Overthinking

Notes

When you keep thinking or worrying about the same thing.
4 types of Overthinking:
1. Rumination about past
2. Worrying about future
3. Overanalyzing decisions
4. social anxiety

Noticing and naming - get good at identifying overthinking . Say it out loud “I am overthinking” or ask someone else to keep check on it and point it out .
Identify your triggers - What time of day, where (work/home), what kind of situations trigger it (prepare yourself and shift your focus to something else)
Set an alarm - track how much you overthink (usually happens when you have free time)

Postpone it - you can set a particular time when you will deal with it. This is a very powerful. You will learn you have lot more influence than you thought .
set time limit - say you can worry about something daily for certain amount of time (~ 30 mins)
Write it down - write whatever it is you are worrying about .
Shift focus - imagine you have remote and you are changing channel (very awful to something more calm/composed other way to look at things).

Caution

if you don’t direct your focus, you may fall back into rumination

turn attention from inner world of negative thinking to present moment
Shift Thinking - change from abstract thinking to concrete thinking. avoid overgeneralizations (Why can’t I be successful like others/ Why can’t I be happy like my friends) → leads to helplessness, self-loathing
instead of focusing on big vague things, concentrate on small actionable things
Why questions usually lead to rumination (Why am I a failure ?)/ (why do I overthink ? )
What is one small thing I can do to make myself better ?
Shift to your values - retrain your brain to think about what you really care (what do you want your life to be about ? )
overthinking → withdraw, isolate
Distraction - temporarily stop overthinking (breaking bad habit, use as first short-term step, if continued life will lack purpose)
Face your problems directly