In Defense Of Overthinking
The COVID-19 vaccine, the CARES act, and underthinkers.
If you’re like me, you’ve been told you “overthink” things. Most of the time, I actually don’t see that as a bad thing—in fact, I see it as a good thing.
Sometimes, we need to respond to urgency. There’s not much time and we need to act on something. In these scenarios, it’s hard to get things right and we often need to take further action to clean up the mess we made with all the action we took. I think the CARES Act and COVID-19 vaccine rollouts are an example of this. Lives and livelihoods were at stake. We didn’t have time to get everything perfect, we needed to get moving.
Sometimes, we need to get it right. The COVID-19 vaccine itself is a good example of that. If the development of that vaccine doesn’t go through the proper channels and rigorous testing we’ve set up, the results could be catastrophic. Quality is paramount. Lives and livelihoods are at stake. We needed to get it right.
Outside of life or death scenarios, we live the rest of our lives. For the most part, for most of us, life and death is not part of our typical workday. In these instances, we tend to have more time and space to be thoughtful and consider the consequences of our work and actions.
The differentiator that separates useful thinking from not-useful thinking is action. If our thinking is preventing us from taking action, it’s not helpful. If our thinking is helping us take better quality action, well, it’s helpful. Straightforward.
The times I’ve heard “you’re overthinking it” all reside in memories of people in my career who liked to move at "break-neck” speed with little cushion or protection against a wipeout. In retrospect, most of them have since wiped out.
So, in my experience, most people who say “you’re overthinking” are actually “underthinkers.” They’re ready to overlook potentially key information that could create problems downstream.
“Overthinking” is a helpful way to scout out the edges of what’s possible before the necessary step of taking action. It’s not a substitute, it can only get you so far, but it can inform your actions.
Moving slowly and thoughtfully, you can write better software. Better software has fewer problems and is less expensive to update and maintain.
Moving slowly and thoughtfully, you can avoid impulsive market purchases. Fewer impulsive purchases mean less spending and smarter investing.
Moving slowly and thoughtfully, you can respond to a friend from a place of care instead of a place of snap judgment. Less snap judgment means more trust and better relationships.
There are plenty of other examples, I just picked a few. I hope this helps reframe the conversation about overthinking. The next time you hear “you’re overthinking it,” consider whether you’re hearing it from an “underthinker.”