The thin line between overthinking and creativity

Overthinking and creativity uses the same mental processes. When we shift from mental loops to divergent thinking, progress comes with more ease.

The thin line between overthinking and creativity

Perhaps it comes to you just as much of a surprise as it came to me: creativity and overthinking rely on the same cognitive processes. It doesn’t mean that they share all the underlying mental functions but that there is an overlap in the neurological activities of the brain when we are caught in a thinking spiral or are busy with innovating. It made me wonder: if you overthink, are you half way creative and can the spiraling be softly shifted into divergent thinking relying on the same neural systems they share? Let’s find out.

Cognitive persistence

The first shared pattern between overthinking and creativity is cognitive persistence. It’s the tendency of both overthinkers and creatives to stay mentally engaged with a problem, idea or question - for a very long time. It’s the mental process of looking at the topic from different angles, keep thinking about it even when it is not ‘in front of us’, feeling a sort of restlessness until it is resolved and a general flexibility of thinking. If you’re a researcher, founder, writer or designers, you’re probably familiar with this process: creativity emerges from extended period of incubation.

When overthinking, this persistence pairs with some sort of inflexibility. The loop circles around that one topic, without generating new solutions. It’s often triggered by a perceived threat or by self-monitoring. Instead of thinking about all the options and all the possible reasons, we narrow down our thinking to replaying the same one interpretation of the situation.

Sensitivity to nuance

The second common trait overthinkers and creatives share is sensitivity to details. Do you catch yourself noticing the slightest shifts in tones, catching micro-expressions, reading the room fast, quickly analyzing and understanding complex patterns or being sensitive to ambiguity? By default, our brain is filtering out a lot of stimuli to avoid overload. However for some people, more signals make it to their consciousness. That naturally means, we have more information to work with. On top of that, if our brain is stronger in associative processing - connecting experiences to memories - you find it easier to strategize, tell colorful stories or connect ideas that may seem distant for others.

On the flip side, these tendencies can easily create a mental overload. It’s like a constant noise inside our brain that bounces ideas, re-evaluates social situations for any mistakes, and often makes things more complex than they need to be. I’ve been on a leadership training a few weeks ago. All day paying attention to the content but also on the other 18 people around me. By the end of the two days I felt totally knocked out by all the impressions, all the subtle dynamics, all the things I’ve said and thought I should have said, analyzing what others have contributed and what kind of conclusions should I make of it...

Mental simulation

We mentioned already the associative processing, our ability to connect recent stimuli to past experiences. In a previous post we also talked about the default mode network, a neural system involved in imagination, autobiographical thinking, future simulation and internal narrative. These processes enable us to imagine future scenarios, predict consequences, mentally rehearse and build hypothetical worlds. Clearly, these skills are crucial for creativity, innovation, strategy, design or entrepreneurship. But these mental processes are also connected to anxiety and depression. Instead of thinking about possible good solutions, our brain gets stuck in the ‘what-ifs’ and imagining the worst case scenarios. The worst part is: it’s vivid, feels almost like reality and keeps going on repeat. The brain stays turned inward in this repetitive thinking spiral leading to stronger anxiety.

The edge of overthinking is creativity

I find this intersection of creativity and overthinking very interesting. The very same traits and neurological processes enabling us to come up with out-of-the-box solutions, are driving us to the edge of anxiety and self-doubt. And the common thread for me is: how open/closed, rigid/flexible the thinking is. When it’s open and flexible we see positive connections, great ideas, and even in difficult situations various good solutions. But when the thinking becomes rigid, we get stuck on that one repetitive thought, which is really about the threat that we are experiencing. There’s no solution or step forward, only stress, worry and a never-ending thought spiral.

Reflection - reduce the thinking inflexibility

In our experiment of the week, we will try to reduce the thinking inflexibility to open up our minds to more creative solutions and ideas. Here are two simple exercises you can try.

Brainstorm or brain-write

When you catch yourself running in a negative thinking spiral, find a quiet and undisturbed place. You only need 10 minutes or so. Take a piece of paper or some sticky notes. Recall the issue you’re overthinking. Now start writing down every idea and thought that comes up. Challenge yourself to look at the situation from different angles (e.g. what does your supervisor, confident friend, a senior executive do in this situation). The goal is to generate as many ideas and interpretations as possible. It’s not yet about whether they are good or bad or feasible. It’s about broadening your mind to other possibilities besides the thought loop you are stuck in. Once you can’t come up with anything else anymore, you can start to categorize the thoughts, and look for what might best work in the given situation.

Imagine the best case scenario

When we are stuck in a negative thought spiral, it’s not only our mind playing the worst possible outcome on repeat, but our body getting tense and negative emotions surfacing. But if there’s a worst-case, there could be a best-case scenario too, right? Let’s imagine it.

So let’s close our eyes. Take a few deep breaths: inhale for a count of 4, hold it at the top, exhale for a count of 6. Repeat for a few times. Then imagine a moment in the near future, when this situation you are overthinking right now is resolved. Imagine, how it all turned out well, how everyone involved is content with the resolution, how you are proud of yourself to have successfully resolved it. Try to imagine every detail: the faces of your colleagues, the surroundings, the time of the day, even the smells or how it might feel to touch e.g. the table in the meeting room. Stay with it for a little while. Eventually, take another couple of deep breaths and open your eyes.

How do you feel right now? You are probably more relaxed and will probably notice that very soon a few good ideas surface on how to actually solve the issue. And what’s even better you scripted an alternative, positive outcome of the situation, so your brain can’t hold onto the negative repetitive thoughts anymore.

Conclusions

It’s fascinating how thin the line is between overthinking and creativity. While creativity keeps the thinking open and flexible, overthinking narrows the focus down to that one single repetitive thought. I hope the brainstorming and imagination helped to shift back into a more flexible state of mind. What were your key takeaways?

References

Ritter, S. M., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2014). Creativity — the unconscious foundations of the incubation period. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, Article 215.

Nijstad, B. A., De Dreu, C. K. W., Rietzschel, E. F., & Baas, M. (2010). The dual pathway to creativity model: Creative ideation as a function of flexibility and persistence. European Review of Social Psychology, 21, 34–77.

Escobar, D. G. C., & Perez, J. A. (2023). Thinking again and again: The link between rumination and creativity with anxiety as a mediator.Academic Journal of Psychology and Counseling, 4(2), 205–234.

Carson, S. H., Peterson, J. B., & Higgins, D. M. (2003). Decreased latent inhibition is associated with increased creative achievement in high-functioning individuals.

Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Silvia, P. J., & Schacter, D. L. (2016). Creative cognition and brain network dynamics. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(2), 87–95.

Schacter, D. L., Benoit, R. G., & Szpunar, K. K. (2017). Episodic future thinking: Mechanisms and functions. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 17, 41–50.