Can Overthinking Actually Make Things Worse?

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The Philosopher’s Paradox: The Meta-Cognitive Trap.

In short, yes! It took me a long time to decide to write that! I normally tend to skirt around an issue philosophizing a bit before directly writing about it. I like the ‘set up,’ so to speak. That’s because I’m more of a philosopher than an immediate action-taker.

When it comes to challenges and crossroads in life, think about how you end up making a decision: do you forcefully react to the first thought that enters your mind just to take action? Do you dispassionately consider all of your logical outcomes like a chess grand master or Mr. Spock? Do you consider your feelings as well as the feelings of others? Do you get caught in a wheel of reanalysis where you ponder over and over the pluses and minuses of each outcome ultimately defeating yourself with ‘analysis paralysis?’

When it comes to thinking through major decisions, I think all of us fall into one of these following three categories, or at least along this spectrum: re-action decision making; quantifiable decision making; paralysis non-decision making.

The most successful entrepreneurs are very self-confident decision makers with their head completely in the game. They would fall in the left-middle with the quantifiable decision makers. For them, choices are clear. However, a sense of immediacy is often needed to stay ahead of markets so a bit of snap (re-action) decision making is often the case. Cornelius Vanderbilt often reacted very swiftly and ruthlessly to his competitors in the early days sinking their ferry boats and in later years literally derailing his opponents in the race to industrialize America. I hyphenate the term re-action because there is a fine line between reaction and action! Reaction is typically off the cuff without processing the consequences; action requires processing at least some information first.

I call this the Philosopher’s Paradox! The most brilliant thinkers in the world often get trapped by their own thoughts, through their own meta-cognitive routine. As a college student I had between a 3.8 and a 4.0; however, I was a horrible test taker! I could write brilliant essays and analyze the theoretical components of models, however, give me a simple multiple-choice exam and I would often make the most preposterous choices and get even the most ‘give me’ answers wrong! Why? Because I always tend to OVERANALYZE questions. That overanalysis cost me my GPA! I think about a 101 things why something could actually make sense, making far-reaching connections that the designers of the question sets may never have considered. While this is nurtured and encouraged in the theoretical ivory towers of academia, when it comes to some of life’s important decisions, it can put me in a bind.

It’s like having all the wealth in the world but not being able to spend it! It’s like being an expert on weight lifting who’s never been in the gym! Meta-cognition is the act of thinking about thinking! Sound too theoretical? A simpler way of putting this dilemma is ‘all book smarts, no street smarts.’ The philosopher considers bodies of knowledge and the weight of past precedent: what did George Washington do in this situation? What would Alexander Hamilton say about this? How would Paul Volcker react in this situation? A philosopher would reflect on his or her mentors asking if they would approve. Sound a bit stuffy and litigious? Well, it probably is! It’s vicarious thinking!

Philosophers have literally changed the course of human history, but often indirectly through the act of advising others. To be a success through the Law of Attraction requires inspired action. The philosopher’s trap is that way too much analysis gets applied to situations where action is needed! You have to learn to trust your instincts and get in the game. You should always take the time you need to weigh the information you need, that is, to quantify your decision with facts. One of the best decision making techniques is to ask! Ask someone who you consider a trusted advisor, vet your decisions based on what another ‘set of eyes’ might have to say on the subject. Stay somewhere in this middle ground! But then again, we are all fighting our natural temperaments and predilections. Some of us are born hot-heads, others are very easy-going.

Another way to avoid analysis paralysis is to take action steps! Start by writing down solutions to the decision your are facing using my easy goal-setting technique and my technique for making positive decisions! Overthinking may also be a sign of burnout; I’ve written an article especially designed to help you get rid of burnout once and for all!

I hope this article has benefited you! Thank you for reading this article and being a part of NOW-Power!

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