Get rid of overthinking for good … How it could be stopping you from moving your career forward.

Do you find yourself constantly reviewing something over and over again in your mind? Questioning sometimes simple situations or events until you lose all sense of perspective and end up stuck in a recurring pattern of worry but without finding a means of resolving or concluding your thoughts.
 
We’ve all been there, me included!
 
It is perfectly normal to sometimes dwell on a problem.  However, if it is beginning to stop you from enjoying work or life then you need to really think about the cause of your tendency to overthink things. 
 
So here are some signs that you might be an overthinker…

1. Obsessing over past mistakes in your head.
By constantly reminding yourself of past mistakes might make you reluctant to volunteer for future challenges or take on additional responsibilities which could have put you in the limelight and raised your profile within your organisation or with clients.  Your past doesn’t define your future and everyone makes mistakes.  Use these experiences as a means to grow by learning from them and find solutions/steps to prevent them from happening again.  To be truthful if it happened in the distant past you are probably the only one to remember this.

2. You aren’t confident in your abilities.
Continuously acting with the mindset of “you can’t do it” can lower your self-esteem and confidence and make you feel you somehow received the role you are in by chance and are not entitled to this role (often known as imposter syndrome).

3. Obsessively wondering what your colleagues and/or boss might think of you.
It is natural to want to know what people are thinking about you and to form good and lasting working relationships with your colleagues and boss.  However, you might not get continuous feedback or engagement from others which might lead you to worry.  Just remember though that they might be busy or focused on their tasks at work which can make them appear unfriendly but genuinely don’t mean to be.

4. Waste time trying to reach perfection.
If you find yourself spending hours upon hours continuously reviewing your work and what you do can actively lead you to become less productive in the long-run. 
 
In conclusion, what can you do to stop overthinking?
 
The key is to remember that you are not alone in this and there are a number of things you can do to help yourself.

1. Find a trusted colleague or friend that you can chat through your thoughts and develop solutions that help you to become less worried and anxious.  Chances are they will be able to reframe things and may tell you that you are imaging any negativity and therefore stop worrying about things.
2. Reflect on whether your current role truly meets your needs and wants. You might feel that you ‘should’ like what you do and then feel at ‘fault’ for not enjoying it.  Maybe considering a change of direction may give you the boost you need.  My “Planning for your future career” toolkit will help you reflect on what you want from a career.
3. Try to find the root cause of your worries and develop solutions to fix these.  Sometimes outside forces can have a knock-on effect on all aspects of your life.  Recognising if these have had an impact on your confidence will help you gain some perspective.
4. Take time out from things (even a coffee break) helps you to reframe things and make better decisions.  Encourage yourself to think positively about all of the good things that have happened before letting the negative ones in.

 
If you want to discuss how you might overcome your worries and concerns about your career pathway and what might be holding you back contact “The Career Owl” today and find out how I can help you.
 
#overthinking #mistakes #confidence #negativity #reflection