Overthinking or just underthinking?

When our minds are busy and tired from ‘attention hopping’, overwhelmed by information and sensory overload, we can often struggle to effectively problem solve or make good decisions. I’ve often heard people complain that they are overthinking – I’ve said it myself – but what if we are actually underthinking?

First, what do we mean by overthinking? 

We have got stuck and are unable to find a way through all the information noise to focus on an issue, or perhaps we are struggling to decide and keep revisiting the options. It might feel like we are overthinking, and it is always exhausting, but it is most likely that we are not – we are underthinking. We might just not be giving enough thought to how we are thinking, so we can reframe and focus to think deeper and with greater clarity.

Try this: Boundary building – are you being distracted by too much information, so you can’t focus? Add some explicit structure to your thinking.

Our brains naturally name and label things, see a whole and break it into parts, create boundaries or make connections between one thing and another. As children, we will have named things to help us understand, sort, connect and find patterns. Recognising this process – making it explicit – by thinking about our thinking, gives us focus and improves our cognitive power. 

Label one ‘thing’ you are thinking about. What is it – but more importantly, what is it not? 

Have a go – but keep it simple. I’m looking at my fruit bowl – with just three different types of fruit. I’m going to focus in on one – the lemons. I can differentiate by identifying which are lemons and which are not. I can use shape, size, colour, texture or smell to determine what in the bowl is, and what is not, a lemon. If I stopped at shape and size, I might incorrectly include and focus on the kiwi too!

It is the sort of thinking we often automatically do for familiar tasks. I didn’t really need to think too much about how I differentiated the lemons – I knew they were lemons. But, we can apply the same thinking rules explicitly to help us focus and gain clarity when we need to. It helps to set the boundary and identify what is not your focus.

Another example might be:

You have to write a report at work or for your studies and are struggling to get started or identify what to include, so you first focus on the ‘purpose’ of what you are writing.

Starting with what something is not, can help to clarify what it is. You might also start to break your report down into its parts – or sections in this case.

There are lots of ways you can apply this simple thinking tool in your life to help understand simple and more complex problems. Defining or differentiating something supports clarity and can be used to ensure a shared understanding of something with others too.

Speak to a member of our team if you would like to find out how we can support you on your learning journey.