The human mind is a wondrous thing – always churning away, producing thoughts. Everything that humans have done in the world, good or evil, began with a thought. It’s how we create our concepts of the world and of ourselves. If we wish to create any kind of impact in the world, it must start with a thought.

That having been said, many beautiful projects and ideas never come to fruition, because we start with a thought, and then never move forward with it. As the author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put it, a goal without a plan is just a wish. Wishes and dreams are wonderful, but if we want more from life, we must take action. Yet we often find ourselves paralysed by fear – of the unknown, of the judgement of others, of failure, of appearing stupid – you name it, there’s a fear for it. We are very creative that way, and these fears are often based in childhood experience and trauma. It’s so much easier to just stay in our familiar discomfort than to take steps towards change. We can just keep thinking and overthinking, imagining how things could be better, without ever doing anything.

So how do we move from thought to action? There’s an important intermediate step between them, which is often overlooked, and that is feeling. Unless our thoughts are backed by a strong emotion or desire, we will remain paralysed. To get ourselves into motion, it’s important to achieve clarity about why we want change – who will benefit if we succeed, and who will suffer if we don’t. If this clarity of purpose results in a feeling of determination and desire, we will take action. If it doesn’t, we won’t, but we may have learned something about what is truly important to us. Maybe we don’t really want this after all? Just imagine how much emotional energy that realisation could free up.

Are you ready to stop overthinking?