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Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

economist.com

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Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#31

Post by ssivark »

superbcarrot wrote: post #21
soneca wrote: post #8

Well, I stopped reading when it said that Federer ”has been choking” , losing due to a ”mental frailty” . It told me everything I need to know that there is nothing serious to be read and learned in this article.

When the article was written Federer had lost to Djokovic after having 2 match points on two seperate occsasions (US Open 2010 and 2011) and since then this has happened again at Wimbledon 2019. In that last two matches Federer was serving as well. It's hard to make the argument that this isn't psychological.

To elaborate beyond what @soneca said, how do we know that Federer lost those points because he thought too much? What if, instead, Federer didn’t think enough, and Djokovic just outthought him? That’s why the conclusion is unfalsifiable.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#32

Post by plumsempy »

tracyhenry wrote: post #27

> The only reliable cure for overthinking seems to be enjoyment However, enjoyment in a high-stake situation is too hard to achieve. For people like actors, athletes and musicians, confidence generated through enough practice seems to be the cure. Enjoyment is an aftereffect. For situations for which you have no way to practice, enjoyment just seems hard.

I'm not sure I entirely agree: curiosity and discovery can be very enjoyable; which means it is more about openness -- personally I over analyze when I am contracted and anxious, which figures.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#33

Post by Jtsummers »

unix_fan wrote: post #29

My writing skills only improved after I stopped thinking about it. I’m still trying to figure out how to tap into this with other skills.

Practice, relaxation and the relief of (self-induced and exaggerated) pressure. By practicing your writing and getting feedback (from self-critique or others) you have an opportunity to properly internalize things you'd been consciously thinking of before. Maybe it's your style, your choice of terms, whatever. Practice permits the internalization. Relaxation and relief of pressure permit you to actually practice without fear of failure. Failure is often a better teacher than success, you can succeed all your life by dumb luck and never learn a thing or misattribute the success to the wrong elements.

In other skills, physical or mental, removing pressure and practicing more permits the same kind of growth and development.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#35

Post by bumbada »

It is not really "not thinking", but not using your conscious mind, which can only focus on a single thing.

You think with your subconscious mind too. But this can do multiple things at the same time, way faster than the logical mind.

The harder you focus on a single thing, the more you ignore the entire system and the slower you perform.

It is not just instinct as the article say, a tennis player does not play by instinct because nobody knows how to play tennis when he is born.

It is by training that you develop intuition. If you train well you can perform well without thinking consciously. Training well is hard work and takes a lot of time too.

If you follow your instincts you are predictable and an easy prey. I can hunt or fish animals because they follow their instincts too well.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#36

Post by chrisweekly »

orky56 wrote: post #25

"The only reliable cure for overthinking seems to be enjoyment, something that both success and analysis can dull." This point at the end seems a bit forced without any support beyond the author's assertion. The feeling I get is someone who has mastered this unthinking is "enlightened" of sorts with an ability to get to satisfaction with a humility that can be mistaken for smugness. From fiction, I might refer to the…

aka meditation

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#38

Post by _carbyau_ »

zwieback wrote: post #19

The examples are for a specific situation, though: using your knowledge and experience under pressure. I don't think this maxim applies broadly.

Yeah, the article kinda mentions it but I see it as:

If you have already put the thought required in, then when time is short simply go with it rather than rethink it.

If you haven't put that thought in, well then thinking "on the spot" is statistically unlikely to do any worse...

The trick is recognising situations where you have that advantage when under that pressure.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#39

Post by smk_ »

This seems to be related to the concept of flow: finding that sweet spot between being too relaxed and too-stressed out. We need a moderate dose of stress to perform at our best. What's so interesting is that experiencing flow is also correlated with long-term fullfillment.

I've recently theorized the single most important factor for happiness and performance is being able to control your stress levels and increase/decrease your stress levels at will. It is not novel, but it helps me if I see my primary task as identifying which mechanisms can help me lower or increase stress. So far, meditation seems to have the best effect.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#40

Post by chrisweekly »

unix_fan wrote: post #30
tracyhenry wrote: post #27

> The only reliable cure for overthinking seems to be enjoyment However, enjoyment in a high-stake situation is too hard to achieve. For people like actors, athletes and musicians, confidence generated through enough practice seems to be the cure. Enjoyment is an aftereffect. For situations for which you have no way to practice, enjoyment just seems hard.

If you’re playing an instrument in front of an audience, performance anxiety will usually make things much worse than if you had practiced in private.

YMMV; many musicians feed off an audience's energy and thus get more fully and deeply into the moment. Which is what all of this is about -- being 100% in the NOW and not in your conscious mind's memories (past) or anxieties (future).
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