The cost of overthinking is even higher than you imagine.

This leads you to spend too much time deliberating that you otherwise could have spent on action. This turns a helpful thought into a debilitating worry. It takes you backwards, not forwards. And, like research showsthis can lead to physical and mental health problems.

Overcoming Overthinking Takes trust, resilienceAnd mental strengthsomething I’ve been studying for three decades and talked about in my recent book, “The mentally strong leader.”

But you might be surprised to learn that one of the most powerful ways to channel your mental strength to stop overthinking comes down to just two words: replace “What if?” with “We’ll see.”

Overthinkers keep asking themselves, “What if?” » This is a question that is impossible to answer. If you find yourself asking, “What if?” ” try quickly moving to “We’ll see,” which is a way to move past analysis paralysis and embrace it.

Say you gotta give a great presentation at work but you find yourself ruminating about everything that could go wrong: “What if I forget what I was going to say? What if the public disagrees with my conclusions?

Instead, try telling yourself, “I know I’ve done the work to prepare, so now we’ll see what happens.” »

Saying “We’ll see” helps you stop the inner chatter. There is a tone of finality, as opposed to the “What if…?”

The underlying implication is that you have done the work, thinking, analysis and other necessary preparation. Now is the time to see where all this and the situation takes you.

6 More Powerful Tips to Stop Overthinking

To equip you as best as possible, here are six other tips that I have personally taught to chronic thinkers and with great results.

1. Reopen the door only when new information hits

Overthinking Becomes Excessive When You Keep Revisiting your decisionsrefusing to close the door on a call you’ve already made. This creates uncertainty and confusion for yourself and others, and will eat away at your confidence.

Make decisions based on the best information you have at the time, then move forward. Don’t go back unless you get new information or context.

If you find yourself doubting a decision you’ve made, tell yourself, “Only revisit what has been reframed.” In other words, only reopen a decision when new information forces you to consider it differently.

2. Distinguish between overthinking and problem solving

Constantly ruminating and considering scenarios and possibilities often disguises itself as problem solving. He feels as if you are doing something useful and productive. But that’s not the case. You just go around in circles.

If you catch yourself in a moment like this, ask yourself, “Am I solving the problem or am I just surrounding it?”

3. Assume you have good intentions

Such overthinking comes from reading too much into things, assuming bad intentions, and over-examining what someone says or does. You might jump to the conclusion that someone is trying to inflict pain on you in some way or is simply trying to further their own self-interest.

However, the vast majority of the time this is simply not the case, so why assume that this is what is happening?

If you find yourself on the wrong side, tell yourself: “Their Inthe tent does not distort its defraudtent.”

4. Embrace “informed ignorance”

You can’t see the future, read minds, or know everything. So don’t try.

Uncertainty leads us to overthinking because our brain wants answers. These “answers” ​​tend to take the dangerous form of assumptions, which are often inaccurate or misguided.

Instead, when faced with uncertainty, learn to embrace “informed ignorance.” That is, after thinking as best you can about the implications associated with uncertainty, accept the truth that you cannot know everything you would like.

That’s not how life works. And thinking harder, longer and over and over again does not activate the crystal ball.

5. Stop catastrophizing

Resist taking small details and turning them into questionable conclusions. Stop making a mountain out of a molehill, by unnecessarily amplifying the impact of something trivial.

It’s hard not to dwell on the dire possible consequences. But remember, it’s just your imagination that takes over. You don’t want create a self-fulfilling prophecywhere your apocalyptic thinking creates unnecessary energy that contributes to the type of outcome you fear.

Ask yourself, “What concrete evidence do I have that this bad outcome will actually happen?” »

6. Assess the true impact of an error

We often feel the need to overthink because we fear the consequences of our mistakes. It might be a good idea to overthink things if you’re considering jumping a motorcycle over the Grand Canyon or going swimming with a great white shark. As for the decision you made at that meeting yesterday? Not so much.

Ask yourself at times like this what the realistic cost of making a mistake is. When you can lower the stakes, you increase your ability to free yourself mentally.

Scott Mautz is a speaker, trainer and LinkedIn Learning Instructor. He is a former senior executive at Procter & Gamble, where he led several of the company’s largest multi-billion dollar businesses. He is the author of “The Mentally Strong Leader: Develop the habits needed to productively regulate your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. “Follow him on LinkedIn.

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