Tell me if this sounds familiar: you’re thinking about making a big decision, doing something that will affect your life in a big way, and so you start considering the long-term implications of it. That’s all well and good, except as soon as you think about the benefits, visualize the steps, you start seeing things that can go wrong, and that’s the beginning of the end.

You try to preemptively solve every conceivable problem that might arise, and like the hydra, for every problem you address, two rise in its place. It becomes mathematically impossible to solve them all. With every iteration, the benefits of the decision shrink, buried under an onslaught of problems that increase in complexity as they appear. You’re in a feedback loop from hell, and the only way to get out is to walk away from the decision. “For now,” you tell yourself.

At best, you go away to try and find more answers through study, reading, asking for advice—which is all just procrastination; and at worst, you give up on the outcome entirely, though you won’t admit that to yourself. Either way, you’ve made no decision, and sure, you don’t have to face all of the problems that you ran away from, but you reap no benefit either. Nothing changes.

It’s easy to justify this too. After all, there were so many problems! How were you supposed to solve them all? It was impossible!

Really?! It was impossible?

No, I don’t think so.

Unless something is impossible according to the fundemental laws of reality (i.e: physics), there is a way. To say that something is impossible is a weak excuse, and most people are weak so that’s par for the course. The sad part is, it’s not like people lack in talent or that they’re predestined to not achieve their dreama, it’s just that they hide behined excuses like that.

This is self-destructive, overthinking is self-destruction, even if it feels like preparation. You can justify it to yourself however you wish, but this intellectualising process is just a way for you to avoid what you perceive as unknown and difficult.

I say that because this was my exact way of thinking for years, and it kept me anxious and stuck, like a disease. It’s not fun, and if you’re how I was, I want to show you a better way:

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Take Step One First

Let’s think about something simple: walking. It’s a basic act, it gets you from point A to point B.

What do you do when you want to walk somewhere? You think about and choose where you want to go, you get up, and then you start walking by putting one foot in front of the other. If obstacles appear, you course correct or find a way around them. If you fall, you get back up and keep going. It’s simple because you trust your ability to handle what comes your way.

Now imagine applying the same overthinking mindset to walking:

You decide where you want to go. Great. But then you think:

• What if I run into the table and break it?
• What if I fall and hit my head?
• What if the path is blocked?
• What if there’s a snake on the way?
• What if a nuke goes off in the kitchen as I’m walking through it?

What if…

You’re stuck, thinking about every possible problem for every step; actually, you’re trying to take all of the steps at the same time, which is physically impossible. Even something as simple as walking becomes impossible when you’re preempting every move. The logical choice here is clear: take step one.

This is why I say that action is always the correct thing to do, because otherwise you’re stuck behined problems that don’t exist, and frankly probably never will. And EVEN if they pop up at some point, you can deal with them as they come up.

Don’t think about step two, or step five hundred, there are only two things to have in mind: the destination, and step one.

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A Real-Life Example: My Trip to Japan

Last year, I planned a three-month trip to Japan. It was a big decision, and naturally, I started overthinking. What if I lost my luggage? Got lost in Tokyo? Missed my flights? Got sick? The list of “what-ifs” felt endless.

But then I realised something: none of those problems existed yet. They were imaginary. I needed to stop worrying about solving problems that hadn’t happened and take the first step—book the flights.

Funnily enough, some of those things did happen. I lost my luggage, but I got it back. I got lost in Tokyo (a lot) and had the time of my life. I got sick, and guess what: I got better. Through this experience, I learned two key lessons:

1. When unexpected things happen, I can handle them. Confidence comes from facing problems, not avoiding them.
2. Since I know I can handle problems as they come, there’s no point in worrying about them beforehand. My focus should be on taking the current step as best as I can.

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The Key to Accomplishing Goals

You’d be amazed at how much you can achieve when you focus on taking each step toward your goal instead of trying to solve everything in advance. Next time you’re stuck, ask yourself:

• Am I avoiding action because I’m scared of the unknown? (Almost always, yes)
• What’s the step I can take right now? (There’s always something)

Then take that step—even a small one, especially a small one, and instead of focusing on all the nonexistent future probelms, focus on taking that one step as best as you can.

Don’t worry about what’s going to happen after that, you can’t predict it anyway. You might stumble, but you’ll still be further ahead than if you’d never started. Remember: clarity, confidence, and capability are not prerequisites for action. They are its results.