Educated people who have a large body of knowledge are often affected by the danger of “thinking too much”. Knowledge workers, such as students, fit perfectly into this category and are therefore particularly vulnerable. Instead of relying on their feelings and trained instincts, they distrust their first impulse and retreat into the world of logical thinking. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s not the best way.
But what actually happens when too much thinking blocks action or leads to wrong decisions?
Dobelli describes it like this: “If you think too much, you cut off your head from the wisdom of feelings.” And further: “Emotions arise in the brain just like crystal-clear, rational thoughts. They’re just a different way of processing information than rational thinking—a more primal one, but not necessarily a worse one. Often even a better one.”
The only question is: when should you think and when should you trust your gut feeling?
When Is It Better to Turn Off Your Head
In head-to-belly duels, there is no clear favorite to be preferred in any given situation. It’s always a question of weighing things up. But there are rules of thumb that can make your decision easier and empirically proven areas in which you should rather listen to your feelings and avoid long thinking.
I have put together five examples from everyday life for you.
1. With Practiced Motor Skills
When you’re doing physical activities like walking, driving, or writing, it’s best not to think. At least not through the physical movement itself. Your legs almost automatically sit in front of each other; you clutch, shift and blink on autopilot; and your fingers will find the right spots on your keyboard by themselves if you’ve rehearsed the movement often enough. Thinking for a long time only blocks this process (see dead centipede).
2. For Routine Tasks
Intensive thinking can also become a problem with more complex movement sequences or mental work, which are part of your fixed routine tasks. Your thoughts then sabotage the intuitive solution finding and prevent you from working efficiently. Example: If you have already used a written phrase 100 times and know that it works in your text, you should use it again at the appropriate point without thinking about it for too long. If you have already solved 100 math problems correctly with a formula, you should not question your approach to problem number 101 – just act.
3. In Matters of Trust
For decisions that our Stone Age ancestors were faced with, it is advisable to listen to your gut feeling. These include, for example, fleeing when danger is imminent, evaluating food, and choosing friends or confidants. For these situations, human evolution has developed heuristics (Dobelli: “thinking shortcuts”) that have become second nature to us and are clearly superior to rational thinking. In other words, if you’re crossing the street and a bus is coming your way, you should flee instead of calculating the braking distance first.
4. When You Have No Control
Every one of us, at times, finds ourselves in situations that are partially or totally beyond our control. We then have no or only limited influence on the things that will happen. In such cases, many people either imagine that they can control the situation (despite all the facts) or paint the darkest scenarios in their minds. Both mean that our situation does not change – because we cannot control it anyway. For example, when your get help from an essay writer – Hand Made Writing.
The only thing that happens is that we lose energy and attention to possible actions because we use resources to think, although this activity is completely pointless. Therefore, worry less about situations that can be influenced by other people, such as before an oral exam or a presentation
5. When You’re in the Flow
Do you know those phases in which it just works? One success chases the next; everything seems to be working out for you. You are motivated, and productive, and could go on for hours. You are in the flow. This phenomenon really exists. It’s the best working condition that can happen to you. However, if you stop your flow immediately and fall into old, bad habits.
If you want to fall behind, all you have to do is think about it. As soon as you try to analyze your energy and focus levels, your productive state collapses. Incidentally, the opposite often applies to negative trends: If you become aware of a streak of bad luck and convince yourself that things are not going well for you, this tendency will increase. So next time you find yourself in the flow – don’t think about it. Just enjoy the positive development or accept the downward trend as a natural fluctuation. This is the best way to surf the wave.
Conclusion
thinking is difficult. But sometimes this thinking is the wrong approach and stands in the way of your personal success. However, not thinking can often be even more difficult – in some cases, it is even the most difficult thing in the world.
People who have been trained to think logically and continuously – and you’re very likely to be one of them – tend to use their heads too much. They waste great opportunities because they don’t dare to listen to their gut feeling and follow their intuition. I wrote this article for you so that this doesn’t happen as often in the future.
But don’t get me wrong: thinking is good. There are enough dull and unreasonable people who make stupid decisions on a whim and then celebrate themselves for it. You shall not become one of them.
You just can’t get in your own way because you’ll miss the opportunities when you should turn off your head and turn on your feelings. Allow yourself to feel a little more. Trust your instincts a little more and don’t ruin the beautiful things in life. The bottom line is that it has nothing to do with intelligence.