Escaping the Overthinking Loop

Many years ago, I became fascinated by the idea of creating an online business.

At the time, I didn’t realise I wasn’t just “planning” or “researching.” I was already stuck in something I would only later understand as an overthinking loop.

It looked harmless at first. Even productive.

I was learning, preparing, improving ideas, and gathering information. But the pattern underneath was always the same:

I would research something → feel like I was getting closer → start planning → hesitate → refine the idea again → look for more information → delay taking action → repeat.

Nothing was actually moving forward. I was looping.

Between 2012 and 2014, I spent countless hours in this cycle, convincing myself that I just needed “a bit more clarity” before I could begin.

The Overthinking Loop
(Why It Feels Productive)

The problem with overthinking is that it rarely feels like avoidance.

It feels like progress.

The loop usually looks like this:

Research → Planning → Temporary Confidence → Doubt → More Research → Delay → Repeat

Each step feels responsible. Each step feels like work. But the overall direction never changes.

You don’t feel stuck—you feel busy. And that’s what makes it so difficult to recognise.

Looking back, I can see that I wasn’t building anything at all. I was preparing to start for years.

My First Break in the Loop

By the end of 2015, something shifted.

I had been exploring adult colouring books as a business idea, doing what I always did—researching, analysing, learning. But this time, I reached a point where I could feel the cycle repeating itself again.

Instead of continuing to think about it, I made a different decision.

I started creating.

Using Serif Draw, Affinity Designer, and Serif Publisher, I designed and published my first colouring books on Amazon.

For the first time, I stopped waiting for complete certainty and simply acted.

What happened next surprised me.

Without any marketing experience, Amazon began promoting my books, and several of them quickly reached bestseller status within their niche categories.

It wasn’t because I had perfected the idea. It was because I had finally stepped out of the loop.

That experience changed something important in me: action created results that thinking never had.

Action Breaks the Pattern

Encouraged by that early success, I expanded into pattern design and opened a Redbubble store. I created designs for different products and eventually made my first sale—a dress featuring one of my own patterns.

But even then, I could see a gap in my understanding.

I knew how to create products.

I didn’t yet understand how to build a business.

Most of my focus was still on making and selling. I wasn’t building relationships, sharing my story, or creating connection with an audience.

That was another subtle version of the loop—just in a different form.

When Life Interrupts Everything

In 2018, my youngest brother passed away.

The years that followed were shaped by grief, family responsibilities, legal matters, and simply trying to get through a difficult period of life. Not long after, my mother also passed away.

For a long time, everything stopped.

No creating. No marketing. No planning. No thinking about growth.

In a strange way, the loop went quiet—not because I had solved it, but because life forced everything else to pause.

Unexpected Momentum

Even during that time away, something continued in the background.

My Pinterest account, which I had built earlier, kept growing. During the pandemic, it reached 7.6 million monthly views.

It was a reminder that not everything requires constant overthinking to keep moving.

Some things grow through consistency, even when you step back.

Returning to the Loop

When I returned to my business in 2024, I saw things more clearly.

I had a choice. I could leave everything behind, or I could start again.

I chose to start again.

But this time, I could see the pattern more clearly than before.

The tools had changed. The platforms had changed. The strategies had changed.

But the real challenge hadn’t changed at all.

It was still the loop.

The temptation to overthink before acting was still there—but now I could recognise it.

And more importantly, I had evidence that action worked.

What I Understand Now

To build a sustainable online business, I needed more than ideas and creativity.

I needed to learn how to market, attract an audience, build trust, and create systems that support long-term growth.

But none of that starts with perfect understanding.

It starts with movement.

Even now, I continue learning while working around ongoing health challenges, but the lesson I keep coming back to is simple:

Clarity didn’t come from thinking.

Clarity came from doing.

Every meaningful step in my journey happened after action—not before it.

How to Escape
the Overthinking Loop

The good news is that the loop is not permanent. It only continues as long as it’s reinforced.

Here are a few ways I’ve learned to break it:

1. Notice the loop early
If you find yourself repeating the same thoughts, ideas, or research, you’re probably inside it.

2. Limit research time
Give yourself a boundary. Learn enough to begin, then stop consuming and start doing.

3. Choose simplicity over complexity
One idea. One platform. One small step. Complexity feeds the loop.

4. Take imperfect action quickly
You will never feel fully ready. Action is what creates readiness.

5. Focus on momentum, not perfection
Small steps break the cycle faster than perfect plans ever will.

Final Thoughts

If you have been waiting for the moment when everything finally feels clear before you begin, this is the shift I wish I had understood sooner:

You don’t escape the overthinking loop by thinking harder.

You escape it by stepping out of it.

Clarity is built through action.
Confidence is built through repetition.
Momentum is built through small, consistent steps.

Your business doesn’t need to begin perfectly.

It just needs to begin.

Free resource:
If you’re building an online business and want daily mindset support, you can download my free Business Affirmation Cards designed to help creators build confidence and clarity through action.

Next month:
In “The Fastest Way to Build Self-Belief,” I’ll explore why confidence rarely comes first—and how small actions quietly build the self-belief needed to grow a business and trust your own decisions.