How To Stop Worrying Over Every Little Thing

Which decisions actually impact our lives in a meaningful way? Yes, you make around 35,000 decisions every day, but not all of these are created equal.

If you're a chronic over-thinker, or a decision-paralysis person, I'm going to teach you how to stop worrying over the decisions you make.

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Disclaimer: This content is not intended to be a replacement for receiving treatment. It is purely educational in nature. My relationship with you is that of presenter and audience, not therapist and client.

But I do care.

[chaii_latte]

This is the bane of my whole life. Also, every single day. And every big decision.
What degree to get( I postponed it for 10 years now im 34 just starting. I dunno if its even worth it anymore), should i move or stay( ive wanted to move to Oregon for 15 years now, but have no place to land) do this or that, say this or that, in a social setting. I annoy people. And myself too. With indecision and perfectionism..
Im trying not to catastrophise about my indecision problem. but life is feeling a bit too much. And honestly.. its all hell.

And i can never decide the things i want in life. So i do nothing and decay. For years and years. Out of fear. And it's 1000x worse than it sounds living this way. I just want it all to end..

[IgoZoom]

Analysis paralysis is my state of being. I’ve been thinking about a new car for about 8yrs. Everything in my life works that way. It’s beyond exhausting.

[jenissaaa]

I obsess over whether my actions or decisions are good or bad and something I started saying to myself is “there is no good or bad, there’s just things you do and things you don’t do.” To help take off the immense pressure I feel to exist properly and adequately ✨

[arleneramirez]

Telling an overthinker to picture all those birds! 😂

[bhornannawindeedeigh]

🤯 35, 000 decisions per day? It's no wonder why I feel frazzled over going through everything in my storage unit trying to get rid of EVERYTHING I possibly can so that I can stop bleeding out 400 bux a month for storing "treasures" and bits of papers. I've been doing this for four years, now... it feels non-stop.

I'll think about the birds - cute little birds that help me get to my North Star. 😁

[marmaniac]

Got a job a week ago to feel at least a bit financially stable. The money isn’t big and the job isn’t really interesting or inspiring to me, but I needed that to feel less anxious/worthless. Nevertheless all this time I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that I was doing a terrible and one of the biggest mistakes of my life by choosing to work there. And today I’m gratefully watching this video🙏

[winter-i-i]

This is difficult to apply when you have cptsd and most of your past actions were self-destructive and you no longer trust yourself or your judgement.

[iannorton]

I think it's also healthy to recognise when it becomes apparent that a macro decision hasn't led to a positive outcome and is unlikely to, so that you can change course before the situation gets worse, rather than battling on trying to make it work. I've recently done this with a job; got to the end of the training period for a job I had high hopes for, but realised it wasn't right for me after all. I could have stayed on, continued to be stressed and miserable, but quit instead.

[stevec]

I made a macro decision under the most stressful time and circumstances of my life. Then I tanked. It flooded me with all of the self doubt I had accumulated; resulting in anhedonia and freeze mode. Months later, I am now mostly functional again; and doing my best to save what I can of my decisions consequences. This video has been helpful. Thanks.

[CapeCodBelle]

No wonder my brain hurts and I feel tired all the time!

[sethgordon]

Another good analogy for 35, 000 micro decisions is taking a road trip across several states. The trip consists of thousands of decisions, including what roads to take, what turns to make, etc. If you make several wrong turns during the trip, it's ok. Those micro decisions will not sink your trip. They may delay you getting to your destination. But you can make other decisions to get back on track.

[creativelady]

This was quite helpful, Dr. Scott! Listened 3x because at 72 I am at the place of making 2 or 3 huge decisions for my life! Now I may not be so afraid to make the big decisions knowing how the micros play a big part in this, and may help me move along. I tend to let others, or circumstances decide for me when i am unsure for too long. Thanks!

[Nadyia]

This gives me some hope that I don’t have to feel trapped in some of my big “macro” decisions. I can turn things around.

[gavgavland]

Thank you for the video! In Russia we say "anything that is done is for the better". I try to remind it to myself whenever I feel anxious about some decisions I've made.

[JeffMitchell-lvzx]

Some days, I get the horrors where I start fretting on possibilities I'm woefully unprepared for- what if my cats get sick? What if I lose my job? What will I do when my car wears out? What if I die? Who'll look after my critters? Those days I lay low in my apartment. Don't spend money

[pickledherring]

Appreciate it, Dr. Scott. It's usually the big decisions for me, but sometimes little ones, too. I feel better knowing I can screw up 7, 000 decisions in a day and still be on a good path. 😄

[stevec]

"Any subconscious decision can be pulled up into your consciousness at any time." I beg to differ. Early childhood trauma sealed the corridor from my subconscious to conscious mind. Only when I discovered how to open that corridor, much later in life, could I see and begin to reverse the horror of subconscious control over me.

[LukeAttemptsLife]

You got me in the last part of the video. I lost my mom recently and it's making my decision making come to a halt.

[MapleMarmite]

Hopefully he also covers the regret or uncertainty that follows the decision once you’ve made it. Kind of like ‘buyers remorse’ for decisions - knowing that will happen often stalls the decision making in the first place!

[alexiswinter]

I micro-manage my micro-managing. After years of working on "recovery" I'm can't untrain myself from being up my own butt 24/7 365.