It took me 3 years to beat overthinking. I'll tell you how to in 5 steps

Summary

In his empowering video, Clark Kegley shares his personal journey and offers five actionable tips to combat overthinking—a struggle he knows well. He emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between overthinking about the past and the more common issue of overthinking about the future. Key strategies include slowing down through mindfulness practices, focusing on action over information, creating momentum, accepting imperfections, and redefining goals around actionable steps rather than just results. Kegley’s candid insights are designed to help viewers shift from being paralyzed by thoughts to taking meaningful action in their lives.

Highlights

• Overthinking can prevent you from achieving your goals, just like it almost stopped Clark from starting his YouTube channel. 🚫
• Differentiating between ruminating over the past and worrying about the future is crucial. Clark focuses on addressing future-oriented overthinking. 🔮
• Clark provides practical tips like walking without phones to slow down the mind and reduce overthinking tendencies. 🚶‍♂️
• Momentum is your best friend: small steps can lead to big changes, helping to mitigate the overwhelming feeling of overthinking. 🏃‍♂️
• Accepting imperfections and detaching from the need to be perfect can disarm fear and encourage taking action. 🎨

Key Takeaways

• Overthinking isn't a knowledge problem, it's an action problem! Action is key to breaking free. 🚀
• Slow down the neurotic storm in your mind. Take walks, do breathwork, and practice mindfulness. 🧘‍♂️
• Momentum kills overthinking. Start small, focus on the process, not perfection. Moving leads to more moving! 🌊
• Embrace your flaws. Let yourself make mistakes and learn from them. This fosters growth and resilience. 💪
• Convert goals into actionable steps. It’s not about the destination but the journey of continuous action. 📈

Overview

Clark Kegley opens up about his three-year battle with overthinking, an experience that nearly kept him from launching his successful YouTube channel. He tackles the issue head-on by distinguishing between types of overthinking—those focused on past events versus future anxieties—and offers targeted advice for dealing with the latter.

In his video, Clark promotes the idea that taking action is the antidote to overthinking. He encourages viewers to engage in activities that slow down their racing thoughts, such as daily walks, breathwork, and meditation. By doing so, one can begin to break the cycle of overthinking and regain clarity and peace of mind.

Further into the discussion, Clark emphasizes the importance of momentum and imperfection. He reassures his audience that perfectionism is a lazy excuse that keeps one from taking risks. Instead, he advises focusing on action-based goals to foster resilience and continual growth. This mindset shift is vital for anyone looking to break free from the clutches of overthinking and live a more empowered life.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Understanding Overthinking The chapter explores the concept of overthinking, describing it as the creation of problems that don't exist and complicating situations unnecessarily. The author shares a personal struggle with overthinking, revealing how it nearly prevented the creation of their YouTube channel and the filming of the video itself, emphasizing a deep understanding of the issue.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Identifying Types of Overthinking The chapter titled 'Identifying Types of Overthinking' introduces common themes that trigger overthinking such as concerns about appearances and the value of knowledge. The speaker aims to provide five practical tips to help alleviate overthinking. The chapter also introduces a distinction between two main types of overthinking, setting the stage for further exploration of this concept.
• 01:00 - 01:30: The Solution to Overthinking: Action This chapter discusses the common and chronic form of overthinking which involves excessive worrying about the future rather than the past. It points out the typical questions that arise from this type of overthinking, such as concerns about others' opinions, handling situations, and determining whether one's efforts are adequate. The emphasis is on the need for action as a solution to break the cycle of future-oriented overthinking.
• 01:30 - 03:00: Tip 1: Slow Down The chapter titled 'Tip 1: Slow Down' emphasizes that the solution to overthinking is not acquiring more information or knowledge, but taking action. The key message is that overthinking cannot be resolved through excessive thinking or gathering more data; instead, practical steps and actions are necessary to overcome it. The chapter offers the first of five tips to combat overthinking effectively, suggesting that slowing down is crucial as a first step.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Tip 2: Focus on Momentum This chapter emphasizes the importance of slowing down in order to manage neurotic and fast-paced energy. The author argues against the tendency to solve the issue of overthinking with more thinking, suggesting instead that one should allow their nervous system to relax. The chapter highlights the common issue of overthinking and encourages a change in approach by reducing mental speed and intensity.
• 06:00 - 07:30: Promotion of Metamorphic Program The chapter opens with a discussion about the nature of chronic anxiety and overthinking. The speaker reflects on how these issues can lead individuals to seek medical intervention, often resulting in prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications such as Xanax. These medications function by decelerating cognitive processes, which is why they enable users to feel 'normal.'
• 07:30 - 09:30: Tip 3: Allow Yourself to Suck This chapter discusses the concept of overthinking and how it negatively impacts productivity. The author suggests that overthinking leads people to hide away or resort to excessive consumption of information, which does not result in increased productivity. Instead, this approach exacerbates the problem, likened to pouring gasoline on a fire. The chapter advises against overwhelming oneself with the thoughts and opinions of others and mentions the use of caffeine as a common, but ultimately ineffective, method to combat this issue.
• 09:30 - 12:00: Tip 4: Fear of Inaction Tip 4: Fear of Inaction - The chapter discusses the impact of caffeine on overthinking and neuroticism, suggesting that excessive caffeine can exacerbate these issues by speeding up mental processes. Instead of accelerating the pace, the chapter encourages counterbalancing fast-paced thinking with calming activities. It recommends doing the opposite of what escalates the anxiety; for example, going for a long walk as a means to balance out heightened mental activity and reduce fear of inaction. The core message is to counteract overactivation (fire) with calming strategies (water) to achieve balance.
• 12:00 - 17:00: Tip 5: Set Action-based Goals Chapter 5: This chapter emphasizes the importance of setting action-based goals. It highlights the benefits of engaging in activities such as going for a walk without distractions, practicing breath work, and engaging in meditation or mindfulness exercises. The focus is on the transformative effects these activities can have, like promoting mindfulness and helping shift attention from cognitive overload to bodily awareness. The chapter encourages readers to integrate these practices into their daily routines to improve overall well-being.
• 17:00 - 21:00: Perfectionism and Overthinking The chapter focuses on techniques to combat overthinking and perfectionism. One method mentioned is setting a timer for 15 minutes and sitting blindfolded without getting up, which can help alleviate overthinking if practiced consistently for a week. The speaker emphasizes that overthinking is an action rather than an information deficit, suggesting that building personal momentum is a critical strategy to overcome it.
• 21:00 - 26:00: Intention for Content Creation The chapter 'Intention for Content Creation' discusses the significance of initiating momentum to counteract overthinking, particularly within the context of content creation. It illustrates this with a personal anecdote from the author, who struggled to start filming YouTube videos. They found success by breaking down the task into smaller parts, starting with simply setting up the filming shot, which helped build momentum and alleviate the difficulty of beginning the work.
• 26:00 - 27:00: Conclusion and Viewer Engagement The conclusion chapter reflects on the importance of motivation and taking incremental actions instead of being stagnant. The speaker describes a personal approach to overcoming inertia - by setting small, achievable goals without the pressure of perfection or completion. They emphasize the value of initiating steps, such as setting up equipment or capturing b-roll footage, as a means to gradually build momentum. The core inquiry they pose is about finding a mindset that allows you to perceive actions not as binary outcomes of movement versus stagnation, but as a spectrum where any forward motion is progress.

It took me 3 years to beat overthinking. I'll tell you how to in 5 steps Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 how we looking not overthinking we are not overthinking today let me tell you let's have a chat about overthinking the art of you creating problems that were never there all right making things 10 times harder than they need to be for yourself and if you're watching this video I understand the struggles more than a lot of people with overthinking it almost stopped me from creating this entire YouTube channel that you're watching now almost stopped me from filming this very video I overthink is
• 00:30 - 01:00 the lighting good is the knowledge going to be valuable am I having a good hair day all the same things that that you think about and struggle with maybe not the hair day it's my one thing I overthink all the time so in this video I want to give you five tips that will really help you stop overthinking one note before we get rocking here I think it's important to differentiate between two main types of overthinking okay like the first type is where people overthink
• 01:00 - 01:30 the past you're dwelling a lot in things you could have done differently or you beat yourself up or you know you constantly go back and replay conversations now that's one type of overthinking that's very valid however these tips aren't necessarily talking about that type what I want to address is probably the more common and chronic form that you experience you thinking not about your past but about your future what will they say how will I handle it is this good enough how should
• 01:30 - 02:00 I approach this and if you take one thing away from this video I want it to be this overthinking is not a knowledge or information problem you will never solve your overthinking with more information or more knowledge you know what will and is the only way to solve your overthinking action these are my five best tips about what works tip number one take how we describe overthinking I'm thinking to too much my thoughts are
• 02:00 - 02:30 fast everything is sped up I'm in my head it has a very neurotic fast-paced energy doesn't it the only way to change that fast-paced energy is not to do more thinking and more fast-paced and more cramming the way to get out of it is to slow down you have to let your nervous system chill out people label overthinking a lot and they say well I just can't get out of my head I'm
• 02:30 - 03:00 overthinking all the time maybe I'm chronically anxious if you go in and you tell a psychiatrist this they'll give you anti-anxiety meds things like Xanax Etc what does that do that slows you down that's why people feel normal on them 800 days ago when I was drinking all the time that was the only thing that helped me slow down and if you know anything about alcohol literally numbs your prefrontal cortex it slows you down so you feel like you're not overthinking you can relax what do most people do
• 03:00 - 03:30 when they're overthinking they hide out they stay in bed and doom scroll thinking that consuming more information or techniques or tips or just like cramming our brain with more will make us produce more it doesn't work it's like fighting fire with fire it's pouring gasoline on it cuz now instead of your own thoughts you have the thoughts and opinions of hundreds and thousands of other people what else do people do they hype themselves up with just tons of C caffeine nothing wrong
• 03:30 - 04:00 with caffeine I use it as well but I found that when I'm overthinking the more caffeine I have the more the neuroticism goes up right the faster things speed up so remember with this tip we're not trying to do things that speed us up faster faster faster we're actually trying to do the Opposites instead of fire with fire fire with water balancing it out so what are some examples of these going for a long walk
• 04:00 - 04:30 if you went on a walk for an hour and you come back tell me you don't feel different by the end of that and I'm not talking you go for a walk and you know you're cramming a podcast you know or an Audi book so you can learn and memorize information and tactic no you're just going for a walk for an hour without your phone can you even do that or is that too unbearable breath work amazing for bringing you out of your head into your body meditation mindfulness I get up every single morning morning the very
• 04:30 - 05:00 first thing I do 15 minutes set a timer put a blindfold on don't get up for 15 minutes those three things right there if you just implemented those three for a week I guarantee your overthinking would be way better so let's get into this next point for you remember that overthinking is an action not an information problem and so one of the ways I've been able to get over and Beyond overthinking has been to focus on momentum because if you know anything about science or what you learned in
• 05:00 - 05:30 Middle School an object in motion stays in motion un less acted upon by an outside force so if you can just focus on getting some momentum watch how the overthinking starts to go away because you're building on wins when I was first struggling to get started on YouTube I noticed how hard it was to sit down and film videos so what I would do is say I don't have to film a video but I'm just going to set up the shot and I found that in setting up the shot momentum
• 05:30 - 06:00 instead of just staying stuck that was motivating enough and I would sit down and say okay I'm just going to get the first hook out and I don't have to finish it doesn't have to be perfect I don't even have to like make a video I'm just going to set things up or I'm just going to take my camera out and film around the house for some b-roll shots I can use them I don't have to use them doesn't matter so my question to you is how can you find a way to not view this as either I'm taking action or I'm staying stuck and if I'm taking action I
• 06:00 - 06:30 have to finish it and it has to be perfect and you get so in your head how can you view it this how can I get momentum you want to get fit can you make momentum just going to the gym checking in and doing five minutes instead of I have to go to the gym and do this hour and a half long leg Destroyer workout that I saw some Fitness influencer do your momentum is just going to the gym you want to write that paper and you're overthinking on how to do it well you're probably
• 06:30 - 07:00 overthinking how are these paragraphs going to link together what's the structure is that even the right thing do I sound smart let me research more your momentum instead of staring at the blank cursor overthinking is just write the headline you know this is something when I write I to get momentum I don't just sit and read and research and you know do the easy thing I'm like okay let me like how can I get momentum here I start at the most interesting part instead of the headline or the first paragraph I'll start like Midway through at the point I'm most excited about and
• 07:00 - 07:30 that gets momentum and an object in motion stays in motion and pretty soon what could have been a day where you procrastinate doing everything you start to notice that you have momentum to do things this can also be unrelated like you just getting momentum by cleaning your house or washing one dish or cleaning one section of your room doing something that puts you into action is one of the easiest ways to get out of overthinking and start moving
• 07:30 - 08:00 real quick if you're someone who's looking to reinvent yourself create the 2.0 u in 10 weeks I'll link down below our metamorphic program we've helped 850 people just like you go from just you know kind of passively watching YouTube videos to really putting in the work and getting the results they want no pressure but if you're into that I'll link down below where you can learn more tip number three this next one is allowing yourself to suck okay this is not just some BS here this is something I wrote down this has been my Mantra the
• 08:00 - 08:30 last couple weeks when we overthink it's normally because we think it has to be perfect and great and amazing or we have to look a certain way or perform and it has to be this mindblowing thing that all makes us take ourselves too seriously and that makes us very fragile and if you look at the people you look up to or who are crushing it they're antifragile which means no matter what happens I'll be okay I'm not going to die cuz remember like overthinking puts you in anxiety it's fight or flight or
• 08:30 - 09:00 freeze often times it's being frozen frozen by fear analysis paralysis literally not moving I'm not trying to sound harsh here but when you're stuck and Frozen you are afraid call it what it is you're afraid that if you take action it's going to suck or people are going to find out that you're not as smart as you say you are or maybe you're going to get embarrassed or rejected those are the fears that keep us thinking this is just allowing yourself to to suck and
• 09:00 - 09:30 detaching from how you have to look from how you have to sound from how your results have to be taking the pressure off yourself saying okay I'm allowed to suck I'm allowed to mess up I'm allowed to be human and it doesn't have to be perfect I don't have to be perfect tip number four there was an old Jim ran video I was watching I'll do my best Jim rone impersonation for you okay you go up and you get one out of 10 sales you
• 09:30 - 10:00 have a 10% close rate if you go up and you get two out of 10 sales you have 20% how was that was that rough what he's getting at is that the more rejection you get the more success you will eventually get because you improve you get better if you look at who has the most success in dating people who are willing to shoot their shot get rejected in business people who are willing to put themselves out there be cringe it's changing your relationship to rejection that if I get rejected or
• 10:00 - 10:30 something doesn't go my way it's not going to break you you're not going to die your biggest fear should not be Rejection it should be an action at the end of your life you're going to regret not taking action far more than the things you took action on and the times you look stupid or the times you got rejected for every one person that regrets starting a business there's a thousand people who look back on their life regret not starting one for every one person who gets rejected in dating there's a thousand people who regret not
• 10:30 - 11:00 shooting their shot and approaching that person they found attractive or voicing their intentions to someone so this point is fearing in action more than action fearing staying in paralysis more than failure fearing the failure of regrets more than the failure of rejection more rejection means more success that true in dating that's true
• 11:00 - 11:30 in business that's true in life tip number five there's two primary ways to set goals the first is result-based I want to lose 10B I want to make $100,000 I want to get a million YouTube subscribers that's a result that sets a Target in a North star to move towards so yeah that's okay because at least you have a Direction but the downside of that is now that's black or white now you hit it or you don't now you're a
• 11:30 - 12:00 pass or a failure that can be very demotivating so what I actually like to do is set that sure but also set what are called action goals these are instead of I want to lose 10 lbs I want to go to the gym two or three times a week result goal I want to get a million subscribers action goal I want to upload five videos a week no matter what I want to finish this paper and get an A versus I want to write a 100 words a day a thousand words a day whatever it is what
• 12:00 - 12:30 I have found in my life is that when I break it up and I focus on the action the process I end up getting way closer to the result the years where my business did not move a lot is when I was so focused on like manifesting this result I missed the whole steps to get there the process part huge huge problem in this industry of just being obsessed with results goals instead of actions and processes processes when you're overthinking you're trapped in result
• 12:30 - 13:00 land I have to do this and it has to get me that which is attachment that whole process is overthinking and attachment to the result so I think if you're able to step back and flip the script say ah I'm going after a result what is the process or the action that I can do that is way more attainable in your control and easier for you to do literally try it right now like take the thing you're thinking on that you want to do you just
• 13:00 - 13:30 want to make some art you want to make some badass videos and post them online people get all in their head with this they're like well okay I'm going to post and what's my Niche and okay I got to start a business on this thing and what's my product and who's my ideal Avatar who's the person I'm talking to wipe that clean who cares about the results right now let's make the action I just want to upload a video and see if I like it yeah I just want to make one video a week and have it as a creative outlet for my voice cuz you know what we
• 13:30 - 14:00 might get into the process of making vids and find out we don't actually like it so instead of like wasting 3 years before we film one video we might just go there and try it and see if we even like it and save ourselves 3 years of overthinking I can't tell you how many people I've coached on this like instead of going for results focus on action and process now this is the easiest point this is the Mantra if you're overthinking I want you to focus on one
• 14:00 - 14:30 word simplify it's an easy thing to make things over complicated and complex the hard thing to do is to make things simple don't let perfect be the enemy of good when you're preventing yourself and holding yourself back from doing something it's because you are attached to it being as good good and perfect as
• 14:30 - 15:00 possible Perfection is a very lazy way to live life it's a lazy thing to be like some people take pride and I overthink cuz I'm a perfectionist other people are fine with slop and you know but me my standards I'm just so so perfect I'm exaggerating but that's like people take pride in that that is the laziest thing you can be is being a perfectionist because that gives you an excuse to not produce much that gives you an excuse to take your sweet time that gives you an excuse to second guess
• 15:00 - 15:30 and question everything and also judge other people my standards are better than that look at look at that can you believe he posted that can you believe how cringe that is I also find that perfectionists are some of the most judgmental people you ever notice that they're projecting their own judgments that they put on their work onto other people instead of being a perfectionist be a doer there's a saying done is better than perfect because perfect never gets done a great example is going in for an interview like if you over prepare for an interview you ever done
• 15:30 - 16:00 that and you show up to the interview and it's like dry mouth or you're like already tired talking about it it sucks all the humanness out of you if you over prepare at the end of the day no one cares how much time and thought you put into something they only care about the results and the product a note to myself here that I'll I'll put in here um this is my intention with this year is like I overthink the hell out of these videos because I want them to be valuable I really do like I don't want people to
• 16:00 - 16:30 click on a video and feel like it's I don't know I think it comes from me really respecting your time and that if I'm going to post and people are going to spend 15 20 minutes however long I want them to walk away with something but as I've thought about this and shifted my Approach and thought about the content I watch that impacts me the most it's not always just this like regurgitated overthought like chat GPT download of INF information to someone
• 16:30 - 17:00 just like vomiting just like 20 steps onto them productivity okay there's 15 things we can know to be productive make it stop and I find myself clicking off of those videos I don't know if you do but like I find myself walking away from that type of content tired because it causes you to overthink and it's almost like seeking out the solutions to our problems is making them worse this year I'm really trying to be more about the energy and the emotional value so instead of just
• 17:00 - 17:30 logical value that's one form it's more about the connection and more just about the vibe and my point here for throwing this in here is when I overthink and I make something about just value and I just say okay like what's the brain dump download ruins the whole thing but when I'm able to just sit down and create from the heart and get in a flow State and that takes a while that can take 15 30 minutes but like when it's finally there and you're connecting with people and you're vibing that's the stuff that people crave and
• 17:30 - 18:00 want at least in my opinion and that's how I consume now now I'm curious I've given you a lot of my advice for overthinking but you all have some Banger quotes and onliners I want you to post your best piece of advice in the comments below for overthinking what do you do what have you learned from your experience not what you've heard but like what actually works for you post that in the comment below in as short or concise way as possible so we can just like fill this comment thread with awesome advice like subscribe if you're
• 18:00 - 18:30 not already thank you so much for being here I'll link up right here five questions that you can ask if you're into introspection to coach yourself it's a perfect followup to this I'll see you in the next video stop settling start living bye