How to Stop Overthinking
You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
By John Millen
I was working with a group of data scientists and I opened with a simple icebreaker: name your favorite film and share a line or moment that stuck with you.
It usually works. It’s light. Human. Revealing.
Three people in, it stalled.
“What does this have to do with data?”
“Should we be timing each person?”
“Are you evaluating these?”
Finally, I said, “We’re just having fun. You’re overthinking it.”
One of them smiled and said, “That’s what we do.”
It got a big laugh. It was also true.
While scientists are paid to think deeply, overthinking isn’t confined to them. I see it across industries, roles and personalities. Especially now.
Many of the organizations I work with are trying to move faster—testing, iterating and scaling change. Overthinking slows all of it down.
Paralyzed by options
With endless information and constant demands for attention, it’s easy to get trapped in your own head—paralyzed by options and the fear of getting it wrong.
And the irony is this: overthinking degrades judgment. It doesn’t improve it.
If you play golf, you know the feeling. The longer you stand over a short putt, the less likely it is to drop.
In business and in life, overthinking leads to delay, frustration and often worse outcomes—not better ones.
So how do you counter it?
1. Keep it simple
We create complexity—too many options, too many variables and too many hypothetical paths.
The best solution is often the simplest one.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, the company was struggling. He cut the product line by 70% and focused on just four computers.
That reduction didn’t limit Apple. It clarified it.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” read one of Apple’s earliest marketing lines.
It still holds.
2. Done is better than perfect
“Perfect is the enemy of good,” Voltaire wrote.
Perfectionism doesn’t produce excellence. It prevents completion.
If the standard is perfection, the work is never finished—and often never shared.
3. Set a hard deadline
Seth Godin’s mantra is simple: ship it.
Pick a date. Honor it.
Ideas that emerge along the way don’t derail the timeline—they become Version 2.0.
“The only purpose of starting is to finish,” Godin writes. And while nothing is ever truly finished, it must be released.
4. Imagine the best-case scenario
Fear fuels overthinking.
A CEO I work with says when people look into a dark room, they never imagine it’s filled with angels.
We default to worst-case scenarios. Most of them never happen.
A better question: what if this works?
5. Stay in the moment
Overthinking pulls us into the past or pushes us into the future.
Either way, it takes us out of the only place action is possible: now.
Mindfulness practices have gained traction for a reason. Research shows they quiet the brain’s threat response and strengthen the more rational decision-making regions.
Less noise. Better judgment.
6. Adopt a beginner’s mind
In Zen Buddhism, shoshin—the beginner’s mind—suggests that openness creates possibility.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind, there are few.”
Expertise is valuable. But it can also narrow vision.
A beginner sees what others overlook.
There’s a well-known story of a professor visiting a Zen master. As the master pours tea, the cup overflows.
“It’s full,” the professor says. “No more will go in.”
“Like this cup,” the master replies, “you are full of your own ideas. How can I show you anything unless you first empty it?”
7. Take action
Action breaks the cycle.
Not massive action. Just the next step.
Momentum doesn’t come from thinking—it comes from moving.
Starting is the hardest part. But once you begin, the energy shifts. Progress follows.
You don’t need the full plan. You need the first step.
What about you?
Do you tend to overthink?
Where might a simpler path exist?
What’s one step you could take today?
You can reach me through my contact page.
I always value hearing your perspective.
— John