You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
679 reviews for:
Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life
Anne Bogel
3.87 AVERAGE
679 reviews for:
Don't Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life
Anne Bogel
3.87 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
A delightful jump back into reading after a very busy season of life. Inspiring me to add little practices to help me find my center.
informative
relaxing
fast-paced
The decisions the author describes agonizing over are decidedly "first world" problems, to say the least. That said, I did relate. She opens the book with a description about the anxiety she experienced before a trip. A storm was forecast and she found herself continually refreshing the weather page in a vain hope for some new, different forecast to appear. This is the kind of analysis paralysis I have struggled with FOR. YEARS. In fact, this exact example is something I do with alarming regularity! I know how ridiculous it is, and yet....
She offers some good tips on how to change your thought process to get past this paralysis ... just make a choice and go with it. As with so many self-improvement books, I found it to be very repetitive. I think I am going to take a break from self-help reading for a while.
She offers some good tips on how to change your thought process to get past this paralysis ... just make a choice and go with it. As with so many self-improvement books, I found it to be very repetitive. I think I am going to take a break from self-help reading for a while.
In "Don't Overthink It" writer (and professional reader) Anne Bogel uses her experience as a recovering chronic overthinker to help readers break their own bad overthinking habits. I knew this book was for me early in the first chapter when I read one of Anne's definitions of what overthinking looks like: "Sometimes it looks like worry. We might feel stuck reviewing something we've done in the past or imagining something that might happen in the future. ... We might lie awake at night wondering what our friends think of us or if a loved one seems tired of us or if our library fines are getting really and truly out of control." After reading this, I immediately wondered how it was possible for Anne to have looked inside my head! Anne's book reinforces an idea I have found to be true: that our thoughts have a huge effect on how we live our lives, and we must "learn to tend our thoughts with care." If, like Anne and me, you have found yourself losing sleep at night over a short email from a colleague or boss; stood in an aisle at Target for an inordinate amount of time trying to decide between two brands of granola bar; or put flowers in your cart at the grocery store, then put them back, then picked them up again all while debating their $5 price tag, then your life will be changed for the better by reading "Don't Overthink It."
In this book, Bogel pulls together a lot of different types of "overthinking" into one book. There's rumination, where you get stuck on the same unhelpful thought pattern over and over. There's analysis paralysis, where you can't decide between all of the available options so you just keep reviewing what you already know about each of them. There's the kind of overthinking where you talk yourself out of something you want because it's not "necessary," and there's the kind of overthinking where you waste time thinking when you should be acting. For each of these categories and more, Bogel offers personal examples, what approaches have worked for her, and tips for creating your own guidelines to keep yourself from overthinking in the future, including helpful questions at the end of each chapter. It's not overly prescriptive; she will simply set you on the right path toward deciding how you want to handle similar situations in the future.
One of my only quibbles with this book hearkens back to the first book of hers I ever read, How She Does It, in which she went too far in extrapolating her own experiences as "everywoman's" experiences. She does a poor job of acknowledging her own privilege; I would have appreciated even a throwaway line about how, for some people, $5 actually is a lot of money to spend on something frivolous. (This despite the fact that she also talks about always giving $5 to people she sees who are homeless; those people are clearly "other" and not the "you" addressed throughout the book.) Like many writers, she writes as if everyone has the option to set their own schedule throughout the day, and urges things like taking a short break in the afternoon to quietly read a novel with a cup of coffee at the kitchen table so you can return to work refreshed, as if that would be an option for your average teacher, bus driver, or cashier. I think if you have a certain level of privilege and freedom in your life, her advice is excellent, but I wish she'd explicitly voiced that caveat — or else tried to interview people outside her own social circles for examples of how to apply the strategies in the book.
The other quibble is that after she mentions near the beginning that women are more prone to overthinking — which is a valid data point to bring up — she then proceeds to assume that the reader is a woman and addresses her accordingly, which I found odd and unnecessary.
I say all of this as someone who 1) is a woman with 2) a relative level of privilege and 3) a flexible schedule, so as the target audience for this book, it was relatable and enjoyable to read. Her questions are valuable and her strategies are practical, and I look forward to seeing which of them pop up as I move through my own life — hopefully with less overthinking.
One of my only quibbles with this book hearkens back to the first book of hers I ever read, How She Does It, in which she went too far in extrapolating her own experiences as "everywoman's" experiences. She does a poor job of acknowledging her own privilege; I would have appreciated even a throwaway line about how, for some people, $5 actually is a lot of money to spend on something frivolous. (This despite the fact that she also talks about always giving $5 to people she sees who are homeless; those people are clearly "other" and not the "you" addressed throughout the book.) Like many writers, she writes as if everyone has the option to set their own schedule throughout the day, and urges things like taking a short break in the afternoon to quietly read a novel with a cup of coffee at the kitchen table so you can return to work refreshed, as if that would be an option for your average teacher, bus driver, or cashier. I think if you have a certain level of privilege and freedom in your life, her advice is excellent, but I wish she'd explicitly voiced that caveat — or else tried to interview people outside her own social circles for examples of how to apply the strategies in the book.
The other quibble is that after she mentions near the beginning that women are more prone to overthinking — which is a valid data point to bring up — she then proceeds to assume that the reader is a woman and addresses her accordingly, which I found odd and unnecessary.
I say all of this as someone who 1) is a woman with 2) a relative level of privilege and 3) a flexible schedule, so as the target audience for this book, it was relatable and enjoyable to read. Her questions are valuable and her strategies are practical, and I look forward to seeing which of them pop up as I move through my own life — hopefully with less overthinking.
This really helped me focus on my overthinking. Since I've read this book I have been able to overthink less and stop second guessing myself.
I wrote down several good tips and tidbits from this book, so there are some good practical applications from this book.
I am mostly confused why this is touted as a Christian book and published by a Christian publisher when there's zero scripture and nothing about Christianity. You'd think it was a secular self-help book until the very end when she says she's Episcopal. This book is missing some key scriptural components and Anne is basically asserting that you can simply muster up the energy or willpower to just stop overthinking on your own. It reads part-memoir, part-self help. I also was not a fan of her whispery/low voice in this. I've heard her speak in videos and in her podcast and that's not how she speaks, so I found that distracting and annoying at times.
I am mostly confused why this is touted as a Christian book and published by a Christian publisher when there's zero scripture and nothing about Christianity. You'd think it was a secular self-help book until the very end when she says she's Episcopal. This book is missing some key scriptural components and Anne is basically asserting that you can simply muster up the energy or willpower to just stop overthinking on your own. It reads part-memoir, part-self help. I also was not a fan of her whispery/low voice in this. I've heard her speak in videos and in her podcast and that's not how she speaks, so I found that distracting and annoying at times.
Overthinking about overthinking. Some good tips but nothing earth shattering.
I did like it but had the feeling I already read this book. It just reminded me of things in many other books but with Bogels personal stories. I will say it did give me some reminders.
