The book Stop overthinking is all about of strategies to stop overthinking. I don’t consider myself as an anxious or overthinking person. But then again there are times when I am in the middle of a storm of anxiety and stress. I tend to leave some of the tasks to the last moment and that is the time I am stressed as f**k. I really hope these books strategies will stay in my mind so I can divide my chores into passages, so I don’t get stressed. I still think I have the skill to not overthink usually. 

4 A’s of stress management (avoid, alter, accept, adapt) 

This strategy that Trenton writes about in his book is pretty good to manage the stress levels. The first A stands for avoid. Avoiding is probably the easiest to put to practice. If you know for example a person place or thing that stresses you simply avoid it.  

The second A alter is all about choices. A good example is how you go to work. Will you take the bike, will you walk or will you take the car. This technique is good to have in mind when thinking what of these ways of transport can lead to reducing your stress levels.  

If you can’t implement these techniques, you can always use the third A. The third A acceptance is for the situations when you don’t have control over the situation. If it is a must do and you cant make it any easier for your stress levels, just accept it in your mind.  

The last A adapt is the stage after acceptation. Sometimes you have to just have to cope with situations and look at the stressor from another point of view and try to adapt. For example, if working in a bike shop and a really difficult client comes and says our bikes suck and don’t serve his/her ass with dignity, you have to accept and adapt to the situation instead of hiding from them to the backroom and tell them they could try a comfort saddle. 

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Technique 

This technique must be mentioned briefly. I have tried it several times already and it really works to stop overthinking. It is as simple as if you see yourself overthinking just search for 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can smell, 2 things you can hear and 1 thing you can taste. This technique is perfect for regain focus on the thing you were doing. I will take this to practice from now on every time I start to overthink something. 

Journaling 

I’m telling you this has been and still is one of my main problems on life. Journaling is one silverlined thing that is mentioned in the book and you should document the things that you think so that the things you just imagined to be a good idea is at least on paper so you can come back to it. Well at least on my musician side I journal things, as I record all the good riff ideas I come up with my guitar, I either record them on audio or video. I should totally do this in other things as well. 

Manage your time Better. 

An obvious technique that comes still as a new one for the majority of the people, including me. Managing our time is an important part of doing things efficiently. At least I use a calendar nowadays, but still things that I lack on a long term basis are for example a really nice to do list. I really should start investing on better time management. After all it is a really easy way to make life more enjoyable. 

Adjustments in attitude 

Another list of five points, still a really good one. I will list them here: 

1. Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t. 

2. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t. 

3. Concentrate on what you have, not what you don’t. 

4. Focus on what you need, not what you want. 

5. LIVE IN THE PRESENT 

This list is a recipe to live a really good life. I am going to take this list and stick it in my brain and never going to let it out. Simple as that. 

Nick Trentons words: 

“By planning ahead, you waste no time or willpower making decisions about what to do, and you can ensure you always begin with your priorities.” 

This book really opened my eyes again on how easy these steps after all are. It is all about just doing them. I start from this day to do these things and be honest to myself. I will not overthink and I live in the present from now on.