Too Many Ideas! How Overthinking Can Damage Personal Productivity

One of the chief advantages of the human brain is the ability to think of a multitude of ideas. We call the process “brainstorming,” and for good reason: when done right, an actual flood of ideas results. We can then grab the likely looking ones and start throwing them at the problem until something sticks.

But human intelligence also has its drawbacks, including a tendency to think too much. That may seem unlikely to those of us who have suffered from the occasional maverick’s preference to operate purely on instinct, but believe me, overthinking can be nearly as deadly as a surprise tax audit.

Overthinking actually comes in two forms. One is the inability to stem the tide of ideas before virtually drowning in it. In this scenario, every idea seems equally valid, and making a choice becomes impossible. In championship chess, this failing goes by the term “Kotov Syndrome,” after the Soviet grandmaster who defined it in the 1970s. The player has so many options they can’t prune the decision tree that towers before them. They freeze up, unable to make a choice one way or another.

The other kind of overthinking stems from an obsessive focus on one specific idea or issue. You keep reviewing it, questioning your motives, and turning it over in your mind, until it practically drives you crazy. We’ve all lost sleep this way at one time or another. What if something goes wrong? What if another decision might produce a better result? What if hidden flaws in this decision hurt you in the future? What if, what if, what if? Again, you achieve nothing and end up piling on worry and stress in a vicious circle. It may even trigger a cycle of depression and certainly doesn’t solve your original problem.

The Curse of Self-Paralysis

Both types of overthinking can result in a situation called “the paralysis of analysis.” Either way, the sheer quantity of data overwhelms the decision-making process, causing it to break down. While the term stems from recent scientific studies, the problem itself has always been with us. You may have heard the Biblical story of the donkey that stood between two equally tempting mangers and starved to death, because it couldn’t decide which to eat from. In one Aesop’s Fable, the hounds caught a fox because it couldn’t decide which of its hundred escape routes to use—whereas its buddy the cat survived because it used its one getaway method, scrambling up a tree. Then there are stories like “The Three Sillies,” where people get so obsessed about one negative possibility they can’t function logically. These stories prove that analysis paralysis has plagued humanity for thousands of years.

By this point in your career, you’ve surely learned the value of thinking a problem through before you jump in with both feet. But in the fast-paced world of modern business, you can’t wait too long before you make your decision, either. To use another popular phrase, motion always beats meditation. So how can you push past the logjam of overthinking and get moving?

The Anchor of Obsession

Let’s tackle the obsessive version of overthinking first, which locks you in on one thing and wastes precious workplace productivity by devouring your time and mental resources. If you find yourself nitpicking too much about an issue or idea, you can try several self-discipline tactics to get back on track:

Excising Excess Ideas

Alternately, you may find yourself drowning in an idea flood, where you’ve got too many ideas to choose from and can’t easily make the choice. Here are some thoughts to get you started:

Ideas for Either

Whether you tend to think things to death or simply can’t make a decision due to an overabundance of options, overthinking can shut you down like a car stuck in vapor lock. Some strategies can help you equally with either problem:

The Bottom Line

The malady of overthinking will cause your workflow to grind to a halt. No matter the flavor you suffer from, the only real solution is to make a decision and get a move on. Once you’ve tightened your focus sufficiently to eliminate your least viable ideas, using the pointers I’ve outlined above, just pick something and go with it. You’ve got to start somewhere and eventually you just have to choose, using the best information you have. Even if your plan ultimately fails to work out, at least you’ve made a decision and ended your personal game of idea freeze tag. Whatever you do, refuse to let overthinking crash your personal productivity!

What To Do When There’s Too Much To Do, my brand new handbook for maximizing workplace productivity without running yourself into the ground is now available. Buy your copy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or 800CEORead and email your receipt to WhatToDo@TheProductivityPro.com for special bonuses by author friends of Laura Stack. Visit www.TheProductivityPro.com/WhatToDo for complete details.

© 2012 Laura Stack. Laura Stack is a personal productivity expert, author, and professional speaker who helps busy workers Leave the Office Earlier® with Maximum Results in Minimum Time®. She is the president of The Productivity Pro®, Inc., a time management training firm specializing in productivity improvement in high-stress organizations. Since 1992, Laura has presented keynotes and seminars on improving output, lowering stress, and saving time in today’s workplaces. She is the bestselling author of three works published by Broadway Books: The Exhaustion Cure (2008), Find More Time (2006) and Leave the Office Earlier (2004). Laura is a spokesperson for Microsoft, 3M, and Day-Timers®, Inc. and has been featured on the CBS Early Show, CNN, and the New York Times. Her clients include Cisco Systems, Sunoco, KPMG, Nationwide, and 3M. To have Laura speak at your next event, call +1 303-471-7401. Visit www.TheProductivityPro.com to sign up for her free monthly productivity newsletter.