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How do you stop overanalysing things if this problem itself requires analyzing which things you're overanalysing and which ones really benefit from overthiking?
by 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 agoPerhaps generalizations aren't true.
- ThomPete 11y agoOveranalyzing 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 agoA "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 agoIt 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 agoAnd it will be easier to deal with failure because you did what believed in. Less regrets.
- taphangum 11y agoVery helpful answer, thanks!
- mercer 11y agoHow 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 agoMeditation 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 agoThanks! 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 agoyou 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 agoAs 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 agoFor 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.