Read the news. Go on LinkedIn, Facebook or see a Tweet. We notice uncertainty and chaos everywhere. In our job, in our career and in our life. We think about the future and our mind ‘cannot compute’. We consider the possibilities ahead and because of all the negativity in the air, we see only a bleak path in front of us.
We look for more information to help guide us to a better job, a more fulfilling pursuit or a powerful purpose. But we can’t seem to find one. So we freeze. We get stuck in our job, our career and in our life.
And time slips by.
I believe there is hope. Within the experience of our past lies the key to getting unstuck and moving forward into a better future.
In my own journey of learning to get unstuck and move forward in life, I have two valuable lessons on how to stop analyzing life and start living life, which I would like to share with you today.
1. Don’t over-think because you cannot predict the future
We are often paralyzed by the over analysis of our circumstance. We think so deeply about how we got here. From the economy to our boss or our lack of money, education or an upbringing, we look for things to blame. We get frustrated and point to the fact that we don’t know enough.
We think about how we’re going to fare in the future and look for predictable paths. We analyze the consequence of a simple action we take and make assumptions and scenarios for how things will turn out. We pour over research, data and facts as a way to give us some clue as to how the future will play out.
But we get nowhere. The complexity of the world today, from our work and careers to the prices in the supermarket to the prices in the stock market are simply not predictable. And trying to figure out an increasingly unpredictable and complex future gives us only more stress and anxiety, paralyzing any decisions we wish to make.
By accepting that we simply cannot predict what can happen in the future, we can begin our journey of learning to live in the here and now. I stopped over-thinking and over-analyzing life when I realized that I’m really not that smart.
2. Take action
The root cause of so much of the suffocation we feel during moments we are overwhelmed with life is because we are not moving anywhere. The stress and anxiety of not knowing what’s coming up around the corner is worse than actually discovering the reality.
Much of the worry we feel about something bad happening in life is unfounded especially when we allow the mind to go into hyper-drive after reading a news story or hearing about a negative event. The seeds of doubt and fear are always around us, as are the seeds of encouragement and confidence. All we have to do is to pick them up and put them into our mind.
When we move forward and take action as small as making a phone call, sending an email, talking with a friend or even registering a website to start a blog, it can make us feel great about life. Action empowers us because at least we’re going somewhere and not sitting around and endlessly pondering possibilities.
Human nature is fairly simple in that it requires us to instill energy inside through movement and it is that forwardly motion that breathes life into and often lifeless soul. It progresses us into the future that is boundless with opportunities and prosperity.
I believe that in order to stop over-analyzing life and start living it, we have to realize that it is not about the economy, the job or anything else but the choice we make for ourselves that will determine our happiness and success and it begins with our own mind and our own actions.
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Bob Miglani, is an author and accomplished executive with a Fortune 50 Company in NYC for the last 20 years. He grew up running his family’s Dairy Queen Store and came to America from India with only $75 and the desire to pursue the American dream.
Through real life experiences in India, Bob has been able to bring a fresh perspective to the chaos that surrounds our modern life right here at home in America, which is the topic of his new book titled, Embrace the Chaos. Visit him at EmbraceTheChaos.com
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