A lot of people overthink and get anxious.
Many people overthink their lives, careers, love, and more things. Things that you perhaps shouldn’t worry too much about.
But it happens a lot.
Things like the fear of losing control, perfecting everything, and the endless stream of information that’s coming at us.
To help those people, here are 3 micro habits to stop overthinking.
1 — Focus on what you can control
One of the main reasons why we overthink certain things is because we have the urge to control everything.
But at the same time that urge is bad for us.
Just like one of the fundamental stoics Marcus Aurelius believed, you shouldn’t focus on things you can’t control and definitely don’t worry about them because you have no control over them.
That also means that you shouldn’t worry about the things you can control because you can change them.
If you choose not to, don’t complain.
Then it’s just a lack of willpower and strength.
If you stop focusing on the things that aren’t within your reach of control you can limit the amount of things you overthink.
How to apply this on a daily basis? Try to remember this rule of Marcus Aurelius and when you feel like worrying about something ask yourself the question whether it’s in your control or not.
If it’s not, just let it be and accept it.
By stopping overthinking you:
Regain mental clarity
Allow yourself to focus on the important things in your life only
Reduce stress
Become much happier
And that’s what we all want to achieve.
2 — Don’t absorb too much information
Back in 1900, you were only getting information from the newspaper.
Or at last when you spoke to people in local communities. There wasn’t a central hub to get your news or information from and therefore less to worry about.
Less information = less overthinking.
Because you didn’t know what to overthink — it seems impossible nowadays.
But is it?
There are many ways to get your information: social media, digital news, articles, websites, chats, email, everywhere.
Your phone is the big central hub of that.
You can simply turn it off to limit your information stream but that’s not always the best option because you need your phone for essential things like work, school, or when a relative needs your help.
The things you don’t want are notifications from the outside.
Most phones have an option to limit this. Turn off your notifications from Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and even your texting.
You can allow some notifications to get through though.
I only have my family on.
The rest is all muted and is only visible to me when I want to take a look. I’m not hearing or seeing any of the other apps.
Now my phone is a tool again and I’m no longer a slave for attention.
3 — Celebrate small accomplishments
We also overthink our victories.
Small achievements are often not good enough for us and we try to make everything perfect.
While in reality, you can’t be perfect.
And that stresses us out.
We overthink our achievements and want to perfect them in ways that nobody can even notice except for ourselves.
Sometimes, the small accomplishments are enough.
Being able to be happy with small tasks completed increases your happiness.
It’s motivation.
You’re adding more motivation to the tank and then using that to accomplish more things. So in the end it’s better to celebrate small things than keep going about huge tasks that never end.
Allow yourself some space and stop overthinking your achievements.
Final thoughts
The skill of ‘not overthinking’ is important.
Especially in 2024 where there’s so much you can worry about. Life’s not easy but you’d have to find a way to make it as easy as possible for yourself and that includes:
Stop thinking about the things you can’t control.
Limit the amount of information you absorb.
Don’t overthink your accomplishments.
Celebrating small accomplishments.
Stop overheating your brain by stopping overthinking.
Hey Bryan, this was a great read! I totally resonate with this. I used to have tons of anxiety and would make mistakes because of it, then I would get more frustrated with myself. Everything changed for me when I stopped worrying about what I could control, started writing more to gain self awareness, and started deleting some apps. Thank you so much for this! Your newsletter is awesome by the way! Just subscribed! :)
Great piece 🌿