Overcome This Common Entrepreneurial Struggle and Stop Sabotaging Your Progress Thinking it through before you make a move is smart. Overthinking it will keep you from ever making a move.
Our biggest sale — Get unlimited access to Entrepreneur.com at an unbeatable price. Use code SAVE50 at checkout.*
Claim Offer*Offer only available to new subscribers
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You started your business behind an idea. You had a vision to build something that makes an impact in the lives of your future customers, and those who follow what you do. You set a goal of creating financial security to experience true freedom. You had a dream of building a business and life that most people will never understand.
When you start to build that business, you deal with many moving parts and steps. The idea alone was not enough. Now, you put in the daily work and hustle that allows a dream to become reality. You experience good times and not-so-good times building your business.
You always will.
Despite the normal challenges of building a business, there's a threat that you may be aware of but haven't given a voice to. This strong self-limiting belief has derailed many entrepreneurs. The struggle you'll have to overcome if you want to accomplish all of your business goals is to stop overthinking. Getting lost in your thoughts and feelings can keep you from taking action.
It's our human nature to overthink what we don't understand, particularly the things outside of our comfort zone, but time spent overthinking is time you could be using to take action that leads to results. Here are three reasons why you have to beat the habit of overthinking.
Related: 10 Actions That Highlight You as a Leader
1. Imperfectly done is better than perfectly planned.
It's a scary proposition to build and take action in the uncharted waters of your life and business. As you start to execute your plan, your mind will kick into overdrive. You start to overthink every decision because what you're doing is not "normal" for you. You are breaking a pattern. It doesn't give you that sense of comfort that you're used to.
When it's all said and done, doing something is better than not doing anything--especially if it's because you're fighting a war in your mind. Done will always trump perfect and "perfection" is not a realistic goal. Sometimes you have to take massive action and come back later to fix the rough edges. Don't overthink your way out of what will actually help your business grow.
Related: Perfection Is the Greatest Obstacle to Productivity
2. Experience is your best teacher.
You can learn the easy way. You can learn the hard way but the reality is that you learn from every experience in your life. Each offers you clues, messages and insights that help you grow. Staying stuck in your mind overthinking everything is not a good life teacher for you. You'll stay stuck where you are and that doesn't lead to business growth.
Give yourself the experiences that help you become an expert at what you do. Allow yourself the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. You become smarter and stronger when you learn from taking action. You'll never get there if you overthink everything. Do, learn, change, tweak and scale. All of that happens through massive action and experience.
Related: If You Want Success, You Have to Go Out and Get It
3. You don't need permission to do what makes sense.
One major self-limiting belief that overthinking leads to is waiting for permission. You convince yourself you can't move forward until all the "stars align" or you get some message out of the sky telling you it's okay to live your life and build your business. So many entrepreneurs are stuck waiting and it's because of a false sense of permission. That doesn't have to be you.
You don't need permission from anyone other than yourself. You don't need to wait for anyone else's blessing. Even if you've hired a mentor or consultant, the decisions you make and the actions you take are yours to decide. Mentors, coaches, consultants and teachers are guides, not your puppet master.
Stop waiting for permission. Overthinking every little thing will leave you confused and helpless. Release all of from your mind. Change your mindset to one of action and growth. Do what you love, even if you don't have it all figured out. Tell your mind to quiet down because you've got this and the best is yet to come.
Overthinking is a common entrepreneurial struggle. Even when you become aware of it, you'll still have to actively battle not getting caught in the overthinking trap. Start the journey to replace this bad habit right now. Think through what you want to do but then take action. Don't say stuck in a never-ending loop in your mind.
