Following our session last month, here is a practical guide to recognise the overthinking loop, understand why it happens, and return to a place of clarity.

Overthinking is one of the most common hidden drains for solopreneurs and entrepreneurs. It often looks like being responsible. It looks like planning, refining, researching, preparing. But underneath, it can be a form of self protection that keeps you stuck.

You rewrite your offer again, tweak your pricing, or delay posting because you want to feel more sure. You go round and round in your head, trying to find the perfect answer so you can finally move.

If you’ve been there, read on…

The aim here is not to get rid of thoughts. The aim is to recognise overthinking patterns, understand why they happen, and learn simple tools to return to clarity and calm, especially in business situations.

Life and work without overthinking feels lighter. Your decisions become simpler. And you waste less time and energy in your head.

Essentially you’ll move faster, with more trust in yourself.

How lovely. Yes please!

First, what does overthinking actually feel like?

Before we try to change anything, build awareness. Overthinking is easier to work with when you can recognise it early.

Ask yourself:

How much time do I spend overthinking in a typical week?
If you had to estimate a percentage, what would it be?

Now get specific about the experience.

When I am overthinking, what are the qualities of it?
What does it feel like in my body?
Where do I feel it? Chest, throat, belly, jaw, shoulders?

What are the kinds of thoughts I am having?
Are they urgent? Critical? Catastrophic? Self doubting? People pleasing?

This matters because when you can name it, you stop becoming it. You move from being inside the spiral to witnessing it.

What overthinking is doing in the brain

Here is the simplest way to understand it.

Running a business involves constant decision making and uncertainty. Your brain does not always like uncertainty. Overthinking is often the strategy your brain uses to try to create certainty and safety.

It is especially likely to show up around moments that carry risk, such as being seen, being judged, disappointing someone, losing money, or making the wrong choice.

Under the hood, the brain is constantly scanning for threat. This is where negativity bias comes in. Negativity bias is the brain’s tendency to prioritise negative information over positive, because historically, detecting threats helped humans survive. The Negativity Bias resource in your session materials summarises this well and includes Rick Hanson’s phrase about our brains being “velcro for the bad and teflon for the good.”

So when you face uncertainty, your brain can treat it like danger, even if the “danger” is simply an awkward email, a social media post, or someone disagreeing with you.

The brain diagram and flow chart in your overthinking resources show a clear sequence. Something comes in, the brain checks if it might be a threat, the stress response turns on, past experiences get pulled in, and then the thinking mind jumps in to solve it.

The key part to understand is this: by the time you notice you are overthinking, the emotional brain has already fired and the body is already in stress mode. Thinking is trying to regain control, rather than create clarity.

That is why you can think for hours and still not feel calm. Overthinking rarely produces certainty. It produces more searching.

This key shift changes everything

The goal is not to stop your brain doing what it does. That would be like asking it not to breathe.

The goal is to help your brain feel safe without overthinking.

That means:

Notice the pattern.
Interrupt the thought loop.
Give the brain an alternative experience of safety.

This is why grounding and presence practices work. They do not “fix” the problem by thinking harder. They change the state of the nervous system so you can access clearer thinking.

Over time, you teach the brain: I do not need to spin out in order to stay safe.

The Overthinking Reset to use as it happens

When overthinking hits, you need something simple enough to do in the moment. Here is a quick reset you can memorise and practise.

1.  Name it: “I’m overthinking.”
2.  Ground it: breath or body.
3.  Reframe it: “The story I’m telling myself is…”
4.  Balance it: notice something going well.

That last step matters a lot because negativity bias means your brain will naturally focus on what might go wrong. So you intentionally help it take in what is working.

Here's the process you can follow: 

A practical worksheet process to return to calm and clarity

The Overthinking Reset Worksheet is designed to guide you through the moment when the spiral starts, without needing to complete everything perfectly.

Here is how to use it as a step by step guide.

Step 1. Name the trigger

Ask yourself:

What just happened in my business?
What situation triggered this?
Where was I and what was I doing?

Examples might be:
A client did not reply.
You received a critical email.
A post got low engagement.
You are about to publish your sales page.
You need to send an invoice.
You got feedback that stung.

Step 2. Capture the looping thoughts

Ask yourself:

What thoughts are looping right now?
What am I telling myself?
What feels urgent or unresolved?

This is where you get honest. Overthinking is often fueled by sentences like:
I am behind.
I am not good enough.
They will judge me.
I have ruined it.
If I get this wrong, everything falls apart.

Write the thoughts down. Do not debate them yet. Get them out of your head.

Step 3. Separate story from truth

This is one of the most powerful parts.

Write:
The story I’m telling myself is…
What facts do I know to be true?
What might I be assuming?

Facts are things you could prove in a court of law.
Story is interpretation, prediction, mind reading, meaning making.

Example:
Fact: I sent a proposal and they have not replied for 5 days.
Story: They hated it and I look unprofessional.

When you separate these, your nervous system often settles immediately because you stop treating assumptions as reality.

Step 4. Identify the feeling underneath

Overthinking is often a cover for a feeling you do not want to feel.

Ask yourself:
What am I really feeling beneath this?
Is this fear, pressure, or self doubt?
What am I worried this says about me?

This brings you into honesty and self compassion. Because often, the fear underneath is not about the email or the post. It is about belonging, worth, and safety.

Step 5. Come back to the present

Ask yourself:
What is happening right now?
What is in my control today?
What is not in my control?

This is where you gently return to reality.

Overthinking pulls you into past and future. Presence brings you back to what is real now.

Step 6. Rebalance the mind

Ask yourself:
What is going well right now?
What is one small win?
What shows I am capable?

This is not positive thinking. It is accurate thinking.

If your brain is velcro for the bad, you deliberately practise taking in the good.

Step 7. Choose a grounded response

Ask yourself:
What is the next simple step?
What would a calm version of me do?
What can I let go of for now?

Then finish with this prompt from the worksheet:

"If I trusted myself more right now, what would change?"

 
A short mindfulness practice to stop chasing thoughts

Here’s a simple practice you can use anytime you notice the spiral.

Sit comfortably.
Bring attention to your breath.

Breathing in, I notice my body.
Breathing out, I soften.

Now, thoughts will still arise. That is normal.

When you notice a thought, silently label it: “thinking.”
Then gently return to the breath.

You are not stopping thoughts. You are stopping the chasing.

This is the skill. Awareness softens thinking, rather than force.

Real life ways overthinking blocks growth

Overthinking is not just uncomfortable. It has consequences.

It can lead to:
Delaying visibility.
Underpricing.
Over delivering.
Not following up.
Avoiding decisions.
Staying in draft mode for months.
Waiting for certainty that never arrives.

And the bigger issue is this: overthinking keeps you from enjoying the good stuff on the other side of action.

Action builds confidence. Evidence builds trust. Progress builds momentum.

Overthinking often feels safer, but it is usually more draining than doing the thing.

What your business can feel like with less mental noise

Imagine this for a moment.

You still care. You still think. You still plan.
But you do not spiral.

You make a decision and move.
You post without rehearsing every outcome.
You send the email without rewriting it eight times.
You can feel discomfort without making it mean danger.

Life becomes lighter.

Not because nothing hard happens, but because you are not adding a second layer of suffering by mentally rehearsing worst case scenarios all day.

Your next step

Choose one of these options:

Option 1: Save the Overthinking Reset Worksheet somewhere easy to access and use it the next time you notice the spiral.

Option 2: Practise the one minute reset daily, even when you are not spiralling:
Name it. Ground it. Reframe it. Balance it.

Option 3: Pick one business situation that regularly triggers overthinking, and plan your response:
What is the story I usually tell?
What are the facts?
What is the next simple step?

You don't need a perfect mind to build a strong business.
You just need a calmer relationship with your mind.

Less pressure. More presence.
Less mental noise. More trust.

And a simple reminder to keep coming back to is that clarity comes from presence, not pressure.

This Master Your Mind session was part of The Women Entrepreneurs Group membership. Join us for live conversations on Zoom every month that help you run your business with more clarity, confidence, and connection. Learn more and get a 7 day free trial here https://www.thewomenentrepreneursgroup.com/offers/f6LnacBi