Stop Overthinking: How to Overcome Analysis Paralysis

Stop Overthinking: How to overcome Analysis Paralysis.

Per the Googles, Paralysis by analysis (analysis paralysis) is the state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. In other words (that are less wordy), analysis paralysis is thinking about a problem so much, and so long, you often forget to actually solve the problem. I didn’t know this was a real thing until recently. And now that I am clear on what it is, I am 100% sure I suffer from it.

I am the type of person that evaluates every situation from multiple lenses. Of course, I need to know the problem and potential resolutions. But in addition to possible solutions, I need to predict the outcome of every last resolution I just considered. Then I need to compare the results to each other and determine which is the best. An expert called me a sharpshooter who can hit a 2-mile target.

“You scored very high on the part of the test that determines if one is analytical. You are an assassin or sharpshooter who can hit a 2-mile target. Why? Because you will consider every variable and will make yourself aware of anything that’ll deter you from accomplishing your goal. You will measure wind speed, distance, velocity, and any and everything else…”

The good news with being over-analytical is all your decisions will be well thought out. I often receive the expected outcome because I have put the time into creating my plan. The bad part about being over-analytical is it takes you a lifetime to make one decision, no matter how basic.

Depending on the day, my analysis paralysis can be a severe case. Sometimes, it can take me up to 2 hours to send a 3-paragraph email depending on the email’s content. Some of the thoughts that cross my mind before hitting ‘send’ are; is this too informal? Is it aggressive enough? Is it wordy? Is my intent clear? Could this be viewed as offensive? Should I just call instead? Yes, it’s that deep for me, and sadly I give everything that much thought.

As of recently, every decision I make has become this long, drawn-out process. I’ve drawn the process out so long I am exhausted before I even narrow down the options enough to make a decision. Brutal! So what now? How do we fix this problem?

In true me fashion, I haven’t gotten far enough in my thinking to come up with a solution. However, I think the first step to doing better is acknowledging I have a problem, and it’s getting in the way of reaching my productivity. I spend a lot of time thinking instead of doing. If I can find a way to dedicate half the time I spend thinking about the things I am supposed to be doing, great things could happen.

I have started putting an execution time on tasks to assist me in my analysis paralysis. For example, if I have an email to send, I tell myself, “we are sending it at 11:00 — hell or high water.” That way I have a limit on how long I can overthink it and edit it.

I once watched a Ted Talk about analysis paralysis. I forgot the name of the gentleman who spoke. However, I remember the message vividly. The speaker suggested Apple wouldn’t be who they are today if they never released anything until it was perfect. He referenced the many of iOS software updates we receive after the initial version is released. These updates indicate buggy software was put out not because of lack of testing, but because perfection is hard to achieve.

Perfection is the killer of creativity. Sometimes you have to go with the flow and adjust as it comes. Nike, Apple, Instagram, and many prominent companies have updated their brand with several logos over the years. They adjust as they see fit instead of overthinking the original graphic design hoping for the perfect logo.

I say all that to say: if you’re anything like me, please know we are doing ourselves a disservice by overthinking everything. We don’t want to be that person researching a stock so long we have missed the most significant investment of all time. Because we wouldn’t stop thinking about if we were knowledgeable enough in securities to actually invest, the time to buy into the stock passed. Of course, it’s great to be informed. However, there needs to come a time when we put all our proverbial books to the side and start doing.