How Overthinking Sabotages Writing Creativity and How to Stop

Are you stuck overthinking something?

Bill got a rejection last month, and it’s still bugging him. I thought for sure that was the one, he thinks. What could have gone wrong? I just can’t figure it out.

Melanie has an idea for a new guest post, but she’s not sure if it will work. So far, she’s thought about it 10 times, talked to her friends about it three times, and researched it twice, yet she hasn’t written a word.

Stewart is working on his novel, but it’s not going as well as he hoped. He’s been thinking about it. And thinking. And thinking. So far he has about three chapters done but he’s pretty sure he’s going to scratch those and start over.

Helen wants to self-publish her next book. She’s talked to her writing group about it, and done the research. She knows enough to get started, but she hasn’t. What if I don’t do it right? she thinks. What if I put it out there and it gets bad reviews?

What do all these writers have in common?

They tend to overthink things, and that’s dangerous. Find all of the reasons why below, as well as solutions to help you get out of the overthinking trap and on to a more productive writing life.

What is Overthinking?

What exactly is overthinking? If you’re an overthinker, you already know, but to be clear, it’s basically what it sounds like—thinking too much. But how are we to know what qualifies as too much?

The best way to tell is to ask yourself: Have I taken action? If not, you’re overthinking.

Thinking instead of writing usually signals overthinking. Analyzing and researching instead of moving forward with your new podcast also qualifies. If you’ve been considering signing up for that writers’ conference for weeks and you still haven’t done it, you’re overthinking.

Any time your thinking prevents you from taking action, that’s overthinking, and it’s not a good thing. Action is what propels you forward in your writing career. More than anything, taking action—even if you fail—increases your odds of reaching your goals.

Overthinking not only stops you from making progress, it also results in these other negative outcomes:

• Reduces your ability to make good decisions
• Gets you in the habit of avoiding action
• Creates an unproductive loop of thinking over the same thing again and again
• Consumes energy but produces nothing in return
• Prevents you from finding real solutions to a problem
• Promotes negative thinking
• Encourages self-doubt

Overthinking Writers More at Risk for Anxiety and Depression

When talking about overthinking, scientists also use the term “ruminating,” which has a couple meanings. The first one refers to what cows (and my mom’s goats) do to help digest their food.

You’ve probably heard of cows “chewing their cuds.” This refers to a process where a cow basically regurgitates partially digested food she consumed earlier and chews on it to digest it further before swallowing it once again.

To “ruminate” means to “chew on over and over,” which is essentially what an overthinker does. Thus, the second meaning for ruminate: to ponder, to think deeply about, or to turn over and over again in the mind.

In a 2013 study, researchers stated that rumination “is a well-established risk factor for the onset of major depression and anxiety….” They also found that stressful life events were associated with increased engagement in rumination.

You may have noticed you tend to overthink things more often when you’re stressed out.

“The depressed person dwells on losses and missteps from the past,” says psychologist Ryan Howes, Ph.D., “while the anxious ruminator drowns in a sea of ‘what if’ questions, forever envisioning the negative outcome.”

But Won’t Overthinking Help Me Figure It Out?

Sometimes writers think that ruminating over something will help them feel better. Surely if you think about this thing enough, you’ll find a solution, or you’ll figure out why it happened, or you’ll know what to do better next time, right?

But scientists say that rarely happens. Instead, overthinking simply sets you up to do more overthinking, creating a downward spiral.

In a 2015 review of 138 studies on overthinking, scientists found it was related worldwide to symptoms like depression, social withdrawal, poor concentration, diminished problem solving, headache, loss of appetite, and even trouble sleeping.

In later studies, researchers found that those who ruminated over stressful experiences took longer to recover from those experiences compared to those who didn’t ruminate, and tended to experience prolonged increases in blood pressure and heart rate.

As long as you’re overthinking, you’re unlikely to find a solution to what’s bugging you. Rumination robs you of your mental resources, leaving you exhausted and actually feeling worse than when you started. Plus, the more you ruminate, the easier it is to ruminate more—it’s like an addictive habit.

4 Ways Overthinking Messes with Your Writing

Overthinking not only messes with your emotions and your productivity—it can also interfere with your writing. Here are four of the most common ways it does that:

1. Overthinking hinders creativity.

As a writer, you rely on your creativity. If you’re overthinking things, it’s likely your creative abilities will remain inaccessible. Think about it—when do you tend to get your best ideas? Is it when you’re thinking really hard about something, or when you’re taking a shower instead?

The truth is that we can’t solve our writing problems through sheer force of will. We have to get out of our own way and allow the creative self to come forward. Usually the best way to do that is to stop thinking, and get involved in something else.

2. Overthinking stops your progress.

If you want a surefire way to slow yourself down, then overthink to your heart’s content. It’s a fast way to put the brakes on any writing project you’re working on.

If you’re suffering from writer’s block, or can’t find a way forward in your story for whatever reason, consider the possibility that you’re overthinking it.

3. Overthinking keeps you from solving problems.

As mentioned, when you overthink something, you employ all of your mental resources, leaving nothing to help you solve the problem you’re facing. It’s common to come up against issues in your writing—maybe you’re not sure what happens next, or what your character might do in a certain situation.

Maybe you need to make a decision on self-publishing or what marketing tactics to try, but as long as you remain stuck in rumination, you won’t be able to figure out your next step.

4. Overthinking encourages self-doubt.

Most of the time when writers get stuck in an overthinking pattern, they’re not thinking about how great their writing is. They’re ruminating over things they think they did wrong, problems in their writing, or various “lacks” in their writing careers.

What does that do? Creates self-doubt. Writers have to manage self-doubt in the best of times. Ruminate over negative things and you encourage other negative thoughts, including those that rob you of your confidence.

How to Stop Overthinking and Increase Writing Productivity

If you find yourself ruminating or overthinking something related to your writing career, try these seven steps to get over it…and get back to writing!

1. Become more aware of your thoughts.

Until you understand how overthinking works, you are likely to do it without even realizing it. So the first step is to become more aware of your thoughts.

What are you thinking about? And how much have you been thinking about that lately? Once you realize you’re overthinking something, you can take steps to distract yourself.

2. Label ruminating thoughts as harmful.

When you catch yourself overthinking something, realize you’re hurting yourself and your writing progress. Then write down some of those ruminating thoughts so you can see them more clearly.

If you got yet another rejection on your story, for example, your thoughts might be, I can’t believe this happened again, or this story must be a piece of crap. Whatever your thoughts are, write them down.

3. Change your thoughts into useful questions.

Once you can clearly see the unproductive thoughts you’re having, it’s time to change them into questions your creative brain can answer. Using the examples above:

Change I can’t believe this happened again to What can I do to increase my odds of acceptance? or What are my other options with this story?

Change This story must be a piece of crap to How can I get more feedback on my work?

The goal is to break yourself out of the destructive pattern of overthinking the situation. Give your brain a real problem to solve, and let it think about that for a while.

4. Change how you talk to yourself.

Most writers don’t talk very nicely to themselves. Changing the language you use can keep you away from negative thoughts and help prevent rumination.

Have some compassionate statements on hand for when you experience a problem or a setback. Examples may include: “I’m trying my best,” or “I’m progressing at a rate that’s right for me.”

5. Distract yourself.

To stop overthinking, the best approach is to simply distract yourself. As soon as you become aware that you’re thinking about the same thing over and over again, do something else. Call a friend, pull up some funny cat videos, write the thoughts down and put the paper aside, play a fun video game—anything that will get your mind onto something else.

Realize you may need to do this several times a day at first, particularly if you’ve fallen into the habit of overthinking, so have some distracting activities ready. Take some crosswords or word searches with you, clean your desk or working area, keep some editing projects handy, etc.

6. Start meditating.

Yes, it’s a common recommendation, but it works. Meditation teaches you how to let your thoughts go without reacting to them, and can help you become more aware of  ruminating thoughts.

Meditation doesn’t have to be difficult. Set a timer for 10 minutes, light a candle, and stare into the flame. As your thoughts rise up in your mind, simply let them go and return your concentration to the flame. You’ll have to do this over and over again, but the more you practice, the easier it will become.

7. Learn how to play again.

If you’re overthinking your writing, you’ve probably become too serious about it. You’re worried too much about “getting it right,” or “being a good writer.” These thoughts block creativity and can easily encourage rumination.

You need to remember what it was like to have fun writing. Start a brand new project—one that you can feel free with. It doesn’t matter if this piece is any good, or if it will sell, or any of those things. Start a story that you can have fun with, and let your creative self come out and play.

Stop Thinking and Start Writing

Writers can get too caught up in all the advice about how we should write. Sometimes, we need to just chuck all that and write. Stop thinking. It tends to be overrated, anyway.

I’ll close with this great quote from English novelist Elizabeth Gaskell:

“Thinking has, many a time, made me sad, darling; but doing never did in all my life… My precept is, ‘Do something, my sister, do good if you can; but, at any rate, do something.’”

Are you a writer who overthinks things?

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Sources
Capobianco, L., Morris, J. A., & Wells, A. (2018). Worry and rumination: do they prolong physiological and affective recovery from stress? Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 31(3), 291-303. doi:10.1080/10615806.2018.1438723

Colino, S. (2018, March 14). Access Denied. Retrieved from https://health.usnews.com/wellness/mind/articles/2018-03-14/the-hazards-of-rumination-for-your-mental-and-physical-health

Howes, R. (2019, January 11). How To Stop Overthinking Everything, According To Therapists. Retrieved from https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhowes/how-to-stop-ruminating

Kaiser, B. N., Haroz, E. E., Kohrt, B. A., Bolton, P. A., Bass, J. K., & Hinton, D. E. (2015). “Thinking too much”: A systematic review of a common idiom of distress. Social Science & Medicine, 147, 170-183. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.10.044

Michl, L. C., McLaughlin, K. A., Shepherd, K., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2013). Rumination as a mechanism linking stressful life events to symptoms of depression and anxiety: Longitudinal evidence in early adolescents and adults. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(2), 339-352. doi:10.1037/a0031994