You Already Know What to Do—You Just Keep Overthinking It

Overthinking is keeping you stuck. Let's talk how to quiet the noise and actually move forward.

By Jenny Smith Mattfeldt | Published July 7, 2025

It's that one area of your life you just can’t seem to get together. You’ve read the books, watched the TikTok's, journaled it out a hundred times—but when it comes down to actually doing the thing, you stall. Or spiral. Or start over again on Monday.

I’ve been there—honestly, I am there, it's human nature. For me, that sticking point is food and fitness. I can hold it down in every other area: money? Check. Business? Locked in. Mental health? Solid. But when it comes to working out consistently, eating in a way that actually feels good, and not letting the pendulum swing between extremes… that’s my spot. That’s where I loop.

And here’s the truth I’ve been coming back to over and over again: The people who don’t struggle with this? They just don’t overthink it. They’re not spiraling about what workout to do or overanalyzing if they “earned” a meal. They’re just living. They trust themselves.

It may feel counterintuitive but it's the truth no matter what category of life you feel yourself stalling out in: the way forward is less control, not more. You have to loosen your grip. The more I trust my body, the easier it is to have a healthier relationship with food. The more I let go, the more I find myself doing smaller, casual workouts without all the mental drama. The less I overthink it, the simpler it becomes.

Part 1: Why We Talk Ourselves Out of What We Want

• Fear of failure masked as “logic” or “realism”, you're afraid you'll fail so you just don't try.

  
  

• Subconscious fear of identity change (who am I if I do figure this out?) Sometimes our identity is centered around these familiar patterns, if this changes what else might change?

  
  

• Perfectionism disguised as planning. There's a reason they say 'done' is better than 'perfect'.

  
  

• Our brains are literally wired to stay in the familiar—even if it sucks our brains would rather deal with a familiar devil than an unfamiliar heaven.

  
  

• Constant mental noise = false sense of productivity. The mental gymnastics feels like you're doing something but spoiler alert: you're not. It's like when you get an urge late at night to get your life together, it's easy to find that motivational feeling in the middle of the night when you don't actually have to physically do anything.

Part 2: How to Recenter When You’re Spiraling

Your Tools to Snap Out of the Spiral

1. The One-Liner Journal Prompts: “What would this look like if it were easy?”or“What would I do right now if I trusted myself?”

   
   

2. Set a 5-Minute Rule: Commit to doing the thing (a walk, a quick task, starting the workout) for just five minutes. If you still want to stop after that, you can—but momentum usually carries you forward.

   
   

3. Name the Loop: Call it what it is: the Overthink Spiral. Self Sabotage. Panic Stalling. Performance Anxiety. Labeling the pattern gives you power. You can say, “Ah, there it is again,” instead of getting pulled under.

   
   

4. Choose Imperfect Action: Ex: Instead of spending 30 minutes planning your perfect week of workouts, just go on a walk right now. Choose movement over mental gymnastics. Immediate action breaks the mental cycle.

   
   

5. The “Good Enough” Rule: Ask: “What would feel good enough today?” and let that be it. This reprograms your brain to celebrate consistency over extremes. Create a bare minimum, maybe you don't have to lift heavy every day but how could you move every day? The easier it is to maintain the habit the longer you will maintain it.

   
   

Part 3: Don't Think About it, Just Send it

You already know what to do. You’ve known for a while. What’s holding you back isn’t a lack of knowledge—it’s the noise in your head. Decide this is the moment you stop overthinking and start trusting yourself.

Just one small shift today.

Then another tomorrow.

That’s how it works.

If this hit—share your wins or send me a message, I'm dying to hear about it. And keep an eye out: this exact mindset shift is part of our upcoming workbook. Can’t wait for you to have it in your hands.

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