Life is a multivariate problem. So overthinking make lead to inaction because the human brain may not be suitably in real time computing of optimal decisions. This obsessives compulsiveness, which was instigated in the pursuit of an optimal action plan in life, for the long term, mid term and short term basis, may itself lead to Inaction & hence maybe suboptimal. This may lead to paralysis & depression may ensue.
One of the correct ways of avoiding this trap is to logically & instinctually lay your path in front of you in terms of a certain optimally rigid & optimally flexible daily routine & then stick to it with brute force.
A routine which includes some time where one relaxes, reflects on life and philosophy occasionally is good for most humans, so that you can ponder on your life trajectory & course correct as, if and when need be,
An Optimal Daily Routine should generally include:
🚘 Exercise, Personal Hygiene, Self-Care (for today’s efficiently & for positive compounding effects)
🏡 Work that ensures daily Epicurean Contentment, Peace of mind (Work that makes sure you can pay your bills)
🚀 Compounding work: Work that will compound with time
🌞 Spending time with family, loved ones
🏝 Spending time with Self, NAC and Creative Activities to make sure that we keep our batteries charged as humans.
Reading, listening to podcasts, self-reflection and knowledge based activities.
Shifting gears and brain focus to various different activities is an important neuro-plastic skillset that must be mastered for efficiency.
These daily routines should be set in the clutch moments of wisdom & clarity, based on your life’s values, principles and depth of understanding and followed on Autopilot at other times as it’s not possible to compute about these by overthinking about them in real time, at all times. The human brain simple doesn’t have that much computational brainpower and life happens to be a multivariate problem.
Humans need guidelines & rules of thumb to be able to live happily & execute peacefully, because their brains can’t compute the optimal action plan from the many variables problem in the games/endeavors in life.
Depression may usually occur when the human mind is unable to comprehend the solution to the multivariate problem of life and hence spirals down into inaction and neurological weakness. Depression affects the mind and hence the nervous system of the humans, and thus can lead to paralysis due to inaction, weight gain, lack of bathing, lack of maintaining a schedule, not wanting to interact socially with anyone etc in the life of a person.
None of our human brains can comprehend and compute all variables in life. The best solution is to compute and fix a daily routine and not worry about much else. The simplest answers backed by instinct and logical reasoning that we deploy during our moments of peace and clarity are often the most useful and effective ones that can be implemented optimally in our day to day lives.
After all, on a daily basis, what we ourselves are doing throughout the day is what we can optimize and if sometimes we err in being optimal by slightly overshooting, its okay, as long as we maintain a good overall balance.
In general, earlier in life, we focus more on compounding (long term success) our wealth, social capital and knowledge, and less on living life in the moment. Time is the friend of compound effects. Later in life, we focus on living life in the moment & spending time with family and friends (serotonin based pleasures) and less on compounding, as less time is left in life.
At any given time in life, we can thus, optimally design our daily routine in our moments of clarity and execute on it. Once, that is done, its time to stop thinking and focus on just executing as overthinking that may lead to depression and paralysis is also suboptimal, especially once your daily routine has been optimally decided upon. So just use brute force in your mind to stop any obsessive compulsive thoughts and focus on executing the plan that has been well laid by you in your moments of clarity via using your instincts and your logical, rational reasoning.
Once the optimal daily action plan has been setup and decided, one should just focus on executing & one must stop over-analyzing. Borrowing from Mr. Steve Jobs – We can connect the dots, looking backwards, not looking forwards. Inaction may lead to paralysis, which is suboptimal.
This is the best that can be done and it is what should be done.