Stop Thinking, Start Doing: A Simple Solution

Thinking longer leads to worse decisions—neurosc-1779834870846

Look, I don’t know about you folks, but sometimes I feel like I’m spending way too much time staring at something, trying to figure it out. Like, you’re trying to fix a broken toy, right? And you just keep turning it over and over, picking at it, thinking about all the different ways it could be broken, all the possible solutions. And by the time you’ve done that, the toy’s even *more* broken. Or, you’ve spent an hour trying to figure out why Maya didn’t do her homework, and you’ve realized she was just tired and needed a hug. It's a waste of energy, honestly.

It’s not that thinking is bad. It’s just… a lot. Especially when you’re thinking about complicated things. Like, Mrs. Rodriguez brought in this whole thing about the economy the other day, and I was trying to explain it to little Jamal, and it just… went nowhere. He was looking at me like I was speaking a different language. And me, I was getting more and more frustrated, trying to simplify it, trying to make it make *sense*.

The thing is, people—kids especially—they don’t always want all the answers. Sometimes they just want to feel safe and understood. Sometimes they just need a little bit of help to get back on track. And all this overthinking, this constant analysis, it can actually make things *worse*. It’s like you’re building a wall around the problem instead of just… addressing it.

I’ve seen it in the classroom all the time. A kid struggling with a math problem, they start to get worked up, start to worry about failing the test, start to think about all the things they’ll miss if they don’t get it right. And suddenly, they can’t even *do* the problem. The pressure's taken over.

It’s funny, though. I used to be a really big overthinker. I’d spend hours agonizing over little things, making mountains out of molehills. Then I realized, most of the time, the thing I was stressing about wouldn’t have mattered anyway. It was just… noise.

You know what I found helps? Just…doing. Like, if Maya’s struggling with her writing, I don’t sit there and try to diagnose *why*. I just sit with her and ask her to write *something*. Sometimes that’s enough. Sometimes, she'll tell me what's going on, and we can deal with it then.

It's like, sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to just… jump in. Don’t get stuck trying to figure out every single detail. Don't get so caught up in the *thinking* that you forget about the *doing*.

Seriously, give it a try. Take a deep breath, pick up the broken toy, and just… fix it. You might be surprised. Or, you know, just let Maya know you love her and give her a hug. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.