Action Kills Anxiety
Why Overthinking Keeps You Stuck - and How Taking Action Creates Clarity
TL;DR
Anxiety doesn’t come from inaction — it comes from thinking about action. Overthinking thrives at crossroads. The fastest way out is movement. Not perfect action. Just the next visible step.
(This is Rule #2 from my larger framework — you can read all four rules here.)
One of the best ways to introduce anxiety in your life, is to talk about goals and sit with it forever.
The problem with goal setting is the initial excitement that makes me feel like I actually did something. It gives me a rush like I already did something meaningful. My brain rewards me before I have earned it. For a moment, it feels like progress.
But when that energy fades, reality sets in…that I didn’t really do anything with it. Even if I try to dissect the goal down to actionable steps, I introduce a new problem.
Because I have read the books, listened to the podcasts, and heard everyone’s opinions, my brain suddenly has too many options. And too many options lead to questions like:
Which direction should I take?
Is this the right approach?
Should I wait until I know more?
That’s when thinking quietly turns into overthinking. And overthinking quietly turns into delay…now you see where I am going with this right…
That’s where anxiety lives.
Not in laziness. Not in lack of motivation. But in this weird overthinking limbo where nothing moves.
I have noticed this routine time and time again in my life. Anytime I imagine a final outcome, I trap myself with the 100 different ways the path could take me. This leads to diluted focus because I want to do everything at once…and end up doing nothing well.
This leads to imagining worst-case scenarios, like
What if it doesn’t work out?
Maybe I should do the other thing instead?
F*ckkkkk!!!
The only way to break this cycle, in my experience, has been taking one…ONE action in the foggy path ahead. That is the only way the path gets clearer.
Let me be clear. I don’t mean one PERFECT action, or the most OPTIMIZED action. I just mean one action in the right direction.
I think of it like driving through fog at night. You don’t need to see the entire road to keep going. You only need to see the next few meters.
This has been a great way to calm my nervous system in the best possible way and have my thoughts stop racing. And not-so-surprisingly, doing this brings more clarity.
The path gets clearer after I take action…..DUHH
That’s the lesson I keep relearning:
Clarity follows movement — not the other way around
This is why “Action Kills Anxiety” became Rule #2 in my personal framework. It sits right alongside the other rules I wrote about in my main post, Four Personal Rules I Use to Create Focus and bring Clarity. This article is one piece of a larger system. Over time, I am breaking each rule out into its own story like this one.
So if you are feeling anxious right now (which, honestly, I am about 97% of the time), ask yourself:
What is the smallest action I can take that moves me forward - without trying to solve everything at once?
The certainty you are looking for, is on the other side of the action.