I used to volunteer for the job that no one else wanted. I actually enjoyed it, and my colleagues were very appreciative.

What was the job? you ask. Recording phone greetings and mass voicemails. These recordings were for various apartment communities when I worked in the property management industry, and they would typically introduce the community and share hours and other information to incoming callers, or notify residents of a time-sensitive announcement.

When I was called upon to record a phone message, I typically had the same experience my colleagues did when recording the messages themselves. Inevitably, the first take we'd record would be the best, and if we decided to record a second one, it wouldn't stop there - we'd need to record several more before arriving at one we were happy with. In other words, overthinking and overwhelm would set in. Unfortunately, to make matters worse, this phone recording system forced us to decide about one take at a time, so if the first take wasn't the take right away, it would disappear upon recording the second one.

But, isn't that just like life? We don't always get to revise our mistakes and regrets. We don't even get second takes most of the time.

Realizing this often only makes us overthink more! Why wouldn't it?

If you're stuck in a loop of overthinking and overwhelm, if you've broken down your tasks only to realize they've broken into a million little pieces that could never possibly get done, if your list keeps growing with no end in sight, ask yourself this question:

Is there an easier way to do this?

If you find yourself answering "Yes, but..." you might still be in overthinking mode.

Remember, your 80% might look like someone else's 120%. (Chances are, if you're an overthinker, it probably does!)

Is there an easier way to do this (that I'm comfortable with and actually see myself doing, and can actually take action on without other steps in the way)?

Exploring the question with gentle curiosity could unblock an untold amount of obstacles for you, or at least identify the first step.

What can you challenge yourself to tackle in one try, and decide that your first take is good enough?

If "take one, action" is too much, how can you take one action instead?

How can these free up time and energy for you this week?

Anyway, that's just my take :)

Cee