Latest / Inspirations for Your Life / Why Overthinking Is Keeping You Stuck (S5) S33:E2 Sunday

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Why Overthinking Is Keeping You Stuck (S5) S33:E2 Sunday · Inspirations for Your Life

0:22
Well there, hello everyone, and welcome once again
0:25
to the ever-popular Inspirations for Your Life
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0:29
It is Sunday, August 9th, 2026.
0:33
That means we're on the second day of
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our master topic.
0:35
We'll get to that in just a moment.
0:37
Also, Sunday means something else special, we'll get
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to that in a minute.
0:41
But if this is your very first time
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You know what that is?
0:59
I'd like to say the words welcome back.
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And so, yes, this is a coffee shop,
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All right, guys, let's get right into the
2:43
show, shall we?
2:43
This is Inspirations For Your Life, the master
2:46
weekly topic, Series 5, Show 33, Stop Waiting
2:51
For Your Life To Change.
2:54
Why overthinking is keeping you stuck?
2:57
Series 5, Show 33, episode number two, welcome
3:01
everyone to the ever popular Inspirations For Your
3:03
Life show.
3:05
I'm John C.
3:06
Morley, I am a serial entrepreneur, engineer, marketing
3:12
specialist, video producer, podcast host, coach, keynote speaker,
3:17
graduate student at Montclair State University, a passionate
3:21
lifelong learner, and now so grateful to be
3:25
a published author, yes.
3:28
Have you ever thought about something so much
3:31
that instead of becoming clearer, you actually become,
3:35
well, more confused?
3:37
That's the danger of overthinking.
3:39
You see, thinking is valuable, but eventually more
3:42
thinking stops producing better answers.
3:46
Today, I'm exploring 30 ways to recognize when
3:50
your mind is keeping you stuck and how
3:53
to start moving again.
3:55
Yes, number one, thinking can become hiding.
4:00
Sometimes we tell ourselves we're still researching when
4:04
we're really avoiding a decision.
4:07
Preparation should eventually lead somewhere, not nowhere.
4:13
Recognize when thinking has become a comfortable place
4:18
to hide.
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I think that's important to note.
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Number two, stop solving imaginary problems.
4:26
How much energy have you spent solving situations
4:30
that never happened?
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Deal with real problems when they actually arrive
4:35
instead of exhausting yourself preparing for every imaginary
4:39
possibility.
4:41
Number three, not every decision needs certainty.
4:46
No, certainty feels wonderful, but life rarely provides
4:51
it.
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Many decisions simply require enough reliable information to
4:56
make a reasonable next move.
5:00
Number four, your mind can manufacture obstacles, sure
5:03
it can.
5:04
The brain is incredibly creative.
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Unfortunately, it can use that creativity to invent
5:09
reasons something won't work.
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Ask whether the obstacle is real or merely
5:15
it was predicted or imagined.
5:18
Number five, recognize analysis paralysis.
5:21
We've all heard of this before.
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Researching, comparing, questioning, and reconsidering can feel productive
5:29
while producing no movement.
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When additional analysis stops improving the decision, it
5:37
is time to act.
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Yes, it's time to act.
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So, I want to tell you this, be
5:44
aware of that.
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Number six, stop replaying every possibility.
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You cannot mentally experience every version of the
5:54
future before choosing one.
5:57
Eventually, you have to stop rehearsing possibilities and
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participate in reality.
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I think that's important, guys, really important to
6:07
actually participate.
6:08
Number seven, give decisions a deadline.
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Without a deadline, some decisions expand indefinitely.
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Decide how much time the choice genuinely deserves.
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Gather the necessary information and then choose from
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there, right?
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Number eight, don't confuse worry with preparation.
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Too many people do this.
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Preparation produces useful actions.
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Worry often repeats the same concerns without producing
6:40
anything new, that is.
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Learn to recognize the difference, guys.
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And I think you'll be happier because when
6:48
you can do that, you'll be like, oh,
6:49
wait a minute, I now see why I'm
6:51
not going somewhere.
6:52
I see why this is changing or this
6:55
is keeping me in the same place, right?
6:58
Number nine, guys, challenge your worst-case thinking.
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When your mind jumps immediately to disaster, challenge
7:07
it.
7:08
Ask what is most likely to happen rather
7:11
than automatically focusing on the most frightening possibility.
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I think a lot of people do that.
7:18
They think about those frightening things like, oh
7:19
my gosh, this is all I can do,
7:21
right?
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So they put themselves basically backed up into
7:25
a corner or a wall.
7:27
Number 10, guys, silence the endless internal debate.
7:30
There comes a point when you've heard both
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sides, enough's enough.
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Continuing the debate doesn't always create wisdom.
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Sometimes it simply creates exhaustion.
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Number 11, guys, trust what you've already learned.
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Your previous experiences gave you knowledge.
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Use them.
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You don't have to restart every decision as
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though you never learned anything before.
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Number 12, guys, please stop searching for perfect
8:05
answers.
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They do not exist, okay?
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Many situations don't have one perfect answer.
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They have several reasonable options with different advantages.
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Choose wisely without demanding perfection.
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Number 13, decide with the information available.
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You can always wish you knew more.
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Ask whether additional information would meaningfully change your
8:33
choice.
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If not, you may already know enough.
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Number 14, let experience teach you.
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Some lessons can't be learned through thinking.
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Take a responsible step.
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Observe what happens and allow real experience to
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give you new information.
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Number 15, don't predict every outcome.
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You're going to get tired and you're going
9:00
to become frustrated.
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You can't control every variable or predict every
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response.
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It's just not possible.
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Plan responsibly, then accept the part of moving
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forward and how it involves uncertainty.
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And I think when we have uncertainty, people
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get like crazy and that's a problem, all
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right?
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That's a problem because you're like, oh my
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gosh, what am I supposed to do?
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How do I change this?
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That's a big problem for I think a
9:30
lot of people to actually understand.
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But let's embrace it, all right?
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Number 16, simplify complicated choices.
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You know, I know so many people out
9:42
there that they basically try to make things
9:44
more complicated because that's just what they do.
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And that's a problem for a lot of
9:52
people, right?
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Just keep doing this day in and day
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out.
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And they're like, they just keep making things
9:57
harder and harder.
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But there's no reason to make them harder,
10:00
but yet they do.
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I think that's crazy, right?
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So simplify complicated choices.
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You can do that.
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Ask what actually matters.
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Removing irrelevant details can turn an overwhelming decision,
10:18
well, into a manageable one.
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And you'll be surprised how that works because
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when you break things into chunks, when you
10:25
do things in stages, it doesn't seem so
10:28
big.
10:28
It doesn't seem so unbearable.
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Number 17, ask better questions.
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Instead of asking what if everything goes wrong,
10:38
ask what information do I need, right?
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Better questions redirect your attention toward useful answers.
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Don't try to make excuses to why you
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can't get the answer.
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Just go with what you have at the
10:55
current moment.
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I think that's a very important thing.
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Number 18, separate facts from assumptions.
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Write down what you actually know and compare
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it with what you're assuming.
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You may discover that much of your anxiety
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is attached to predictions rather than pure facts,
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and facts are the key guys.
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Number 19, stop mentally living in tomorrow.
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What I mean by that is not your
11:27
future.
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I mean living in something that's not here.
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Like, if you're living in a problem, don't
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live in that, okay?
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It's okay to live in your future.
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That's fine.
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Planning for tomorrow is useful, okay?
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Constantly living there isn't.
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Now, I want to say something about this.
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Living in a future that you enjoy is
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great, okay?
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But don't live in something that you don't
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want to exist.
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Don't sacrifice today's attention to situations that haven't
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even happened yet and probably won't happen, but
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you can keep putting this fear in yourself,
12:01
right?
12:02
The fear that maybe this is what you
12:05
want, or is it not what you want?
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I think that's a very important thing to
12:11
understand for a lot of people, that we
12:14
can do these things day in and day
12:17
out, right?
12:19
Day in and day out.
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That's the real kicker, guys, that you have
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the power to do these kinds of things.
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Number 20, give yourself permission to decide.
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You are the one that makes the permission,
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okay?
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You're the one that does that.
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No one else does that, okay?
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No one else does that.
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You should be the one doing that.
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So give yourself permission to decide right now,
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not tomorrow.
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Sometimes nobody's preventing you from choosing except you.
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You're the one putting up the barricade.
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You're the one putting up the wall.
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You're the one saying this isn't possible.
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You're the one making the excuses, okay?
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I think that's an important thing for us
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to realize, okay?
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That's important.
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Trust yourself enough to make a thoughtful decision
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and move forward toward it.
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Many people can make excuses, right?
13:32
I've always said if you're not part of
13:35
the solution, then you're part of the problem,
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okay?
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And I'll tell you that's something a lot
13:46
of people don't understand.
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And the reason they don't understand it is
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because they're confused.
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They're confused because their mind is setting up,
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let's say, what seems to be plausible but
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really unprobable situations.
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And then people just get stuck there.
14:15
And they go, oh my gosh, what am
14:16
I supposed to do?
14:18
I just keep creating these situations and I
14:20
don't seem to be getting further.
14:22
I just keep getting further apart from where
14:25
I need to be, okay?
14:28
That's a very important thing that a lot
14:31
of people don't understand.
14:35
They just don't understand what that means or
14:38
why that means that.
14:40
So we need to be cognizant of these
14:44
things.
14:45
We need to be aware of when we're
14:47
making excuses and we're not getting closer to
14:51
our solution.
14:52
We're getting further away from it, okay?
14:59
That's a problem, all right?
15:02
And that problem will just keep getting worse
15:04
and worse and worse.
15:08
But there's a truth to it.
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The truth is, if you're not getting where
15:13
you wanna be, look at yourself.
15:15
You're probably making excuses for yourself, yeah?
15:23
You're just coming up with reasons that this
15:28
should not happen, this should not be.
15:31
And you're sabotaging yourself.
15:34
Number 21, guys, release decisions you already made.
15:38
If you made them, they're done, right?
15:40
You can't go back and undo them.
15:42
Once you've made a reasonable choice, stop repeatedly
15:47
putting it back on trial again.
15:49
You made the decision, that's it, let it
15:52
stick.
15:53
Don't keep going back over things a million
15:55
times.
15:56
You're gonna drive yourself nuts.
16:00
And not only that, you're not going to
16:03
get to your goal because you're constantly gonna
16:06
be frustrated.
16:07
You're gonna burn yourself out, okay?
16:13
That's a key, guys.
16:14
That's a real key.
16:16
So give your decision enough time to produce
16:21
information.
16:23
I'm not gonna say that you make a
16:26
decision and it's gonna work tomorrow.
16:29
It might take a while.
16:30
Now, is there a time when you can
16:31
go back and change your decision?
16:33
Absolutely.
16:35
But don't change the decision five minutes after
16:37
you cast it or a day or a
16:40
week.
16:40
Give it some time.
16:42
Right?
16:44
Give it time to cook.
16:46
Give the wine time to ferment.
16:49
Don't just stop because it doesn't seem to
16:53
be boiling, you know?
16:55
That's a key point that a lot of
16:58
people just don't understand and they never will.
17:03
And the reason they understand is because people
17:10
just don't, like, they don't get it.
17:13
And I know a lot of you out
17:16
there are probably saying, oh my gosh, what
17:18
am I supposed to do?
17:22
And I would tell you to be the
17:25
you that you know you can be.
17:28
Don't constantly get thrown because things aren't going
17:32
the way you want, okay?
17:36
You've got to understand that you've got to
17:39
create solutions, okay?
17:44
You've got to create solutions.
17:47
Not more problems.
17:50
I think that's a thing that a lot
17:52
of people don't know.
17:57
They don't understand that.
17:59
And because they don't understand that, it's like
18:01
they suddenly get lost and they're like, oh
18:03
my gosh, what am I supposed to do
18:05
now?
18:05
I just keep creating, I keep creating more
18:08
challenges for myself of why things won't work
18:12
instead of why things will work.
18:14
So this can happen a lot.
18:18
And a lot of people realize that it's
18:20
something that maybe you're not aware of, okay?
18:25
And that's an important thing, guys.
18:28
A very, very important thing to understand.
18:34
Very, very important thing.
18:36
And I will tell you that these things
18:39
will cause you to make changes in your
18:42
life.
18:43
But if you keep changing stuff, that's a
18:45
problem, right?
18:49
If you keep changing things, that's a problem.
18:55
So you've got to let things ferment a
18:58
little bit.
18:59
Number 22, don't reopen every closed door.
19:04
You closed it.
19:05
No need to go back on it over
19:07
and over again.
19:08
Maybe you think it's going to be easier
19:10
because you're reopening it.
19:12
No, don't do that.
19:16
Don't do that at all.
19:20
I think that's a very big problem for
19:23
us to understand.
19:26
You see, not every past decision needs another
19:30
examination.
19:32
Sometimes moving forward requires accepting that a chapter
19:37
is finished, right?
19:39
Finished.
19:40
Meaning it's time for you to move on
19:42
from that decision, right?
19:46
Time for you to move on from that
19:48
decision.
19:49
Protect your mental energy, number 23.
19:52
Attention is limited.
19:53
Don't spend enormous amounts of it on choices
19:56
that don't deserve that level of consideration.
20:01
Number 24, action can quiet uncertainty.
20:07
One real action can sometimes answer more questions
20:11
than another week of thinking.
20:14
Test the idea and let reality provide feedback.
20:19
Don't try to second guess it.
20:21
There's no reason to second guess anything.
20:24
Number 25, stop needing everyone to agree.
20:30
You don't.
20:31
Useful advice matters, but universal approval isn't required.
20:36
If every decision needs everyone's agreement, you'll spend
20:40
your life waiting and you'll never get anything
20:44
accomplished.
20:45
Number 26, make peace with imperfect choices.
20:49
You'll occasionally make a decision you later want
20:53
to change.
20:54
That's part of learning.
20:55
An imperfect decision doesn't automatically mean you failed.
21:00
Hopefully, you'll learn something from it.
21:02
Number 27, learn instead of obsessing.
21:06
When something doesn't work, ask what it taught
21:09
you.
21:10
Learning creates forward movement.
21:13
Obsession keeps you emotionally attached to what already
21:17
happened.
21:19
Number 28, your brain needs an off switch.
21:23
You don't have to analyze every problem, every
21:28
waking minute of your life.
21:30
Give yourself permission to disconnect, unplug, recharge, and
21:35
return with a clear perspective.
21:39
It's okay to do that, guys.
21:42
Number 29, decide, act, evaluate.
21:48
This is a powerful cycle.
21:51
Make the best decision available.
21:53
Take action, observe the result, then use what
21:57
you learned to determine the next move.
22:00
Number 30, guys, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop
22:04
thinking yourself out of living.
22:10
Life isn't meant to exist entirely inside your
22:13
head.
22:14
There are conversations to have, opportunities to explore,
22:18
mistakes to learn from, and experiences waiting for
22:22
you to take advantage of.
22:25
But I think a lot of people, they
22:27
do this.
22:28
And then for whatever reason, they're like, oh
22:29
my gosh, what am I supposed to do
22:31
now?
22:31
I think what you're supposed to do now
22:33
is you're supposed to learn from what you've
22:35
done and figure out how you can make
22:37
those changes, right?
22:39
How can you make those changes?
22:42
And I think that's a big thing for
22:46
a lot of people.
22:53
If we understand that one thing, we can
22:56
make our lives a lot better.
22:59
So in closing today, I want to let
23:02
you know that overthinking often begins with good
23:06
intentions.
23:07
It really does.
23:08
You want to make the right choice.
23:09
You want to avoid mistakes.
23:12
You want to basically understand what might happen.
23:18
Plausible.
23:20
But eventually thinking has to serve action.
23:24
You don't need perfect certainty about tomorrow to
23:28
participate in today.
23:30
You need enough information to make a responsible
23:32
choice.
23:35
Enough trust in yourself to make it.
23:39
And enough flexibility to adjust when you learn
23:42
something new.
23:46
That's hard for a lot of people.
23:48
Remember, ladies and gentlemen, these are three very
23:51
powerful words.
23:52
Are you ready for them?
23:52
Here they are.
23:55
D-A-E.
23:57
Here's the words.
23:58
Decide, act, evaluate.
24:00
Decide, act, evaluate.
24:04
Decide, act, then evaluate.
24:10
Don't spend your life trying to mentally experience
24:15
every possible future before choosing one.
24:19
It's okay to experience the future you want,
24:22
but don't try to experience so many of
24:25
them that are so off your path.
24:28
I know that's hard to fathom, but it's
24:31
just the truth, guys.
24:33
People spend so much time trying to figure
24:35
out why this isn't going where they want.
24:38
That's a big problem for so many people
24:41
that I know.
24:44
Ladies and gentlemen, I know when we think
24:46
about overthinking, the first thing you say, well,
24:48
I don't overthink.
24:50
I just analyze everything after I've done it,
24:54
but I don't overthink.
24:56
Okay.
24:57
Or I make decisions, but then as soon
25:00
as I make them, I just ask myself
25:02
questions about why I made them.
25:04
We can try to fend the fact that
25:07
you're not overthinking, but let's just admit it,
25:09
you're overthinking.
25:10
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm John C.
25:12
Morley.
25:13
Thank you so much for choosing to join
25:15
me for another amazing episode of Inspirations For
25:17
Your Life.
25:18
I think all this tonight has probably been
25:21
a lot.
25:22
When I say to you, overthinking, you don't
25:24
have to validate it to me.
25:27
You can keep it to yourself.
25:29
I want you to have a better life.
25:31
Okay.
25:31
But overthinking will drain the beautiful energy that
25:37
you have in you.
25:38
And it'll prevent you from achieving the goals
25:41
that you want so badly, your passion is
25:44
driving toward.
25:47
Because you're wasting the gas in your tank
25:50
on overthinking.
25:54
And it might be a while before you
25:56
get more gas again, right?
25:58
When you put gas in your car, do
26:00
you suddenly just drive everywhere and then you're
26:02
like, oh my gosh, I wasted all my,
26:03
no, you don't do that.
26:04
Maybe you're younger, you did that, right?
26:06
Maybe, maybe that was something you did.
26:10
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to invite you
26:12
to please protect your mental energy.
26:18
Trust what you've learned.
26:21
Make the decision.
26:23
Take the step.
26:25
But most importantly, are you ready for this?
26:29
Can you handle this?
26:30
I know this is an awful lot for
26:33
all of you to probably fathom, but it's
26:37
the truth, right?
26:38
Here it is.
26:40
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
26:44
Like a stop sign.
26:45
Stop thinking yourself out of living the life
26:49
you've always wanted.
26:52
And, you know, how do I do this
26:55
when I've been doing it my whole life?
26:58
Try it with something small.
27:00
Maybe it's a decision you have, and maybe
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the decision is not where you want it
27:04
to be.
27:06
Think about that one decision and just let
27:10
it go.
27:12
And don't change it.
27:14
And next time, okay, I should have made
27:16
this decision.
27:17
I should have picked the chocolate cupcake.
27:19
Or I should have carried the cupcakes with
27:23
two hands instead of one.
27:24
I mean, I'm being facetious, but you get
27:26
my point.
27:27
All right.
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Or when I was on the highway, I
27:31
should have made sure that I stayed two
27:33
miles under the speed limit.
27:39
Or maybe didn't go over by more than
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two, depending on where you are.
27:44
These are important things, guys.
27:45
So don't think yourself or outthink yourself out
27:48
of living.
27:49
You have so much to live for.
27:50
So amazing if you just pay attention and
27:54
let your mind work.
27:56
I'm John C.
27:56
Morley, serial entrepreneur.
27:57
Be sure to check out BelieveMeAchieve.com for
27:59
more of my amazing, inspiring creations.
28:01
I'll catch you guys real soon.
28:02
Be well, and don't overthink it.