High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 510: How To Stop Overthinking

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

Becoming happier and being your best self means learning how to disengage from overthinking. Every day, in all parts of our life, we can experience minor setbacks and hassles. Learning to stop overthinking about them will help you reach your highest level of performance and think like the world’s best.  Power Phrase this Week: “I notice when I excessively and endlessly think too much. I remind myself why I should be confident in my plan and myself.”  Quote of the Week: Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could, some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Hi, friends. My name is Dr. Sindra Kampoff, a national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. Every week, I'm on the local radio sharing my top tips on exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best so you can accomplish all your dreams. Get ready for a jammed, packed episode focused on practical tips to help you get after your goals and step out of your comfort zone. Let's go. Time to check in with Dr. Sindra Kampoff today. And we talk about today how to stop overthinking. This seems to be a big problem, overthinking. And Sindra, you start us off with a quote. I love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said, finish each day and be done with it.

You've done what you could. Some blunders and obscurities have crept in, but forget them as soon as you can. And tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow's a new day. Tell us about the topic for the day. Well, I think we can all experience overthinking. And I see it really common in my work one-on-one with people. And the research also suggests that overthinking is a common problem.

For example, a study done and conducted and published in the University of Cognitive Psychotherapy said that 73% of young adults are overthinkers and 52% of middle-aged adults can be classified as an overthinker. And there's even more research to show that 57% of women, 43% of men can be classified as overthinkers. So I think today's conversation is really relevant to a lot of people. And today we're going to talk about how do you actually overcome this overthinking cycle? Well, what exactly is overthinking, though? Well, I think ultimately it's kind of needlessly, passively, endlessly, excessively, you know,

questioning or pondering meanings or causes or consequences of things. So it's just when our mind is on a cycle and we're thinking about things too much. And we can overthink anything. Our career, our school, our athletic performance, our success, our failures, our families, our health, our, you know, our appearance. And when we overthink, we tend to ask questions like, why did I do that? Or what do others think of me? Or what did he or she really mean by that comment?

So I think what's important is that we notice the overthinking and stop the cycle. So why is overthinking such a problem? Well, because we don't perform at our best when we are engaged in it. And generally, it interferes with our ability to solve problems. I'd say it also zaps our energy. It fosters automatic negative thinking. It just prevents us from really pursuing our goals. And we waste a lot of energy. It decreases our confidence. And I think ultimately, it can actually drive people away because if you're overthinking an interaction with somebody, like a co-worker or a family member, that changes their relationship with you, because you've overthought that. And so it just gives us

a distorted, pessimistic view of life. And sometimes it can feel like quicksand, like we can't quite get out. Sure. So what do we do to reduce the fact that we overthink? Well, today I'm going to suggest two strategies that you can give a try. And there's different overthinking strategies, but I think these two are really helpful for the people that I work with. The first is kind of a short three-step process that I talked about in my first book, Beyond Grit. And it's the acronym C-A-R. And so think about kind of shifting your mind like it's shifting your car. And the first, the C stands for catch it. You just want to notice the thinking, notice when you're overthinking and notice when you're excessively processing something. And then the A stands for address it. What will really allow you to stop the cycle?

And maybe it's deciding on one way to move forward or directing your mind to something else, but address the overthinking. And then the R stands for refocus back to the present. And we do know that the more you notice your overthinking and work to bring your mind back to the present, it does help you reduce your overthinking. Is there any other strategies we can try?

There's another cool strategy that's backed by research. And one study supported that if you have what's called like worry postponement, that's that concept, that if you make a deliberate choice to spend time worrying, like let's say if you say, OK, Thursday at four o'clock, it's on my calendar. That's going to be my time to worry and overthink things. OK, then this is actually is proven to work that that then you can say to yourself, well, it's not Thursday at four o'clock. I'm going to think about that at Thursday at four o'clock. I'm going to think about that at Thursday at four o'clock. And so what it does is it really just allows you to manage your worry and your overthinking and decide how it's going to impact you in the moment. And so I think that's another strategy you can try that does help me. All right. All right. What's your final point for today? You know, my final point is just becoming

happier and really being your best, I think does mean learning to disengage with overthinking. And every day, you know, we experience setbacks and hassles. And so I think learning to just notice the overthinking can allow you to think like the world's best and achieve your best. Cinder, what is the power phrase this week? I notice when I excessively and endlessly think too much, I remind myself that I can worry later. I love it. I love it. Overthinking is our topic today. Cindra, if we are interested in one of your two books that are out right now or any of the work that you do, what is the best space to follow you in? Yes, you can head over to DrCindra,

C-D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. And both the books, Beyond Grit and Beyond Grit for Business are over there. And you can learn more about my coaching or speaking. Way to go for finishing another episode of the High Performance Mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe. And you can head over to Dr. Sindhra for show notes

and to join my exclusive community for high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindhra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.