Overthinking Can Be The Demise of Your Productivity

When you create a plan, are you overthinking the steps needed to reach the end goal? Does your research go on forever? Does your plan need to be perfect before you take action? Are the tasks so complicated that you just don't want to perform them?

If any of the above questions resonate with you, you may need to rethink your planning process. Perfectionism and procrastination are the enemies of productivity. There is no such thing as perfect and good enough gets the job done. Think about what motivates you - listening to music, a reward as you complete a task, inspirational quotes, whatever it is for you to stay on track to avoid procrastination.

You have an idea of something that needs to be done and you know you need a plan. A plan is a roadmap of sorts to help you get from point A-creating a plan, to point B-the end goal. It's important to have a plan. When you go on a road trip, you wouldn't begin your journey without mapping out the route, would you?

When you create a plan, you need to start with an end goal. Think about what your idea would look like if it were complete, that's the end goal. You may not understand what tasks need to be done to reach that end goal, so you start researching the idea.

The research phase may continue longer than necessary if you're overthinking what needs to be done. When you keep the plan simple, it's more likely that you will reach the end goal in a timely manner. During your research you may find several ways to accomplish the same thing. Don't linger on deciding on an option, make a decision. Set a limit on the time spent researching the options.

At the end of the research phase, you will have a list of tasks required to reach the end goal, and you should have an idea of the priority of the tasks or steps. Decide on the start date; this is when your project will begin with the first step.

The research may not have provided the amount of time needed to complete some or all of the tasks. This could be problematic if you've never performed these tasks before. This is another area where overthinking can delay getting to the implementation piece of the plan. Factor in what you believe to be a realistic time to complete each task, then add some time as a learning curve.

Schedule all of the steps in a planner - paper or electronic, whichever works best for you. Your plan, or roadmap is now ready for you to put into action to reach your end goal. If it doesn't look perfect, or you're not feeling ready to start, remember that perfectionism and procrastination are the enemies of productivity. Stop overthinking the wonderful work you just completed and take action to reach your end goal.

https://ezinearticles.com/?Overthinking-Can-Be-The-Demise-of-Your-Productivity&id=10179994

Can You Gage Your Level of Subconscious Stress?

Did you know that stress presents itself in different degrees? That it can start by something as simple as daily worries? That it accumulates in us? That it can be silently consuming our subconscious capacities? That it can still be properly handled and managed?

Although stress is quite a modern concept, Hippocrates already discussed anxiety back in the 4th century BC. It is a problem that humanity has had to deal with since the dawn of time. In spite of which, we still seems to know very little about how to handle it.

In my line of work, humanology, I come across a lot of people who suffer from all types of stress and have come to some conclusions that I'd like to share with you here today, together with a few tips and tricks in the hope that they can help you.

1. Worry, fear, anxiety and panic can be just different forms and degrees of stress: When any of those forms of fear is present in a person's life too often, chances are that they end up escalating into the next level in this progression.

2. Worry can also become a form of stress when the person can't control it. Those who can't stop worrying over things end up accumulating a lot of cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine, which are slowly released by their system each time they plan to "fix" a problem by getting ready for it. They are regularly preparing their bodies for the "bad something" to come. There are certain trends at this level:

1. Overthinking is a form of constant worry.Those who can't stop thinking without control, whose thoughts govern them, tend to always think about problems and worries. They can't seem to be able to disconnect from their worries and are therefore constantly releasing stress-based chemicals. Daydreamers are one type of overthinkers. Most daydreamers spend their time also worrying, not enjoying fun or positive imaginations.

2. The excessive need to control everything is another form of worry.Those who need to have everything under their control, the so-called control freaks, are in a permanent state of worry over their losing such control.

3.

When the worry turns into "what if... " questions, it becomes fear. Worrying over something can grow into fearing it very easily. All "what if... " questions indicate some kind of fear. "What if that doesn't work out the way I want it to? What if that other thing happens? What if that person fails... " all indicate a fear of something happening or not in the future. The worry becomes more focused and the feeling more acute. The person's body segregates bigger amounts of chemicals.

4.

Constant worry and fear have a cumulative stressful effect in us. Being in a constant state of worry or fear leads to an excess of chemicals in our bodies. Those chemicals, if not properly managed and released, will accumulate in a person's body and could grow into silent anxiety.

5.

Worry, fear and anxiety can occupy a huge part of our subconscious capacity. When a person is silently and subconsciously handling worry, fear and anxiety many hours a day, that person's brain is working overtime.

1. The person is not aware of it. The conscious part of that person's brain will deal with the conscious symptoms of worry, fear and anxiety, whenever aware of them, but the subconscious ones will still grow and multiply, making use of the person's subconscious mechanisms and capacity.

2. The mind is like an iceberg and our conscious mind is nothing but the very tiny tip. When a person suffers from chronic worry, fear or anxiety, visible, noticeable symptoms will be tackled. Unfortunately, that same person will also be subconsciously working on silent stress, trying to manage it, while it gradually accumulates inside due to a lack of adequate release mechanisms for the non-stop triggers. This reality is one of the main reasons why worry and fear can end up escalating into anxiety.

6.

When the subconscious can't handle it, the conscious mind will release it. The subconscious tries to keep up with the stress, the worry, the fear, mostly by keeping it all bottled up inside, until its mere amount is so huge, that it overflows into the conscious mind in the form of anxiety or panic symptoms. Thus, all those never-released chemicals end up forcing the person to stop and do something. By then, handling them is obviously much harder. There might be years of accumulation and poor handling.

So, then, what can we do? There are some obvious answers to that question. But maybe not so many obvious tools. Let me offer you a couple of both.

• Work with a humanologist. That is, of course, the most obvious solution J. Humanologists are experts in human beings and can expand on the understanding and tools beyond the scope of this article. Seek one out to help you recognize your level of stress, your triggers and the personal tools you need to change that trend in you. In the meantime, you can try the following tips as well:
• Stop accumulating. Yes, even though that sounds obvious, how is it done? How can an overthinker stop thinking? How can a worrier stop worrying?
• Mindfulness: Fear is ALWAYS in the future. What if... always refers to something that hasn't quite happened yet. Therefore, learning to be in the here and the now is key to those people. Learn to return from the future to the present. The more often you get back to the present, the less negative chemicals your system will be releasing. Learn and use mindfulness techniques to force yourself to be in the present as often as possible.
• Connect with the world outside. Many people who suffer from worry, fear, anxiety and panic spend their hours inside themselves. They often spend many hours in their heads. And they sometimes forget to connect with the world outside, with their reality. The more time a person spends inside, without a clear connecting line with the world outside, the greater the chance to fall into this stress trap. KEEP IN CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE REALITY at all times. Yes, introspection is great... as long as you are not disconnected from reality. Yes, meditation is great... as long as you are not disconnected from reality. Yes, being inside one's personal sphere is great... as long as you're not disconnected from reality. Then, make the CONSCIOUS effort to remain connected to reality and the outside world, no matter what. Keep on coming out for air and a clear anchor on reality.
• Time boxes. Design a certain fixed time to worry every day. Give yourself the chance to really worry for, let's say, an hour a day. AND THAT IS IT! Once the hour is over, any time your worry, fear or anxiety comes calling again, tell it to return tomorrow, for the next time box.

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Fight negative with positive. Some other happier chemicals can help you reduce the levels of accumulated cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine in your body: oxytocin, endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and the like. Learn how to release them more often and in greater quantities for two reasons:

• They fight the bad guys. Good chemicals will make you feel better and will help you relax almost immediately. Which means that the good ones will target some of the negative chemicals.
• When your body is releasing these, it can't be releasing those. Thus, if your body is busy flushing your system with wonderful oxytocin, it can't be producing the nasty products at the same time.

The positive result is therefore double: there are less bad chemicals in you because the good ones are fighting them and you're producing less because you're busy doing something else.

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Let them go! Nothing will work if you continue creating more and more of the nasty chemicals. Learn some tools to get rid of the stress you already have inside: exercise, practice laughing, apply the tools mentioned above to counteract and release the nasty bugs, and take control of your own being.

All these tips will help you handle your stress a bit better. Don't let it grow in you until it becomes unmanageable. Seek help now instead of letting it overtake you and control your will. It can be done.

Enjoy life... ALL of it,

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Stop Overanalysing Every Thought For Peace Of Mind

An Original Thought

A cascade of thoughts emerge from your mind with a life of their own. One minute everything is fine, the next you're trapped in a web of destruction.

The thoughts lead you down a trail of nothingness, overwhelming you.

How does this happen and why do you allow yourself to get caught up in the anxiety?

It's easy to become entangled in our thoughts because we experience them thousands of times a day.

Thoughts pass through our mind for no reason, and if we cling to them, they can cause emotional upheaval.

We give the most attention to thoughts related to our happiness and survival. Situations that disrupt our homeostasis are likely to result in overthinking.

However, overanalysing is a vicious cycle that doesn't achieve much other than cause stress.

"Just like the child, we get lost in mental events... The more we fixate on and pay attention to these complex mental events, the more intricate the web of complexity that we generate," states author and meditation master Orgyen Chowang in, Our Pristine Mind: A Practical Guide to Unconditional Happiness.

Contemplate this, when was the last time you had an original thought?

You may find it was weeks or months when you last encountered one. This is because you're accustomed to reacting to outside events, so your thoughts reflect what's taking place in reality.

Overthinking can lead to stress because our thoughts generate destructive emotions which affect our long-term health.

Our thoughts are harmful if we overanalyse them, instead of allowing them to pass through the mind unattached.

Recycled Thoughts

We're notorious for recycling thoughts, so much that it blemishes the present moment.

We're not really present but caught up in our minds.

Orgyen Chowang affirms, "The first step is to perceive that your mind is naturally pristine, and that your mental events are just passing through. You must deeply realize this."

Remember back to a time when you were engaged in a leisure activity such as: a sport, a hobby or spending time with friends. Recall how time passed by and you're absorbed in the present moment, not contemplating the future.

It's possible to experience more of these "flow moments" according to Hungarian psychology professor, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Being in the flow means to be in the zone. It involves being immersed in your activity, so your thoughts are present instead of stuck in the past or future.

To avoid overanalysing thoughts, you must first recognise that it's a natural process you must work with.

To accept we cannot stop negative thoughts means detaching ourselves from being invested in them. We don't get involved in the mental drama and allow thoughts to flow through the mind, unopposed.

I appreciate Orgyen Chowang's advice to practice meditation with our eyes open. He outlines three effective ways to bring our thoughts back to the present moment using the Pristine Mind meditation:

1. Don't follow the past.

2. Don't anticipate the future.

3. Stay in the present moment.

So, if we are overanalysing thoughts, we simply draw our awareness to the habit. This slows our overactive mind, so we become aware of what is taking place.

"If we want peace of mind and better self-control, we need to accept that it is impossible to control what comes into our minds. All we can do is choose what we believe and what we act on," affirms author Kelly McGonigal in The Willpower Instinct.

When driven by our impulses alone, we respond to what's taking place within. We experience runaway thoughts and emotions and wonder how we got there.

What if we identified we're overthinking and leaned away from the thoughts?

By practicing this simple process, your mind becomes attuned to experiencing thoughts without overwhelming you.

Thoughts are like horses tied to a chariot and you are the driver. If they suddenly take off, there's little you can do to slow the chariot. However, if you take the reins, you're well equipped to steer it in the direction of your choosing.

To appreciate the nature of your thoughts it's important we carve out time to relax in silence.

We're inundated with noise in our modern lives, we find it difficult to be alone in silence.

Yet, at some point we must set aside our phones, tablets or TV to carry out other tasks. This means reconnecting with ourselves and the natural flow of the mind.

"If you want to lead a more peaceful life, the primary focus should shift from external events to the inner, as a general practice," avows Jan Frazier in, The Freedom of Being: At Ease with What Is.

Many people say they have little time to meditate because their lives are too busy. It's these very people that meditation must become a priority.

Just because we can't see our thoughts doesn't mean everything is alright. During a crisis, we may fall to pieces and find it difficult to regain peace and happiness. This is because we have allowed ourselves to get caught up in the stress cycle instead of seeing it coming.

A good way to stop overanalysing thoughts is to move your body via exercise, even a brisk walk. This harmonises the body and mind so we become present, rather then dwelling in the past or future.

Do Thoughts Cause Stress?

Movement involves breathing which calms the body by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.

When overanalysing thoughts, we're caught in a sympathetic dominant state. This produces stress hormones that are catabolic. These stress hormones have an adverse effect on our long-term health if we stay in this state for too long.

The parasympathetic branch is the brake on your car whereas the sympathetic is the accelerator. If you accelerate for too long, you're bound to run out of petrol and grind to a halt or worse, crash.

The biggest movement in the Western world nowadays is mindfulness, which is bringing our thoughts to the forefront of our mind.

Psychologist and author Dr. Daniel Siegel has devised a strategy to notice destructive thoughts he calls, name and tame. When toxic thoughts emerge such as fear or anger, we recognise them and name them silently. In doing so, we become mindful instead of unconscious to our thinking.

Otherwise, we are at the mercy of our thoughts dictating our bad moods. This is clear when your mood changes for no reason throughout the day. Upon closer examination, negative thoughts have been brewing in your mind for days and have pulled you into a negative emotional state.

I enjoy Michael Neill's perspective in his book, The Space Within: Finding Your Way Back Home who states, "And the best thing about experiencing the peace of mind is that it's always available, regardless of who's disappointed in you, what they're disappointed about, and what you happen to be thinking about it at the time."

It's possible to find peace of mind with tranquil thoughts. However, it involves changing habits that no longer serve you.

If you're committed to reversing these habits, start by witnessing your thoughts more often.

Gradually, they will occupy less energy and you'll find life pleasant, without the inner chaos that often accompanies it.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Stop-Overanalysing-Every-Thought-For-Peace-Of-Mind&id=9525654

9 Ways to Calm Your Anxious Mind

Powerful research-based approaches to stop racing thoughts and move forward.

Anxious thoughts can overwhelm you, making it difficult to make decisions and take action to deal with whatever issue bothers you. Anxiety can also lead to overthinking, which makes you more anxious, which leads to more overthinking, and so on. How can you get out of this vicious cycle? Repressing anxious thoughts won’t work; they will just pop up again, sometimes with more intensity. But there are more effective techniques you can borrow from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Cognitive-Behavioral therapies.

Following are 9 strategies to help you get unstuck and move forward:

1. Attempt Cognitive Distancing

Try to see your anxious thoughts as guesses not facts. Your mind is trying to protect you by predicting what could happen, but just because something could happen doesn’t mean it will. Look at objective evidence: How likely is it that the negative outcome will actually happen? Is there anything good that might happen instead? And which do you think is most likely to happen, based on past experience and other information you have about the situation?

2. Try Cognitive De-fusion

Stop being fused with your thoughts. Think of your thoughts as moving data passing through your mind, rather than the objective truth about a situation. Our brains are hypersensitive to threat and danger because this kept our ancestors alive in the wild. Some of your thoughts may just be automatic conditioned reactions generated by a brain that is oriented to survival. Choose whether or not to believe these thoughts, rather than just accepting them.

3. Practice Mindfulness

Practice observing your thoughts, rather than reacting automatically to them. Think of your thoughts as clouds floating by. Which draw you in and which make you want to run away? Is there a way you can untangle yourself and just observe your thoughts, rather than reacting? 

4. Focus on Direct Experience

Your mind makes up stories about who you are, and about your safety and lovability. Not all of these stories are accurate. Sometimes our minds are biased by negative past experiences. What is your experience in the present moment? Is this something that is actually happening or something that might happen? Notice that they are not the same thing, even though your mind may treat them as the same.

5. Label Things

Label the type of thought you are having, rather than paying attention to its content. Watch your thoughts and when you notice a judgment (e.g., how good or bad the situation is), go ahead and label it as Judging. If you notice a worry (e.g., that you are going to fail or experience a loss) label it as Worrying. If you are criticizing yourself, label it as Criticizing. This gets you away from the literal content of your thoughts and gives you more awareness of your mental processes. Do you want to be spending your time judging and worrying? Are there less judgmental or worried ways to see the situation? 

6. Stay in the Present

Is your mind regurgitating the past? Just because something negative happened in the past doesn’t mean it has to happen today. Ask yourself if the circumstances, or your knowledge and coping abilities, have changed since the last time. As an adult, you have more choice about whom to associate with and more ability to identify, preempt, or leave a bad situation than when you were a child or teenager.

7. Broaden Your View

Are you focusing too narrowly on the threatening aspects of a situation, rather than seeing the whole picture? Anxiety makes our minds contract and focus on the immediate threat without considering the broader context. Is this situation really as important as your anxiety says it is? Will you still care about this problem in 5 or 10 years? If not, then ease up on the worry.

8. Get Up and Get Going

Worrying over an issue without creating a solution will not help you solve the problem. It may in fact make you less likely to act by feeding your anxiety. When your mind is stuck in a loop, you can interrupt it by getting up and moving around or doing a different task or activity. When you sit back down, you should have a different perspective.  

9. Decide Whether a Thought Is Helpful

Even if a thought is true doesn't mean that it is helpful to focus on it, not all the time. If only 1 in 10 people will get the job you seek, and you keep thinking about those odds, you may become demotivated and not even bother applying. This is an example of a thought that is true but not helpful. Focus your attention on what is helpful and let the rest go!

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201506/9-ways-calm-your-anxious-mind

10 Simple Ways You Can Stop Yourself From Overthinking

Here are 10 simple ideas to help overthinkers stop spinning their wheels.

Overthinking doesn't sound so bad on the surface--thinking is good, right?

But overthinking can cause problems.

When you overthink, your judgments get cloudy and your stress gets elevated. You spend too much time in the negative. It can become difficult to act.

If this feels like familiar territory to you, here are 10 simple ideas to free yourself from overthinking.

1. Awareness is the beginning of change.

Before you can begin to address or cope with your habit of overthinking, you need to learn to be aware of it when it's happening. Any time you find yourself doubting or feeling stressed or anxious, step back and look at the situation and how you're responding. In that moment of awareness is the seed of the change you want to make.

2. Don't think of what can go wrong, but what can go right.

In many cases, overthinking is caused by a single emotion: fear. When you focus on all the negative things that might happen, it's easy to become paralyzed. Next time you sense that you starting to spiral in that direction, stop. Visualize all the things that can go right and keep those thoughts present and up front.

3. Distract yourself into happiness.

Sometimes it's helpful to have a way to distract yourself with happy, positive, healthy alternatives. Things like meditation, dancing, exercise, learning an instrument, knitting, drawing, and painting can distance you from the issues enough to shut down the overanalysis.

4. Put things into perspective.

It's always easy to make things bigger and more negative than they need to be. The next time you catch yourself making a mountain out of a molehill, ask yourself how much it will matter in five years. Or, for that matter, next month. Just this simple question, changing up the time frame, can help shut down overthinking.

5. Stop waiting for perfection.

This is a big one. For all of us who are waiting for perfection, we can stop waiting right now. Being ambitious is great but aiming for perfection is unrealistic, impractical, and debilitating. The moment you start thinking "This needs to be perfect" is the moment you need to remind yourself, "Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress."

6. Change your view of fear.

Whether you're afraid because you've failed in the past, or you're fearful of trying or overgeneralizing some other failure, remember that just because things did not work out before does not mean that has to be the outcome every time. Remember, every opportunity is a new beginning, a place to start again.

7. Put a timer to work.

Give yourself a boundary. Set a timer for five minutes and give yourself that time to think, worry, and analyze. Once the timer goes off, spend 10 minutes with a pen and paper, writing down all the things that are worrying you, stressing you, or giving you anxiety. Let it rip. When the 10 minutes is up, throw the paper out and move on--preferably to something fun.

8. Realize you can't predict the future.

No one can predict the future; all we have is now. If you spend the present moment worrying about the future, you are robbing yourself of your time now. Spending time on the future is simply not productive. Spend that time instead on things that give you joy.

9. Accept your best.

The fear that grounds overthinking is often based in feeling that you aren't good enough--not smart enough or hardworking enough or dedicated enough. Once you've given an effort your best, accept it as such and know that, while success may depend in part on some things you can't control, you've done what you could do.

10. Be grateful.

You can't have a regretful thought and a grateful thought at the same time, so why not spend the time positively? Every morning and every evening, make a list of what you are grateful for. Get a gratitude buddy and exchange lists so you have a witness to the good things that are around you.

Overthinking is something that can happen to anyone. But if you have a great system for dealing with it you can at least ward off some of the negative, anxious, stressful thinking and turn it into something useful, productive, and effective.

http://www.inc.com/lolly-daskal/10-simple-ways-you-can-stop-yourself-from-overthinking.html