Untangle your overthinking patterns

Even highly skilled experts can get caught in thought loops that builds up in both the body and the mind, fueled by deeper fears. We can untangle this overthinking by uncovering these hidden fears and patterns, we increase self-awareness — creating space for more adaptive thoughts, healthier emotional regulation, and more supportive behaviours in business.

To understand what is really going on with Jane, we look at my Iceberg of Overthinking model which explains how visible overthinking behaviours are rooted in underlying physiological stress and unconscious fears. By exploring all three levels, we can better understand and transform the patterns that keep us stuck.

Above the surface - the visible behaviours

Above the surface of the iceberg refers to the visible behaviours and patterns we see. In Jane’s case overthinking manifests in taking excessive time to research, then making a plan, but right on the next day, she starts questioning it, so she goes back to research, tweaks her course plan, keeps analyzing and refining. She goes back to her launch plan, shifts the launch date with another month, because the course is far from ready. She is insecure about her content and if she will be seen as a knowledgable expert.

These behaviours are what we consider symptoms - they show that something is not quite right. Objectively looking at Jane, she is an expert in marketing, she has extensive experience in the field and has done several very successful projects. Yet, when it comes to launching her course, she is in fact procrastinating, intentionally delaying an important task despite knowing that the delay will likely make things worse in the future. So why is she doing this then?

At the waterline - bodily and psychological responses

Jane’s mind is busy with questioning herself and she takes actions - anything that moves the launch date out into the future. But her busyness doesn’t stop there. There’s tension in her body, nervousness, restlessness. There’s eating sugary snacks to find some comfort. There’s also a sense of constant alertness that manifests in taking some comments on Social Media as offensive and critical, leading to an immediate racing heartbeat and anger.

Studies show a strong connection between procrastination and anxiety. It is quite likely that they reinforce each other, meaning that when we delay things, naturally we get more nervous about them. At the same time, it seems like that having an underlying anxiety might actually lead to procrastination in our effort to avoid the situation we are anxious about in the first place. The bottom line is, our mental and emotional wellbeing is negatively impacted. At times, Jane notices the discomfort in her body, but she needs some professional support to actually start feeling what her body is trying to tell her: I’m under stress, I’m anxious and afraid.

Below the surface - the roots

First Jane becomes aware of her patterns to delay taking real action and hide this behind constant research and redoing. Then she starts to feel into her body screaming I’m afraid.

She then starts to become more aware of what she tells to herself: Who am I to teach this? What if I don’t know enough? What if they find out I’m not as good as they think? Why would anyone even buy this course from me? I really need to put a lot of research behind it, otherwise they will think I don’t know what I’m talking about.

That is the turning point that starts to expose what is really going on: fear of seen as inadequate, incompetent, and in general exposed and vulnerable sharing her knowledge. There’s also fear of being judged. She already formulated these beliefs unconsciously:

• I don’t think I’m good enough of an expert.

• I will not be seen as a good professional, because in reality I’m just not there yet to sell myself as an expert.

• I’ve got nothing new or life-changing to say to my clients.

Now that we got to the roots of her issue, we can start tearing these negative beliefs down and replacing them with more adaptive and positive ones.

Reflection - Untangle your overthinking patterns

Perhaps you find yourself in similar shoes as Jane. Perhaps you yourself are doing research, refining documents, asking for more time from your client to perfect your slides. Perhaps you as well are worried and tense. Maybe you are just now realizing this, as you’ve seen Jane’s example. So let’s do a small experiment, where we get aware of the different layers of your issue and try to find more adaptive ways to get the results you’ve been longing for. Ask yourself:

• What do you think you want right now?

  (Jane: I want to launch my course.)

• What do you actually do instead?

  (Jane: I research more, analyze, refine endlessly, postpone launch.)

• How does this feel in your body?

  (Jane: Tightness, nervousness, restlessness, craving sugar.)

• What am I truly afraid of beneath this?

  (Jane: Being judged, seen as incompetent, exposed as not good enough of a professional.)

• What evidence supports this fear?

  Only facts — not thoughts.

  (Jane: A critical comment on Social Media I recently received.)

• What evidence does not support this fear?

  (Jane: Happy clients, positive feedback, being invited as a guest speaker.)

• What is a more realistic and balanced belief?

  (Jane: I still have things to learn, but what I’m teaching is real, tested, and valuable. I am allowed to start.)

• How do I feel about myself now, from 1–10 (1 - being very negative and 10 - being very good)?

  Before vs. after answering these questions.

  (Jane: Before 4, now 7.)

• What is ONE small, real action I can take in the next 24 hours?

  (Jane: Announce a waitlist.)

Conclusions

As we’ve seen in Jane’s example and perhaps experimented ourselves, overthinking, overanalyzing, over-researching and in general procrastination is just the tip of the iceberg. There is anxiety and stress-related reactions going on in the body creating a negative emotional state. This is not good for us, but spotting it helps to uncover what lies under the water. And once we know the root we can start gently shifting it so we can start calming our body and mind. By doing that we are one step away from taking meaningful actions that take us closer to our goals and desires. What did you uncover in this experiment?

References

Hutchison, T. E., Penney, A. M., & Crompton, J. E. (2018). Procrastination and anxiety: Exploring the contributions of multiple anxiety-related disorders. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 6(2), 122–129. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2018.73054

Jochmann, A., Gusy, B., Lesener, T., & Wolter, C. (2024). Procrastination, depression and anxiety symptoms in university students: A three-wave longitudinal study on the mediating role of perceived stress. BMC Psychology, 12, Article 276. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01761-2