Thinking deeply is not always a good thing. In fact, it often gets in the way.

If you've had any part of your upbringing be academically rigorous, you may conflate these ideas. You think: If I understand the system, if I'm thorough with my knowledge, I'm more likely to succeed. And of course, there's truth to this. "Knowledge is power" is an axiom for a reason.

But we rarely look at the flip side—that thinking, as a form of deliberation, can lead to stalling. When you need to simply do the thing, run after the goal, show up—thinking about it doesn't always help. Sometimes, even preparing for it doesn't help.

This shows up in simple ways. I'm guilty of it too. I'll think, When is the best time in my schedule to go to the gym? And I'll start making a deliberate plan—when actually, I have a moment right now. Instead of doing all the calculus through my day, I could just go exercise and get the damn thing done.

It shows up in huge decisions too. You try to turn a life decision into a pros and cons list. You translate everything you know about your partner—the one you might marry—into columns: You like this, you don't like that. Then you try to score it, analyze it, convert the relationship into numbers you can understand.

But this approach rarely works. The dynamics of how you show up for each other, while worth deep consideration, can also be subject to an overthinking process that muddies your decision rather than clarifying it.

the analyst's trap

More broadly, this reflexive pattern—the unconscious execution of thinking—may get in the way of the experience of life itself.

If your brain is doing a ton of calculus at every interaction, you're living there. In your head. You may not be experiencing life wholly in your body. You're not an actor in the play or a participant in the experience—you're an analyst. It's an unconscious form of dissociation.

Patterns. Behaviors. Thoughts. They all have a time and a place.

The act of reflection doesn't need to happen all day, every day. Maybe it's best contained to a specific time, in a specific place—a designated spot in your home, a morning ritual, a journaling session.

scope it, then do

Having awareness that your thinking may be getting in the way doesn't mean to stop thinking. It means to scope it. Tame it. Understand that thinking should not encompass the whole of whatever you're trying to do.

Give it the time you think it needs—maybe five minutes—before you execute on a task. Decide what needs to be done and how you want to do it. Then just do it, even if it's suboptimal. Doing something suboptimally is better than not doing it at all.

And remind yourself: more information, more thinking, more analysis does not necessarily lead to better results.

Sometimes it may just confuse you. And in the worst cases, it may stop you altogether.