✦Wellbeing · 13 recordsStop overthinking

Overthinking feels like problem-solving but rarely solves anything. This borrows techniques from cognitive behavioural approaches: a short scheduled worry time so thoughts can be postponed, writing a worry down and sorting it into something you can act on or something you cannot, and noticing the loop early enough to step out of it.

Install this templateSee the others

Free on any plan. You will see this list again in the app, and nothing is created until you press install.

✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

Less time lost to overthinking Week 6

A worry slot, a notebook, and small actions.

Set up the tools Day 7

Somewhere for thoughts to go, and a time for them.

  • Choose a daily fifteen-minute worry timeDo firstDay 2
  • Start a notebook or note for writing worries downDo firstDay 2
  • List the situations that most often start the loopDo firstDay 6

Practise Week 6

Noticing earlier, acting smaller.

  • Sort a week of worries into can act and cannot actDo firstDay 10
  • Take one small action on something I can act onDo firstDay 12
  • Two-week check: has the worry slot shrunk?Week 3
  • Six-week review: what helps, and whether to look for supportDo firstWeek 6

Routines

  • Worry time, fifteen minutesdaily
  • Walk or move when a loop startsdaily
✦ It comes with a note

Sorting a worry

Write it down in one sentence. Is this something I can do anything about? If yes: what is the smallest step, and when will I do it? If no: save it for worry time, and let it go for now.

If overthinking affects sleep, work or relationships, talk to a doctor. Talking therapies work, and this plan is not a replacement for them.

✦ Questions

Stop overthinking, answered.

Notice the loop, write the thought down, and ask whether there is an action you can take today. If there is, take the smallest one; if not, postpone it to a scheduled worry time. Physical activity and a change of scene also interrupt it well.
A short, fixed slot each day, often fifteen minutes, when you allow yourself to worry on purpose. Outside it, worries are written down and saved for later. It is a technique used in cognitive behavioural therapy.
If overthinking is affecting sleep, work or relationships, or comes with persistent anxiety or low mood, talk to a doctor. Talking therapies such as CBT are effective, and this plan is not a substitute for them.
✦ More templates

Other systems you can install

Wellbeing

Reset after a hard year

Deliberately small. Three routines, one gentle goal, and nothing that can be failed.

Wellbeing

Fix your sleep

A fixed wake time, a wind-down that starts before you are tired, and four weeks to judge it.

Wellbeing

Start meditating

Ten minutes, the same time each day, for eight weeks — and no target beyond turning up.

Wellbeing

Quit smoking

A quit date, the support arranged before it, and a plan for the situations that undo it.

Install it and start this evening

It takes one press. Everything it creates is tagged, so if it turns out not to suit you, it is easy to find and remove together.

Install this template