Sometimes action is better than words. As the quarter nears its close, all those exams loom on the horizon and words, facts, and numbers begin to swirl around in our heads, the stress of finishing the class can seem like a huge mountain we have to scale.
So we think about it – a lot. We plan, look at our plan, change it again, and think some more. Often a string of “if onlys” work their way into our brain in a chorus that doesn’t seem to stop.
And before we know it, the “if onlys” and the “I want to ace this” begin to take over our thinking and we feel immobilized. It’s as if we are standing at the edge of a swimming pool, knowing we need to jump into the water, not sure if we can swim, but afraid that if we jump something will happen and we may drown. This, my friends, is often called overthinking.
There are lots of reasons for this, but stressful situations can cause some of it and it can also lead to depression (“Why did I sign up for this course anyway?”) to the fear that we might (although at the time it can seem a certainty) fail. And then worry sets in, we start with avoiding the problem or class, and then we have set ourselves up – we fail the class and we can tell ourselves we were right.
But that doesn’t have to happen. Just knowing that there are steps we can take to stop overthinking as a problem can often make the chorus stop for a while. What are these steps? Some are simple solutions, some may take practice and some might not be what you want to do (for example, meditation is one solution that will never work for me because when I meditate, I fall asleep!). So be sure to consider each of these five steps and decide on which might work for you.
The last step is often the hardest. But if you can do that one, skip all the others and repeat step 6 until you are finished. The reward? Homework is done, project is finished, you’ve studied for the next exam and your reward can be as simple as realizing that you did it. You didn’t overthink the problem! Yeah!
So we think about it – a lot. We plan, look at our plan, change it again, and think some more. Often a string of “if onlys” work their way into our brain in a chorus that doesn’t seem to stop.
And before we know it, the “if onlys” and the “I want to ace this” begin to take over our thinking and we feel immobilized. It’s as if we are standing at the edge of a swimming pool, knowing we need to jump into the water, not sure if we can swim, but afraid that if we jump something will happen and we may drown. This, my friends, is often called overthinking.
There are lots of reasons for this, but stressful situations can cause some of it and it can also lead to depression (“Why did I sign up for this course anyway?”) to the fear that we might (although at the time it can seem a certainty) fail. And then worry sets in, we start with avoiding the problem or class, and then we have set ourselves up – we fail the class and we can tell ourselves we were right.
But that doesn’t have to happen. Just knowing that there are steps we can take to stop overthinking as a problem can often make the chorus stop for a while. What are these steps? Some are simple solutions, some may take practice and some might not be what you want to do (for example, meditation is one solution that will never work for me because when I meditate, I fall asleep!). So be sure to consider each of these five steps and decide on which might work for you.
- Meditate. See? First one on the list. Often those who practice this call it an art of non-thinking or focusing one’s thinking on something other than the issue. If it works for you, great! If not, go to step 2.
- Go with the flow. If, for example, you have to write an essay and all your thoughts and ideas keep swirling in your head, go with the flow. Write what is happening in your head down. Your brain is actually trying to make sense of all of this information and by writing your thoughts and ideas down, you can cross off the ones that don’t fit the essay, and concentrate on what you need to write.
- Rank. Ah, now this one is interesting. After you write down your flow of ideas from Step 2, rank them. See which ones are the most important and, if necessary, which ones you need to do more research on. Set the two lists aside and get the research done. Go back to your other list and see what you can do to now merge the lists together again. Do you see a theme? That may be the start of your essay.
- Give yourself a time limit. I have a goofy red rooster sitting on my desk that is actually a kitchen timer. When I need to give myself a time limit on thinking about a topic, I set the merry rooster, kick back and just think. This even works on days I feel sorry for myself. I give myself “permission” to moan for a certain length of time and then when I hear the rooster ding, it’s time to move on.
- Distract yourself. Again using the rooster, I set the timer and read a book or watch a YouTube video for a certain amount of time. During this time I am not thinking about my project, but giving myself time to enjoy something totally different. When I hear the ding, it’s back to the project. This sometimes works well if we have more than one class homework or essays to work on. Switching off actually helps to curb the urge to overthink problems because those “if onlys” don’t know which way to go and often disappear.
- Take action. This can be both the easiest and hardest thing to do. We’ve spent so much time overthinking that it can be difficult to just do something. Are you trying to get that Math homework done? Tell yourself you will do just one problem. If you solve just one, it will actually give you confidence to tackle the next one. Before you know it, the homework is done, or nearly done, and you can reward yourself.
The last step is often the hardest. But if you can do that one, skip all the others and repeat step 6 until you are finished. The reward? Homework is done, project is finished, you’ve studied for the next exam and your reward can be as simple as realizing that you did it. You didn’t overthink the problem! Yeah!