A stack of pancakes on a plate | Why Overthinking Ruins Your Performance (The Lesson of the Pancake)

Why Overthinking Ruins Your Performance (The Pancake Lesson)

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The first time I put any money in the stock market, I made $10,000 the first week.

I looked at my husband and was like, “That was so easy. Why haven’t we been doing THIS the whole time?“ 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have a record of beginner’s luck.

The first time I gambled, I bet on a trifecta and won $105.

The first time I tried playing pool, I made a bank shot.

The first time I shot at a target, I hit it dead on.

And don’t get me started on my first pancakes. They are pristine and crisp. The rest of the batch never matches up.

Apart from the pancakes, I’ve never repeated any of those other things.

But it’s not beginner’s luck.

It’s because when I don’t know anything about anything, I have no choice but just to act.

The problem comes in when I start thinking about whether or not I can do it. Overthinking ruins your performance.

Where should my elbows be in the process?

What’s the likelihood this is even a thing?

And that shuts me out of continued success.

Because I struggle to let myself forget about what I can or can’t do and just focus on what’s in front of me.

Tim Gallwey wrote a fine book called The Inner Game of Tennis. It’s about tennis, but not really.

His argument is that we have two selves.

Self 1 is the critical judge who interferes and narrates everything that’s going wrong.

Self 2 knows how to do things and just does it.

The problem happens when Self 1 is over Self 2’s shoulder micromanaging every effort and yapping about all that could go wrong.

Beginner’s luck is then the space where Self 1 hasn’t yet noticed that Self 2 is just over there trying new things without a care in the world.

But once Self 1 shows up, Self 2 bears the burden of figuring out how to let its criticisms and doubts fade into the background.

We don’t so much defeat Self 1 as much as we learn how to let its voice have less power over our actions.

I don’t gamble, play pool, or shoot anymore, but I’m getting better at this everywhere else.

Sometimes knowing less about your own performance is what keeps you flipping.

That is the Lesson of the Pancake!

If you want to read other slightly off-kilter analogies about life and mental health, check out my first book, 31 Days of Mental Health Moments.