life On Purpose

6 min readJun 5, 2019

You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your own false thoughts. ~ Jack Ma

Many of us spend a lot of time deciding what to do and what not to do. We become confused with what has been taking place and which way to go for in order to get a better solution. Therefore, lets first understand what overthinking is according to Google’s definition:-

“Think too much about something!” — Now, some might think it is bad but let me tell you — Overthinking is good if you are thinking in the correct direction like planning your future, aiming to score high by working on a particular thing in the present time. Then it’s okay. This results in constructive thinking which helps you to set a goal and work upon it with deadlines.

How to stop overthinking?

The Overthinking becomes a Villain when it is not resulting in productive thinking and is based on Beliefs and not on Reality.

For example, if you are going to a party and you are too much worried about your looks then this results in overthinking. Questions like — “What they will think, how I look?”, “Is my dress properly matched?”, “Do I smell good enough?” and after reaching the party — “Are the people at that corner laughing at me?”,”Am I being too conscious?”, “Do people think I am not up to the mark?” etc.

This is overthinking which results in rotten up thoughts and at the end, even if everything was fine, you might land up creating a scene. For example, You might bump onto someone out of blue, you might drop things from hand and break them, you might introduce yourself wrongly, you might say misinterpreting words, etc.

Our world is as we look at it!!

This is taken from one of the famous Sanskrit sayings — “Yatha Dristi, Tatha Sristi” means the world looks like as we want to see it, not the other way round. It is an illusion of thoughts that everything is hard and nothing is possible and it is also an illusion of thoughts that everything is easy and nothing is tough. Therefore why to stick to illusion, tie yourself up with reality.

For example, you are reading this blog, this is a reality, you don’t need anyone to prove it to you. Similarly, think on the basis of reality you will definitely find grounded solutions to your problems.

Turn your dreams into reality but don’t get wounded by the reality to make your dreams. ~ Ranveer Singh (Bollywood movie: Gully Boy)

How to take Initiatives?

Before even you think of taking an initiative, you should be aware of how to do the following:-

Stop Procrastination

It has been seen that procrastination is a result of overthinking. Sometimes you just procrastinate or leave the work because of laziness. Later on, when you finally decide to do, it has already become a pile-up and you have no idea where to start from. Then you again slip into the overthinking because you feel it is easier to do than to work out the problem at hand.

Prioritize and Execute

This has been practiced in the Army for decades. People are kept under severe situations and are told to take steps. That time it becomes no matter of overthinking but constructive thinking which can control matters at hand. This is called prioritize and execute.

Instead of overthinking about what had happened or what will happen, take a stand on what I can do in the present moment. This will help you to pave a path.

Ask three questions:

What: This will help you to clarify your vision on the goal.

How: This will help you to make the path from the current to the goal.

Why: This will help you to answer the GOAL STATEMENT.

While forming these questions, a lot of things will come to your mind(Overthinking) — but prioritized the one which has the maximum importance.

Write them down. It has been proven by scientist and psychologist that if we jot down things, it becomes clearer and we will be able to think properly about it. That’s why writing and studying are taken to be an effective way of learning.

Set Deadlines by Breaking Down into Sub-Goals

Highlight the things according to deadlines. Then divide the problem into sub-parts and give yourself the responsibility of particular parts of it that you have to finish by each day. These milestones will help you get to the main goal by accomplishing the small goals.

For example, you have an exam coming up and you haven’t prepared anything. The exam is after 5 days and you are suffering from overthinking. Then, first of all, divide the syllabus into a number of chapters to be studied.

Check the most important parts first, then the lesser and so third, so forth. This will brief you the thing that you have to complete. Start by reading as a storybook, this will increase the similarity(half the battle is won!:)). Then when you re-read it you will easily remember the concepts. This is applicable to every walk of life.

Take small steps at a time.

This will help your brain to process (the Reality Approach) and it gets scared by the theoretical thing(the illusion Approach). Therefore Stick to reality.

Our brain takes guidance or learning through to process either by “Emotion” or by “Action”. The emotions make us think sensitively resulting in weak approach whereas the action full thinking helps us to deal with the situations and pushes us to find ways out.

Emotions result in IMPRESSIONS in our brain which stimulate us to GIVE UP. These result in demoralizing, stress, depression and loss of opportunities.

Your DEVOTION is the result of your EMOTION. ~Bhagavad Gita(Indian Mythology)

Lord Krishna told Arjun, one of the PANDAVAS (Warrior of Good) to have faith in actions and not care about the consequences.

The consequences are illusions and since in Mahabharata(the battle of Good and Evil), Arjun should not break down emotionally(Overthinking) as he was going to fight against his brothers, relatives, teachers, and friends. He should prioritize his responsibility as it is his duty to get back city capital Indraprastha.

Actions result in VISIONS in our brain which help us to form the way to success. The distance from the result can also be calculated. It gives us a BIGGER CLEARER PICTURE of the situation and tactics to handle them.

Thus you know now what to do, why to do and how to do. Taking initiative is an effective way to tell others that you are capable to handle situation and overcome overthinking.