Stop Overthinking And Start Acting – Move Your Business Forward

Overthinking is pervasive in our community of entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small business owners.

To many of us, though, it might be a hidden sabotager because it feels, well, normal, when it’s actually dysfunctional. It often keeps us stuck, frustrated, and prevents us from moving forward in our business. 

In my experience, overthinking didn’t just find me replaying my options mentally. It combined with indecisiveness, procrastination, perfectionism, and decision fatigue to hold me back

From the outside, I was doing a lot of things right. In reality, I was inadvertently avoiding moving my biz forward.

I felt stuck! Here’s how I got on the right track and stopped overthinking..

Why Overthinking Keeps You Stuck

I emphasize the need to stay focused on long-term goals often because they are the ones that make a difference in your business. 

Picture this:

You’re a service-based business, and your goal is to gain, say, five new clients by mid-year. But instead of pitching, marketing, or building connections, you spend the entire three months building, designing, writing, then rewriting, then redesigning your website. 

Of course, you already had a website, and you just wanted to refresh it for 2025 because it’s the thing to do. 

While it is true that websites need a refresher now and then, it’s also true that they can take ages. So where do we strike the balance?

Here’s something that happened to me.

From 2020 to 2022, when building my website and first online course for entrepreneurs, I was overthinking EVERYTHING. I spent months tweaking my website copy, playing with different course structures, and second-guessing every decision. 

Was my messaging clear enough? Would people actually buy this? Did I need more modules? More testimonials? A different design? 

The result?

I delayed launching my first course for way longer than necessary because I kept convincing myself it “wasn’t ready.”

I spent more time redoing my website than actually driving traffic to it.

Instead of getting my offer in front of people, I focused on fixing things that didn’t matter yet. Not to mention, I was avoiding – procrastinating – and hadn’t yet zoned in on my ideal client. 

Sounds familiar? Here are a few signs you might be in the overthinking boat.

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Clear Signs You’re Overthinking It 

Our logical mind is a huge help in making decisions. We want to explore all our options and make sure things look just right. We want to feel ready.

If there were a blueprint for perfection, the world would be a lot easier. But wait, there are lots of blueprints – but they’re all from people who did things their way for their specific goals.

Blueprints won’t always apply to your business, mainly because you have to experience something to even begin to understand the following:

1. Does it help you achieve both your personal and business goals?

2. Where do you ultimately want to go with it long-term?

3. What best suits your unique audience?

A huge issue is falling into thoughts like, “I’ll look stupid if this isn’t just right.” Imposter syndrome, anyone?

If you’ve ever caught yourself: 

• In analysis paralysis.

• Constantly reworking your course, program, or content because it’s “not perfect yet.”

• Procrastinating on tasks that will truly move the needle forward on major goals.

• Reading just one more book or watching one more YouTube video etc., before you launch.

• Stuck in research mode, collecting alllll the information but taking zero action.

• Waiting for “the right time…” 

You might be overthinking it! 

How Overthinking Impacts Your Biz Growth and Confidence

Overthinking is one of the silent killers of business growth and confidence. It disguises itself as careful planning, but in reality, it breeds hesitation, self-doubt, and missed opportunities.

For every decision I overanalyzed, I created a mental roadblock that delayed action. This slowed my momentum significantly. 

For instance, before launching my workshop, I wanted to ensure all slides were perfected, my promo plan was the chef’s kiss, and my email sequence was second to none. I continued this way of thinking until I realized that done is better than perfect. 

Now, I avoid delayed launches by not ruminating over what-ifs and worst-case scenarios, which kept me arbitrarily stuck and eroded my confidence.

On the flip side, I gained tons more clarity and trust in my instincts when I refined everything post-launch and tweaked as I went. 

Strategies To Exit Overthinking Mode

What else helped me to overcome overthinking and start making progress? 

1. Adopting a “Good enough is good enough” mindset shift.
   At some point, I had to accept that clarity comes from action, not obsessing over details. I launched the course and adjusted based on real feedback instead of my imaginary fears. And guess what? The world didn’t come crashing down around me. Go figure.

2. Taking micro-actions by breaking big tasks into tiny, doable steps.
   I talk about this more in detail in my Plan of Awesomeness post. 

3. Setting decision deadlines.
   Instead of tweaking my website copy endlessly, I gave myself a 48-hour limit to make final edits and publish. You see, perfectionism thrives on open-ended timelines.

4. Asking the right questions.
   For instance, instead of “Is this perfect?” I started asking, “Does this help my audience take action?” That shift made all the difference. What might a question like this look like for you?

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Workshops to Whisk Away Overthinking

Overthinking is a version of self-sabotage, but the truth is our brain is just trying to find answers… it’s just doing it in a very counterintuitive way.

Instead of thinking, “This still isn’t just right,” we could be thinking, “This looks pretty good! I’ll move forward with it.” 

… And end it right there. 

Once you get comfortable trusting yourself, the mountain of thoughts from second-guessing stops over time. 

For right now, there are a few things you can do to start gaining more confidence – and stop overthinking – today.

I cover these in my Ripple Workshops On-Demand, a curation of binge-worth biz support – practical workshops you can dive into anytime. Hop on over there and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Janic 💜