Overthinking: How to use it to your advantage

Intro

If you’re anything like me, then you’re a massive overthinker. Before I realized that I could use overthinking to benefit me, it only ever had a negative impact on my life. I could get back from work and remember one slightly silly thing I said. That would trigger a load of negative thoughts like ‘great – now everyone thinks I’m weird’. This would spiral onto ‘Now that everyone thinks I’m weird how will I be able to call them if I need help’. This would continue until I’d worked myself up, got incredibly anxious, and started to not want to go to work the next day…

The overthinking described above is negative overthinking. It usually comes from a place of anxiety, fear, or worry. If you’re not aware that you’re doing it, it can have a negative impact on your mental health. But the opposite of negativity is positivity. And if you can overthink negatively, you most certainly can overthink positively – you just need the tools and the know-how.

Before we talk about using overthinking to your advantage we first need to understand what overthinking is and if we’re doing it ourselves…

What is overthinking?

Overthinking involves thinking about a certain situation or topic excessively and over-analyzing it for long periods of time. Whilst overthinking, it can be extremely hard to focus on anything else and you become completely consumed by what you’re thinking about. We take simple thoughts, flip them on their head, and only think about the worst possible outcomes. Overthinking is often associated with feelings of depression and anxiety. Whilst we’re all allowed to worry about certain situations, as this helps us come up with a plan to overcome that situation. Overthinking can lead you to become so anxious about the situation you try and avoid it.

4 signs you’re negatively overthinking

• You always think of worst-case scenarios
• You constantly feel worried or anxious
• You replay past mistakes over and over
• You feel mentally exhausted

If you’ve experienced any of the feelings above, then that’s totally fine and normal! You’re not alone and together we can learn how to use overthinking to our advantage!

How to use overthinking to your advantage

Now that we understand what overthinking is and if we’re doing it ourselves, we can start to learn how to use it to benefit us. Below I’ve put the step-by-step guide that I use when I feel negative overthinking creeping in…

Firstly, we need to accept that our overthinking usually stems from a place of anxiety. When I feel myself becoming more anxious, my mind picks up the pace and my thoughts quickly turn negative. When I feel this happening, I get out a piece of paper and a pen and start writing. Start asking yourself the following questions:

1. What am I anxious or worried about?

A quick sentence explaining what you’re feeling anxious about. I.e., The presentation you’ve got to give at work. Or the meal you’ve got with friends at the weekend.

2. Write down why you’re anxious/worried about it

By getting your thoughts out of your head and onto paper it can help offer you calm and clarity over the situation. Also, a lot of the time we build situations up in our head. When we see our thoughts written in front of us, it helps us realise we didn’t need to be so worried about it. Another reason to do this is to help you come up with a plan to tackle the situation.

You might write something like this:

‘I’m worried I haven’t done enough research or work for this presentation’

‘I’m worried that my colleagues will take the piss out of me for doing the presentation’

3. Read the list back and tick whatever you can control

Removing the thoughts that are out of your control allows your brain to focus on what you can control. When we can focus on what we can control it’s so much easier to take action to improve our situation as we’re not getting overwhelmed with our thoughts…

You might tick something like this:

‘I’m worried I haven’t done enough research or work for this presentation’.

4. Now you know what’s in your control you can take action to improve the situation

Now you’ve removed everything that is outside of your control, you can create an action plan. Then take action to improve your situation.

For example, if you’ve ticked something like ‘I’m worried I haven’t done enough research’. Your plan could be to spend 30 minutes after work each night doing more research, so you feel more comfortable about delivering your presentation.

If you’re still overthinking the things that are outside of your control, read the next bit…

What if I can’t tick anything that’s in my control?

If you’re someone who’s overthinking things that are completely outside of your control, then try repeating this affirmation:

‘This thought is out of my control, and I am free from anxiety and worry’.

Or if this affirmation isn’t creating a more positive train of thought, try practicing gratitude. You can either say out loud what you’re grateful for or write down what you’re grateful for. Practicing gratitude can shift your negative overthinking brain into a more positive one as gratitude can give you a hit of dopamine and raise your serotonin levels…

Conclusion

At some point in our lives, we’ll experience negative overthinking. There is nothing wrong with that. But if you have a habit of negative overthinking, it can impact your mental health and stop you from progressing in your life. I hope from reading this you’re now aware of what overthinking is and if you’re doing it yourself. You’ll also have some actionable steps you can use the next time you feel negative overthinking creeping in…