How can we improve daily productivity? What harm does overthinking bring us? Find out more here!
There are many instances when things or facts are simply staring at us right in the face, but we just can’t stop overthinking everything! This behavior kills our work productivity and efficiency, but what can you do to prevent this?
Where we have ample time to ourselves, we are highly prone to overthinking. Analyzing the methods you can adopt to achieve your goals is a positive thing. On the other hand, overanalyzing could lead to analysis paralysis that largely affects your productivity and hinders us from achieving our goals.
Our analysis of things can prove to be a double-edged sword. With the internet at our fingertips, we are now facing the “Paradox of choice”. Although the internet helps with making better choices and results, it also gives rise to a plethora of other emotions such as greater anxiety, indecision, dissatisfaction, etc.
Instead of empowering us to make better choices, this unlimited access to information often results in us fearing wrong decisions, which ultimately spirals into a seemingly inescapable purgatory of analysis paralysis, getting us nowhere on our important projects/ goals/ etc.
How can you prevent this dilemma of analysis paralysis?
- 1. To-Do List
- 2. Create Urgency
- 3. LESS Passive Learning & MORE Active Practising
- 4. Put things into perspective & STOP striving for perfection!
- STOP comparing. STOP striving for perfection. GO at your own pace.
- 5. What do you have to lose?
- Don’t dwell upon your mistakes like they say “Don’t cry over spilled milk”.
- Stop thinking so much. Just start doing!
1. To-Do List
A to-do list may seem like a hassle, but it is an important aspect of putting everything together. It helps you to visualize the things you need/want to accomplish in the day or week ahead. On top of that, it gives you a clearer picture of your priorities, helping you to work more efficiently ahead.
A tip is to come up with your to-do list the night before or in the early morning. I prefer writing a weekly to-do list, rather than typing daily, such that I have more flexibility in the timeframe of accomplishing my tasks throughout the week.
2. Create Urgency
“If you give yourself 30 days to clean your home, it will take you 30 days. If you give yourself 3 hours, it will only take you 3 hours!”
This applies to your goals, ambitions, potential, and projects too!
There are many ways you can go about creating urgency in your life. This is how I do it:
- Break down your goals into smaller parts that when accomplished, helps to build your progress towards your final aim.
- Gamify the process of reaching your goal by introducing penalties and rewards. When you miss a deadline, punish yourself with something you dislike doing, but will still motivate you to advance towards your ultimate objective.
For example: One of my goals is to attain the JLPT N2 qualification in the Japanese Language by 2021. I break down that goal such that I need to practice speaking at least 10 hours monthly and complete my “500 questions” workbook within 3 months.
When I accomplish my monthly goal, I can reward myself by treating myself to a good meal, and when I did not hit my goal for the month, I’ll reduce my monthly spending money for the upcoming month.
3. LESS Passive Learning & MORE Active Practising
We might think that learning and practicing something new is the same thing, but in actuality, these two methods can bring you profoundly different results.
Here’s an example to better illustrate the difference:
- Goal: Get stronger, leaner, and fitter. To achieve this, you can research all you want on the various gym workouts, techniques, etc. But, the only way to build strength is through practicing these workouts and techniques in the gym with the physical weights.
- Goal: Building a startup company. We all have to start somewhere. You can watch videos on expert pitches, learn sales pitch tips online, but the only way to actually land customers is to practice making sales calls to improve your pitching skills.
“Passive learning creates knowledge. Active practice creates skill.” — James Clear
All of our goals should have action plans, and on our journey there, continuously practicing the skills needed to get there is an important step to bringing you closer to your objectives.
4. Put things into perspective & STOP striving for perfection!
Learn to accept your best work. Striving for perfection is just unrealistic and impractical. Aside from that, striving for perfection also hinders you from any progress when you are so fixated on the idea of attaining a certain pre-defined standard.
Don’t compare yourself to other’s successes. What they let up may just be a front. You would never know how hard or long they have been working behind the scenes when everyone else is putting him/her down. When you keep comparing, it will keep chipping at your morale, eventually persuading you to give up.
STOP comparing. STOP striving for perfection. GO at your own pace.
5. What do you have to lose?
Fear is a huge element that hinders people from taking the plunge and making bold moves to get ahead with their goals. Reduce your anxiety by visualizing the things that can go right, and not wrong. This will help to remove the fear, helping you take the first step forward, be it in starting a business, or your personal goals.
The only thing you will lose by not taking that first giant leap ahead is the opportunity and the future ahead that it might bring you. If you’re afraid of taking a big leap, how about baby steps instead? Nobody will be there to enforce or regulate your actions! You will be your greatest enemy when it comes to self-doubt, confidence, and just taking the first step forward.
Surely, along the way, you may lose some, if you’re starting a business, but nothing is rosy in life, right? You win some, you lose some. So don’t be overly dejected by just one loss because there will be bigger hurdles coming your way. Just take these losses and negativity, as a stepping stone and a learning point, and move on.
Don’t dwell upon your mistakes like they say “Don’t cry over spilled milk”.
Moving onto or starting something new may be challenging, but I wish you all the best in your future endeavors up ahead, and don’t be afraid of moving forward or taking the plunge!
Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. — Ralph Waldo Emerson