How to Solve Over or Underthinking

This is the Momentum podcast. I was on a hike this week with my good friend Tom Shipley, and I made this statement and he stopped me. He actually stopped walking and said, Wait a second, I need to understand more about this. Can you do a recording on it? And that's exactly why I'm doing this. So Tom and I were walking along and we were in a pretty intense conversation and we were talking about just what we been up to and what was going on. And I told him I'd been doing a lot of journaling, and I just, as an aside, said, You know, Tom, the way I look at it is when I'm overthinking, I journal and when I don't feel like I'm thinking enough, I read. And he was like, he stopped and said, Wait, what did you say? Can you say that again? And I said, Sure, you know, when I've got too much bouncing around in my head, when there's too much going on, when there's when I'm thinking too much, I stop and I journal and I start writing stuff out and I write out, what are the recurring thoughts that I'm having? What are the things that keep coming up? What are the things that I wouldn't tell anybody else? I put them out on paper because I feel like those are messages I'm sending to myself. But when I'm thinking, not thinking enough, when I don't have a lot of thoughts, when I'm not having a lot of ideas, when I feel creativity, it creatively, creatively stripped. Holy cow, that was hard to get out when I feel creatively stripped down and I don't feel like I'm really getting a lot of creativity. That's when I consume. That's for me a lot of time. It's reading for you. Maybe it's podcasts or YouTube videos. I use some of those as well, but the way I look at it is, if I've got too much going on in my head, I don't want to keep adding more. And I think that's one of the big mistakes that entrepreneurs make. In fact, see if this resonates for you. I know I used to do this all the time. I would be in one of those places where I was thinking too much. I was like in some loops, in spirals, in my mind where things kept coming up. I was thinking about the same things over and over again. Sometimes I get a little obsessive compulsive with things. And in order to avoid that feeling, I would consume, I would pick up a book and try and read it, and I would find myself reading the same page of the book over and over again. Or yeah, sometimes I would go to YouTube or social media and start consuming and really kind of zone out. And then the second I stopped consuming it would come right back or as I would, was consuming. I would realize I was reading a post or watching a video, and I was absorbing none of it and nothing was actually sticking. And so it wasn't really effective. I'm Alex Charfen, and this is the Momentum podcast made for empire builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers and creators of all kinds, those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny. We define it. We don't understand defeat because you only lose if you stop and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority. The few who are willing to hallucinate there could be a better future. And instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution and we always will be. These days, when and when I'm in that place where it's just too much going on, loops, spirals, I sit down and I just put it out on paper and sometimes it's funny. I just start writing like, here are the thoughts I've been thinking this is what's been going on for me. There's a few frameworks. I use one to get in touch with my inner child. Sometimes maybe I'll do another podcast on that. Another one I use to solve some solve problems when there's stuff that's going on too much, but a lot of the times I just sit down and purge, I put everything down on paper that's been coming up for me. Everything down on paper. That's frustrating me, everything down on paper. That's that there's too much of when I'm overthinking and you know, I look at it is getting clarity around what are the thoughts in my head because as entrepreneurs, when we let things bounce around in our head, oftentimes we don't have clarity. In fact, when we let things bouncing around inside our heads and we don't really acknowledge what's going on. They can amplify, they can become overwhelming. They can slow us down. They can get in the way of us creatively problem solving, figuring, figuring out what we need to do next. Understanding how to get ourselves back into momentum. And when I start writing them down. When I purge, when I just write everything that's coming up, especially the more immature thoughts or the more obscure thoughts are maybe the ones that are a little bit more obsessive or irrational, which, by the way, all of us have few of us acknowledge. But when we do, oftentimes what happens is it releases us to go do what we really need to do or really want to do. On that same token, if I feel like, you know, I want to do some podcasts or I want to write some scripts, or there's some stuff that I want to create or put out there, and I just don't feel inspired. That's exactly when I turn around and do the opposite. That's when I will consume, and that's when I'll grab one of the hundreds of books on my shelves here, sometimes one that I've read and maybe one that I haven't read. I'll do some kinesiology testing and say, like, what chapter of this book right now would help me and I'll open it up. Read that chapter. And oftentimes I get inspiration. Sometimes I'll go to social media and YouTube for the same thing. But you know, for me, books, they're really a lot more reliable and moving me forward and getting the creative juices flowing, getting me back in the state, getting me back into where I can create, getting me back into where I'm putting out what I want to put out. And so for you this this might work, you know something for you to think about next time you're feeling like you're having too many thoughts, too many. Maybe compulsive does too many obsessive diets just the same thing coming up over and over again? Or maybe you're in a spiral, which happens to me. It happens to all of us again. Few of us admit it. Most of us just push through it. But you know, spirals are where you're thinking like a negative thought and then becomes more negative and you go to worst case scenario and as entrepreneurs. That's actually a healthy behavior for us. Understanding worst case, worst case scenario is a healthy behavior, but when it comes, it becomes obsessive. It's massively distracting. So I will sit down and I'll write it all out and you should try it. You can try it. And I love to know if this helps you. And on that same token, the next time you're trying to do something creative or put out some content or make something new or solve a problem, and you feel like your mind's a void, which again happens to all of us, a few of us admit it. Pick up a book or go to a YouTube channel that inspires you and listen to some really solid content or read some solid content. And again, the way I do it is I. I grab a book that is calling to me or feels right, or I look at the shelf, and I think which one is the book that I need now? I do some muscle testing and I'll click through and say, like, which chapter do I need to look at? Look at it and it inspires me, and it fills me back up. And so hopefully this simple suggestion will help you when you're in a place when there's too much going on in your mind or in a place where you just can't access what you want to and there's not enough going on in your mind. And if you're an entrepreneur, a grown, a business, we would love to help you. Why don't you navigate over to our new Facebook group? It's called simple operations. Operating your business just got simple. Answer a few questions for my team and join the group. We actually have a brand new training on why every on what is an operator and why every entrepreneur needs one, and we also have a new training on the five core functions of your business. There's a wealth of knowledge in that group and a ton of really amazing entrepreneurs in the community. Again, it's simple operations operating your business just got simple. Go check it out and I'd love to see you in the group. And hopefully this little piece of advice that I use all the time helps you create momentum in your life.