Listen to the full podcast episode to learn about the science-backed practice that has not only changed my life but also the lives of countless people over the last two decades. This is something you can’t ignore if you want to achieve that great goal you identified for this year and write your new future.

There’s a point every leader reaches when thinking stops being productive and starts becoming protective. You know the moment, when you’ve analyzed a decision from every angle, sought one more opinion, and convinced yourself that if you just had a little more clarity, you’d finally take action.

For years, I believed that if I could just think through every possibility, I’d land on certainty. But what I discovered, and what I see again and again in my conversations with leaders, is that clarity doesn’t come from overthinking. It comes from taking your next best action. 

We tell ourselves we’re waiting for clarity or the right timing, but what we’re really waiting for is safety—the illusion of control before we leap. The truth is, certainty never comes first.

In this episode, I’m sharing a simple 3-step practice that helps leaders end overthinking and move forward with courage and more ease because you’ve expanded your perspective.You’re more accurately reading a situation or opportunity. 

 It’s the same practice I’ve used myself—and taught to countless executives and entrepreneurs—when the fear of making the wrong move feels paralyzing.

Why Overthinking Feels Like Leadership

For high-performing leaders, overthinking often wears the disguise of responsibility. It shows up as careful planning, thorough preparation, and the desire to make the “right” decision. On the surface, it feels like due diligence, but beneath the logic, there’s often something quieter at play. Fear.

Fear of making the wrong call.
Fear of letting someone down.
Fear of losing credibility or control.

The mind frames it as protection, but in truth, it’s hesitation dressed as wisdom. The brain is wired to keep us safe, and when faced with uncertainty, it floods us with a cascade of what ifs. What if this fails? What if others disapprove? What if this changes everything I’ve built?

Slowly, our leadership energy gets pulled away from the present and into imagined futures that haven’t happened, and may never happen. The result isn’t greater preparedness; it’s paralysis. When we lead from that place, decisions become heavier, our vision narrows, and we lose sight of the clarity that comes only from being fully here, in the moment we’re actually in.

How the Brain Traps Leaders in Overthinking

Neuroscience shows us that the more we focus on worst-case scenarios, the stronger those neural pathways become. We literally train our brains to associate uncertainty with danger.

You may think it’s a flaw, but it’s actually biology. But it’s also not the full story.

The way out isn’t to silence your thoughts; it’s to rebalance them. Most of us unconsciously ask only one question: What’s the worst that could happen? And when that’s the only perspective we consider, our decisions become fear-based, not strategic.

The 3 Questions That Rebalance the Mind

When I first started asking myself three specific questions, everything began to shift:

1. What’s the worst that could happen? Get honest about it. Don’t stop at vague fears—follow them all the way to their logical end. Often, you’ll realize you’d pivot or recover long before the “worst” ever arrived.
2. What’s the best that could happen? This one feels deceptively simple but is incredibly powerful. It activates your brain’s possibility circuitry, inviting creativity and optimism back into the decision-making process.
3. What’s my best next step? This question grounds the first two in reality. You’re not trying to predict ten steps ahead, just the next small, meaningful move that builds momentum.

Together, these questions act like a chiropractic adjustment for the mind. They realign your perspective, calm the nervous system, and create space for rational clarity to emerge.

Confidence Doesn’t Precede Action—It Follows It

For years, I believed that confidence had to come first; once I felt sure, the right move would reveal itself, and everything would fall into place. But what I’ve learned through every major turning point, leaving corporate life, starting my own business, guiding others through their own reinventions, is that confidence rarely precedes action. It’s built through it. 

Each step forward, even the shaky ones, became evidence that I could handle what came next. That evidence became belief, and that belief became trust in myself, in my instincts, in my ability to navigate whatever followed. 

True confidence isn’t born from certainty; it grows from movement. And it’s courage, the willingness to begin before we feel ready, that carries us into the next season of leadership.

From Fear-Based Thinking to Aligned Leadership

When you stop replaying worst-case scenarios and start asking What’s the best that could happen?, your energy changes. You think differently. You lead differently.

The best leaders are willing. They move forward even when uncertainty remains, trusting their ability to adapt, respond, and grow.

Every time you take action, you gather evidence that reinforces confidence and clarity. That’s how you shift from overthinking to aligned leadership—one intentional step at a time.

In this episode, I share:

• Why leaders confuse overthinking with responsibility
• How to stop overthinking decisions and build clarity through action
• The 3-question practice that transforms fear into forward movement
• Why courage, not certainty, is the true foundation of confident leadership

Resources and related episodes:

• Tune in to the previous episode, 10 Brain-backed Ways To Be A Positively Infectious Leader Daily
• Listen to Four Questions When You Have A Big Decision To Make
• If you’d like to be notified of when new podcast episodes are released, you can do so here: Playing Full Out
• Learn more about the Inside Out Method
• Connect with Rita on LinkedIn

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts for more tips, tools, and inspiration to lead the optimal vision of your life, love, and leadership. Remember, a half version of you is not enough. The world needs the fullest version of you at play.

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About Rita Hyland

With over 20 years of experience as an executive and leadership coach, Rita helps leaders — emerging and established — excel in corporate and entrepreneurial environments.

Rita believes if leaders were more clear about how transformation really works and more intentional about creating what they want, their impact, success, and influence in the world would be unstoppable.

Through her coaching programs, private coaching, and masterminds, Rita shows leaders how to win consistently and create the impact and legacy they desire.

Central to Rita’s work is the understanding that you will never outperform your current programming, no matter how strong your willpower.

When you learn to use Rita’s proprietary Inside Out Method, a technology that uses the best of neuroscience and transformational psychology to hit the brain’s buttons for change, YOU become both the solution and the strategy.

Her mission is to end talented, hard-working, and self-aware leaders spending another day stuck in self-doubt or confusion and not contributing their brilliant work and talent the world so desperately needs.