My friends often say I overthink things. At work, I’ve been jokingly accused of “overengineering” projects. For the last couple of years, I’ve actively tried to dial this back. My goal was to avoid always being the “smartest person in the conversation,” as a former boss once told me. So, when I saw obvious lapses in second- or third-order thinking, I stayed quiet. I learned to just “let them” make mistakes.
But I’ve found this to be exhausting. It’s draining to watch people slowly reach a conclusion you arrived at much earlier. I’m starting to believe that in many areas, you lose your effectiveness when you don’t think deeply about things.
Perhaps it’s time to reframe what we call “overthinking.” Maybe it’s not a flaw, but simply deep thinking. Maybe the real problem is that people don’t think enough, especially about important things.
Consider some personal examples. I have a basic financial budget, which some people view as overthinking my money. On my weight loss journey, I know people who think it’s overkill to weigh myself daily and count calories. At work, new initiatives are often rolled out without any consideration for how they’ll impact existing systems, leaving others to clean up avoidable messes.
I’m not a great chess player, but I know there’s a clear difference between someone who plays one move at a time and someone who plans three or four moves ahead.
I’m tired of not thinking, so I’m going to start again. I invite you to do the same. Let’s remove the stigma around “overthinking.” Perhaps people aren’t overthinking—they are just thinking at a level you aren’t. We shouldn’t label and ridicule what we don’t understand.
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