7 ms·

Stop overanalyzing and become the best version of yourself

35 points by signaler 11y ago

nvivo 11y ago
How do you stop overanalysing things if this problem itself requires analyzing which things you're overanalysing and which ones really benefit from overthiking? It's an honest question. I know I'm doing it right now and I can't help it.
- witty_username 11y ago
  Perhaps generalizations aren't true.
- ThomPete 11y ago
  Overanalyzing happens when there seem to be a right answer between several competing answers. But this is the point where you need to stop thinking and start feeling. Your intuition is as important an analytical tool and the best executioners have a natural balance between analyzing and intuition. So if you know you are overanalyzing stop thinking and start feeling.
  - njohnson41 11y ago
    A "right answer between competing answers" just sounds like a high-entropy belief state over the correct action to take. This doesn't mean you're overanalyzing, it means you don't have enough information to be sure of your decision. If that's the case, you won't get anywhere by analyzing more (although more research may help); "feeling" will just let you be overconfident in whatever you come up with, because you won't understand or question how you came up with it.
    - ThomPete 11y ago
      It doesn't mean you are but you most probably are. Furthermore I would claim that very rarely is it the case that you just don't have enough information if you have analyzing something. So in theory you are right but in reality it's never really the case.
    - agumonkey 11y ago
      And it will be easier to deal with failure because you did what believed in. Less regrets.
  - taphangum 11y ago
    Very helpful answer, thanks!
  - mercer 11y ago
    How would one 'start feeling', exactly? I often get the impression that my feelings lag behind my rational thought, and I'm not sure how to go about changing that.
    - hoers 11y ago
      Meditation is a way, it needs a bit of training but with some sound guidance and regular practice you can get some good results in a few weeks or so and they're really worth it. Apart from that: Do something else. Have a walk. Eat some kale ice cream. And maybe you'll find Burroughs' word to be true: "Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer."
      - mercer 11y ago
        Thanks! I've started with meditation and it does seem to help. Or at least it doesn't hurt and forces my mind to relax, even if just for ten minutes. Changing up my behavioral patterns is also something I'm working on.
- hyperpallium 11y ago
  you don't need to know a man's exact weight to know he is fat it's about thresholds. the assumption is that ever-finer measurements (analysis) won't suddenly blowup into huge changes in weight (outcome)
- im3w1l 11y ago
  As long as the time spent thinking about something is small compared to the time spent doing it, you're fine. Since you will probably spend on the order of tens of thousands of hours analysing things in your life, spending about twenty minutes analysing your thinking process is no big deal (referring to "I know I'm doing it right now") Now sometimes you want to spend even more time analysing then the above rule suggests. When to do that is harder and requires a good intuition of the potential gains you could get by thinking a little bit more.
- mattkamper 11y ago
  For purely rational analysis of something like say the prisoners dilemma, you only need to use overanalysis or metaanalysis or super rationality where normal analysis fails, which is typically when the problem created a paradox or an inconsistency. But for stuff like life choices or muddier problems, feeling is often the best option because all types of analysis will fail with insufficient data.
dominotw 11y ago
>I always had a very analytical mind Really? As opposed to what?
- svisser 11y ago
  Dreamy non-analytical mind?
  - ExpiredLink 11y ago
    holistic?
- Niksko 11y ago
  Some people don't give a shit, and are perfectly happy to go through life this way. Case in point, my boss at the moment does something I've noticed quite often in stupid people. As soon as the train of thought requires more than about 10 or 15 seconds of quiet thinking and analysis, he immediately changes the subject. He either changes the subject to something that (to my mind) is completely unrelated, or he makes some vague self-affirming statement. On the one hand, this is annoying as fuck. On the other hand, if I look at it objectively, his brain is just wired that way. He doesn't have the capacity to break down an argument or situation to its atomic level, so his brain compensates by changing the subject and continuing the analysis, albeit on another topic. It's really just another manifestation of the idea that our brains are constantly analysing things, but it just so happens that this manifestation is incredibly frustrating to anybody who enjoys getting to the bottom of and solving problems.
  - ThomPete 11y ago
    An analytical mind is not what makes people millionaires, its not what makes the musician great at playing, the artist great at painting or the programmer great at programming, its not even what makes the investor great at investing. An analytical mind is itself a hinder for making decisions so you need to strike a balance.
    - druddha 11y ago
bnegreve 11y ago
Thanks but obviously I already know all these things because I've spent hours thinking about it:) The question remains how do I stop?
jcroll 11y ago
This article identifies a possible truism but offers no advice or even contemplates what to do about it.
colund 11y ago
Don't be too self-concious. Don't worry about what other people will think about you. Think about what YOU WANT and the rest will follow.
dgreensp 11y ago
If you want to learn about quieting the part of the mind that won't turn off, read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. If you want to learn about overcoming "resistance," read Steven Pressfield, e.g. The War of Art . The OP touches on both ideas but I don't see how it connects them. It also contains some all-too-commonly unexamined subtext. Is Richard Branson really the "best version" of all of us? Is an appetite for risk the only thing necessary to start and operate many large businesses, or don't you also need to cultivate an interest and aptitude for business, management, and people over the course of your life?

35 points by signaler 11y ago

nvivo 11y ago

How do you stop overanalysing things if this problem itself requires analyzing which things you're overanalysing and which ones really benefit from overthiking? It's an honest question. I know I'm doing it right now and I can't help it.

witty_username 11y ago
Perhaps generalizations aren't true.
ThomPete 11y ago
Overanalyzing happens when there seem to be a right answer between several competing answers. But this is the point where you need to stop thinking and start feeling. Your intuition is as important an analytical tool and the best executioners have a natural balance between analyzing and intuition. So if you know you are overanalyzing stop thinking and start feeling.
- njohnson41 11y ago
  A "right answer between competing answers" just sounds like a high-entropy belief state over the correct action to take. This doesn't mean you're overanalyzing, it means you don't have enough information to be sure of your decision. If that's the case, you won't get anywhere by analyzing more (although more research may help); "feeling" will just let you be overconfident in whatever you come up with, because you won't understand or question how you came up with it.
  - ThomPete 11y ago
    It doesn't mean you are but you most probably are. Furthermore I would claim that very rarely is it the case that you just don't have enough information if you have analyzing something. So in theory you are right but in reality it's never really the case.
  - agumonkey 11y ago
    And it will be easier to deal with failure because you did what believed in. Less regrets.
- taphangum 11y ago
  Very helpful answer, thanks!
- mercer 11y ago
  How would one 'start feeling', exactly? I often get the impression that my feelings lag behind my rational thought, and I'm not sure how to go about changing that.
  - hoers 11y ago
    Meditation is a way, it needs a bit of training but with some sound guidance and regular practice you can get some good results in a few weeks or so and they're really worth it. Apart from that: Do something else. Have a walk. Eat some kale ice cream. And maybe you'll find Burroughs' word to be true: "Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer."
    - mercer 11y ago
      Thanks! I've started with meditation and it does seem to help. Or at least it doesn't hurt and forces my mind to relax, even if just for ten minutes. Changing up my behavioral patterns is also something I'm working on.
hyperpallium 11y ago
you don't need to know a man's exact weight to know he is fat it's about thresholds. the assumption is that ever-finer measurements (analysis) won't suddenly blowup into huge changes in weight (outcome)
im3w1l 11y ago
As long as the time spent thinking about something is small compared to the time spent doing it, you're fine. Since you will probably spend on the order of tens of thousands of hours analysing things in your life, spending about twenty minutes analysing your thinking process is no big deal (referring to "I know I'm doing it right now") Now sometimes you want to spend even more time analysing then the above rule suggests. When to do that is harder and requires a good intuition of the potential gains you could get by thinking a little bit more.
mattkamper 11y ago
For purely rational analysis of something like say the prisoners dilemma, you only need to use overanalysis or metaanalysis or super rationality where normal analysis fails, which is typically when the problem created a paradox or an inconsistency. But for stuff like life choices or muddier problems, feeling is often the best option because all types of analysis will fail with insufficient data.

dominotw 11y ago

>I always had a very analytical mind Really? As opposed to what?

svisser 11y ago
Dreamy non-analytical mind?
- ExpiredLink 11y ago
  holistic?
Niksko 11y ago
Some people don't give a shit, and are perfectly happy to go through life this way. Case in point, my boss at the moment does something I've noticed quite often in stupid people. As soon as the train of thought requires more than about 10 or 15 seconds of quiet thinking and analysis, he immediately changes the subject. He either changes the subject to something that (to my mind) is completely unrelated, or he makes some vague self-affirming statement. On the one hand, this is annoying as fuck. On the other hand, if I look at it objectively, his brain is just wired that way. He doesn't have the capacity to break down an argument or situation to its atomic level, so his brain compensates by changing the subject and continuing the analysis, albeit on another topic. It's really just another manifestation of the idea that our brains are constantly analysing things, but it just so happens that this manifestation is incredibly frustrating to anybody who enjoys getting to the bottom of and solving problems.
- ThomPete 11y ago
  An analytical mind is not what makes people millionaires, its not what makes the musician great at playing, the artist great at painting or the programmer great at programming, its not even what makes the investor great at investing. An analytical mind is itself a hinder for making decisions so you need to strike a balance.
  - druddha 11y ago

bnegreve 11y ago

Thanks but obviously I already know all these things because I've spent hours thinking about it:) The question remains how do I stop?

jcroll 11y ago

This article identifies a possible truism but offers no advice or even contemplates what to do about it.

colund 11y ago

Don't be too self-concious. Don't worry about what other people will think about you. Think about what YOU WANT and the rest will follow.

dgreensp 11y ago

If you want to learn about quieting the part of the mind that won't turn off, read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. If you want to learn about overcoming "resistance," read Steven Pressfield, e.g. The War of Art . The OP touches on both ideas but I don't see how it connects them. It also contains some all-too-commonly unexamined subtext. Is Richard Branson really the "best version" of all of us? Is an appetite for risk the only thing necessary to start and operate many large businesses, or don't you also need to cultivate an interest and aptitude for business, management, and people over the course of your life?