Hey Reader,
I kid you not.
We spend most of our time in our heads thinking, replaying, projecting, and trying to predict scenarios.
The more successful we become, the more of an overthinker we likely are.
Most people feel stuck in their heads because they lean more into outcome than curiosity.
In today’s issue, we’ll uncover ways to overcome the grip of overthinking.
💭 “I play to figure things out.”
Let’s talk about Kobe Bryant.
Shortly before his tragic death, in an old ESPN interview, he was asked a question: “Do you love to win or hate to lose?”
He replied, “Neither. I play to figure things out. I play to learn something.”
I’m not surprised at his brave response.
That was his entire mindset.
From the time he joined the league as a teenager, Kobe treated basketball like a laboratory.
He’d spend hours watching games and practice footage, checking movements, angles, and timing.
He wanted to understand why things happened the way they did.
And that’s how curiosity drives better performance.
That mindset kept him great, focused, unshaken, and dangerously confident until he passed.
🧠 The trap of overthinking
Overthinking keeps you pondering things you can and cannot control.
The uncertainties, outcomes, fears, mistakes, and all the what-ifs.
You wake up already thinking about what could go wrong.
You’re probably still getting things done, but you’re also tighter, like you’re constantly bracing for impact.
It’s the idea of playing the finite game.
You’re seeing everything as a win or lose situation.
So every move or decision can feel like a verdict on who you are.
Sometimes, we tell ourselves we’re being strategic, but deep down, we’re just trying so hard not to mess up.
And that’s the trap.
We subconsciously set ourselves up for pressure in the chase of more.
I mean, you can feel it in your chest when you pause before saying what you really think.
You feel it when you hesitate to take a risk you’ll normally take without flinching.
You second-guess your choices, and you’re probably starting to feel like an impostor.
You’ve become so cautious that it’s starting to feel like you’ve lost the joy in what you do.
And it can make your once-fierce confidence now feel fragile.
Because your instinct has become tangled up in overthinking.
❤️ Play the infinite game
We all have the biological instinct to evolve, flourish, and grow.
That’s the idea of the infinite game.
When you approach your goals with curiosity instead of caution, you become open to self-discovery.
No challenge can easily rattle you.
Your mind is freed from self-judgment.
You’re relieved from the mental pressure to always have all the answers.
You’re not stuck replaying mistakes, failures, or things that can go wrong.
You’ll see challenges as a chance to grow within your craft and within yourself.
You feel loose and relaxed while having the best time of your life achieving your highest potential.
You’ll care less about all the what-ifs and more about what you’re capable of.
You’re not trying to win or lose.
You’re open to change, growth, refining, adapting, taking risks, failing, and learning from mistakes with so much joy to be a better version of your past self.
You’ll easily bounce back when things don’t go your way.
No matter how hard things get, you just want to keep going and evolving.
Because there’s really no greater source of fulfillment than viewing life’s pursuit as an infinite journey of pushing ourselves, pursuing a goal, and developing along the way.
🤲 Feed your thoughts the right way
Excellence requires hunger for more.
And you need to stay focused and disciplined to keep moving.
You can start by practicing these 3 antidotes to overthinking:
1. Hunger to better know yourself. What are your top 3 deepest desires, core values, and non-negotiables? Make a mental note as you read this, and write them down when you can. If your pursuits are aligned, you’ll be deeply rooted in who you are, so much so that you’re internally untouchable and ever ready to weather any storm. You’ll feel fear as a human, but you’ll never be trapped in the numbness of overthinking.
2. Hunger to figure out what you’re capable of. Instead of asking, “What if I fail?” start asking, “How much better will this make me become?” Start by testing yourself where you still have doubt. Take a project, a pitch, or a move you’ve been overthinking and commit to shipping it before it feels perfect. That focus on exploring your potential keeps you out of your head.
3. Hunger to better know your craft. You have to care about your work for real. For the love of it, and for the impact, not just the image it gives you. So every day, choose one small detail to get better at. Don’t be afraid of feedback. Fall in love with the repetitions. That consistency is how you create a masterpiece.
So try hard, have fun, f*ck it, let it rip, and do it over again if you have to.
💢 Are you overthinking everything?
What if you stopped trying to figure it all out first?
What if you stopped focusing on winning or losing?
What if your success isn’t something to protect, but something to expand?
You can’t think your way into achieving what you feel personally called to do.
You can only act your way into it.
As Bruce Lee once said, “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
So let go of those lingering thoughts.
You’ve got a vision to bring to life.
Get to it.
You’ve got this.
With appreciation,
Huw
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Huw Edwards
Founder & CEO, h3.xyz
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