How To Stop Overthinking — and Make a Decision Already!

Marie Forleo 

What if I could relax the part of my brain that always thinks I'm missing something? What if I could let go of feeling like there's another strategy or another opportunity or something that I'm not seeing that's gonna make a huge difference and catapult me to the next level, right? 

What's up, everybody? It's Marie Forlio, and welcome to another episode of the Marie Forleo podcast and MarieTV, the place to be to create a business in life you love so much that you wanna squeeze its eyeballs out really. So today is Q&A Tuesday, and today's question comes from Dana. 

Dana, thank you so much for making the time, and welcome to MarieTV. And so let's just dive in. What's your question today?

Dana 

Well, thanks for having me. Well, my question is this, when you are doing all of the things really strategically thinking about your work, how do you figure out what's next? I think there are just so many options, and I guess that's my biggest question because I don't wanna waste my time, you know, chasing rainbows. Um, so just being really strategic and trying to figure out what it is.

Marie Forleo

Yeah. And can you tell us just your one-liner or two-liner about your business? 

Dana 

Sure. Absolutely. I have a movement called For Farmers, and basically, the whole idea is that we see our farmers, the people who are making our food and our fiber and even our fuel, and recognize the important work that they're doing. And I do that really through, telling their stories, uh, through dispelling myths because there are a lot of them. And then also by raising funds and giving out mini-grants. And we've had two different sessions of mini grants so far. So all about farmers.

Marie Forleo 

Great. So, yeah, so I wanted to walk you through a little bit of what my process is when you have a lot of things going on. How do you really decide what to focus on next to make sure that it's strategically aligned, not only with your mission and your company's goals but also with your life? So Dana, I do this process every single year, and it has been a game changer for me. I usually do it in December, but you can do it any time of the year, it doesn't matter. Uh, it's really basically a year in review. And so I look back at the past year, right, whatever the last 12 months have been, and get super clear on a few things, what I've accomplished and overcome, what are the greatest lessons that I've learned, um, what are some great opportunities that I see that could, you know, be in my future?
‍
And if there's anything that's missing, like we haven't accomplished yet, we've done a MarieTV on this before, so we can point you to that so you have all the exact questions and the prompts, but once I'm done with a year in review, then it's kind of like I flush through my life up until this moment and I can set a cast for the next 12 months, including what do I really wanna focus on? What do I really wanna accomplish? What are the targets that I wanna hit from a revenue and profit perspective? And what are some of the other key areas of both my business life and my personal life that I'm like, you know what? If I could get these things accomplished, created, or explored this year, man, I would feel like I was winning. That simple process is something that I would love you to do.

I wanna give that to you as an assignment for homework, because again, we're shooting this and it's for me near the spring slash summer. And again, it doesn't matter what time of year you do it, but what that does is once I'm very clear on what I want the next 12 months to look like, it allows me to start to like, walk through the different possibilities of what projects I could focus on, but then be really strategic about it. Like, does this project help me hit this financial goal? Is this project gonna take away from a personal goal that I've set? Does that make sense? So it's a bit of a filter so that I'm not willy-nilly all over the place and I'm really, really intentional and deliberate about not wasting my time.

Dana 

I'm with you.

Marie Forleo 

Yeah. And so I'm wondering like, just outta curiosity, when was the last time you did any magic wanding for yourself? Like, wouldn't it be cool if in our company we hit this particular target? Or wouldn't it be cool if within the next 12 months we had this additional member of our team? Like, have you done any of that recently? Right.

Dana 

Well actually I feel like I do it all the time. I'm a pretty strategic yeah. Thinker. I used to work in corporate America, and this is no longer that space. So I do try to apply a lot of, yes, thinking I have quarterly plans, I do annual planning. I do a lot of saying no, to pieces that I don't think are gonna work. I think sometimes, and I mean I recognize this is that, you know, consistent work is what's really gonna get me to where I wanna go. And the different pieces. And I think sometimes even though, you know, that seems really smart, I feel like, you know, wait, is there, you know, some magic thing I need to be like, what's not on my list? And when I sent you my initial video, that was really what I was thinking about.
‍
I was taking a break, um, and relaxing, but also thinking when I have like a moment where I'm not, you know, busy doing all of the things, to really say to myself like, okay, what is the piece that's missing from the plan? I've done my best plan. I, you know, I work with other people, I ask for a lot of input. I talk to farmers all the time about what else it could be for them. Um, and sometimes I'm just wondering like out there like, okay, somebody smacked me. Like, tell me like is what's the thing I'm missing?

Marie Forleo 

Yeah. I'm curious. So there's two ways that we could look at this, right? And we're just gonna have fun driving around possibilities. So is it possible, Dana, that you're not missing anything? Is it possible for most overachievers, again, I consider myself one of them. For most people who are creative, we're ambitious, we're mission-driven so there's a lot that we wanna do in terms of impact and making a difference, I think somewhat could be for many of us, we're habituated to thinking there's gotta be something else. 

Dana

Yeah. 

Marie Forleo

And sometimes there is, there's certain stages of our business, there's certain stages of our journey where there might be something coming down the pipeline or maybe we have an inclination, wow, there's really kind of a hole on our team, right? We could use this particular skillset, or this particular role needs to be filled so we have an inkling that something's coming. But what if there are also stages in seasons where we need to just do what we're doing and to give ourselves the grace and the space to be at peace with that.

Dana

If you wanna give me that permission, I would accept it. 

Marie Forleo 

Given. Oh my goodness, Dana, given, so look, and this is a really hard thing for most of us to hear. I know my egoic mind, the one that's, you know, driving and pushing that part of me that is like addicted to growth. It hates talk like this. It's like, no, stop it. There's always, you know, we can make the case very a sound case. Like, oh no, there's always more you could be doing. And it's like, of course that's true. But the integrated balance of having wisdom and being able to say, wow, I feel really clear on the initiatives that we've taken on. I feel really clear that there are certain things that I need to do more consistently, meaning that there's momentum that's gonna come from that, that I need to have a certain amount of trust and faith, and that there's gonna be time just like farmers, right?
‍
Things don't happen immediately. You have to plant and then you have to care for, and then down the line, the harvest will hopefully come. And so to have that perspective and to have that wisdom to be able to say, I've done enough for today. I've done enough for this quarter. Maybe another great idea will come down the pipeline. But what if I could relax the part of my brain that always thinks I'm missing something? What if I could let go of feeling like there's another strategy or another opportunity or something that I'm not seeing that's gonna make a huge difference and catapult me to the next level, right? Because at least in my experience, and I'll just speak from my own experience, that voice, that inclination, that fear can be really rooted in scarcity, at least it has been. 

And that I'm not enough, or that I'm not seeing enough or enough or being enough or producing enough. And it can be really destructive for me. It has been in the past. So I am 100% giving you permission, Dana, especially because of how focused you are, how committed you are for at least even a month to say, you know what, for the next month, let me just be at peace and really be with everything I've already said yes to, and have faith and trust that if there's something that I should know or explore or look into, that I live in a beautiful universe that will bring it to me. Right. That I don't need to go out and seek that. I don't need to push that. I don't need to stress, I don't need to fear and I don't need to worry. It's actually gonna show up for me.

Dana 

There's plenty of, you know, there's always plenty of work to do. And I think, you know, when I'm looking at all of the things I've committed to, I'm always looking at them and saying like, okay, well this goes back into the mill and I wanna polish it and make it better and make it stronger. And yes, like, who are the people that we need to find? But that's, that's a perpetual, those are perpetual jobs and they're important and meaningful. True. And so yes, maybe if that magic component hasn't hit me yet, it's because it's just not time. 

Marie

Yeah. And that might be.

Dana

And I think that's fine. I don't wanna be the person who's sitting around on their duff going, well, I'm not really thinking about it. That's so, that's right. 

Marie Forleo 

You don't strike me, Dana, as that kind of person, I don’t think that is ever gonna be your challenge, if I'm just gonna be quite honest.

Dana 

I think, uh, one thing that you said, um, just reminds me, my mom and I always, uh, would joke it, it's kind of a joke, but it's also really true, like be open to the bounty of the universe because there it can come. So, maybe I'm doing all the things. I'm talking to you. That's fun.

Marie Forleo 

Yeah. You are doing all the things. You're doing many things and inviting that next possibility, that next initiative, that next project to show up when you're ready for it, you'll stumble across the article or you'll have the conversation, or you'll see the video, or you'll hear the podcast or something will cross your path and you'll be like, aha, that's the next thing. But if your plate is full right now and you feel very confident about what you've chosen to work it on, then you can also have a little bit of rest and faith that you're moving in the right direction.

Dana 

Yep. I'm gonna do that.

Marie Forleo 

Good. Dana, thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to connect with you. And thank you so much for taking the time to create a question and also for the work that you're doing in the world. It's so important.

Dana 

Thank you. Appreciate that.

Marie

Well, that was fun. I’m curious to know what’s the biggest insight you’re taking away from the conversation and how can you put it into action in your life starting right now. Leave a comment below, let us know, I can’t wait to see what you share. And if you enjoyed this episode and all of our episodes hit that like button and make sure you subscribe. I think like 70% of the people who watch our show are not subscribers yet and I’m like, what is that, it’s bonkerpants, so subscribe right now so you don’t miss a thing.

Until next time, stay on your game and keep going for your big dreams because the world does need the very special gift that only you have. Sending you a huge hug and so much love. I’ll see you next time. 

It’s time to let go of the crap that is holding you back and it starts with a commitment colonic. Yes, I said commitment colonic.