Analysis Paralysis: Or how to escape from your mind
Or why you shouldn't be reading this article without commenting
TLDR: Do stuff, think after, then do more stuff. Rince. Repeat.
Hey!
It’s been a while!
To be honest, I thought I would never write here again. I felt like it was pointless or that I had gotten bored...
But to be completely honest, it wasn’t boredom—it was fear of failure. I was so caught up in my own head, trying to come up with the best possible article, that... I never wrote again.
And over the past few months, I’ve been so focused on figuring out the best way to live… that I forgot to live.
And that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about today!
This article is the equivalent of “ship it fast” for your life! It’s actually a follow up on this article:
Why There Is No "Best" Solution
You're waiting for the best solution? Spoiler: It doesn’t exist.
Because life isn’t a static puzzle where you can just sit, analyze all the pieces, and come up with the perfect move. It’s a chaotic, evolving mess.
New information only emerges when you act.
You plan a project for weeks? Day 1, a last-minute emergency flips everything.
You overthink a relationship? One unexpected moment changes the entire dynamic.
You wait to "feel ready" for something? By the time you are, the opportunity is gone.
Action Generates Information
You cannot predict everything upfront. Some things can only be learned by doing.
You don’t know if a job suits you until you work there.
You don’t know if a person is right for you until you live real moments with them.
You don’t know how you’ll react until you’re actually in the situation.
Perfection is a Trap
You want to optimize your life? Life isn’t a math equation.
You want to find the perfect plan? Every plan dies on contact with reality.
You want to make the best choice? Sometimes, the only way to know is to choose and see.
So what do you do?
1. Make Decisions Based on the Info You Have, Not the Info You Wish You Had.
You’ll never have all the variables. Make the call anyway.
2. Embrace the "Oops" Factor.
You will mess up. You will adapt. That’s how the game is played.
3. Stop Optimizing, Start Experiencing.
The "best" way to live, work, or love? You'll only find it by living, working, and loving.
There’s no final answer. No ultimate truth. Just you, moving forward, learning, adjusting.
Figure it out on the way. Everyone else is.
And I figured out this the hard way, because I tried to overthink my own life direction…
My story with analysis
From a young age, I was really curious about a lot of things—math and science in particular. And it just so happened that the Moroccan education system really values math and science.
So I was ranked #18 in the Moroccan baccalaureate exam (the end-of-high-school diploma, for my US readers). Then I got into Preparatory Classes. I was good—really good. So good that I could skip classes and still rank first.
My analytical skills were valued, so I kept sharpening them. Then I got into Engineering School. Moving from Morocco to France, I started analyzing something new for the first time: myself.
How should I talk?
How should I behave?
How should I look?
What courses should I take?
I saw the most brilliant minds of my generation doing things as if it were second nature, and I didn’t understand: How did they find the “best” way to live? Had I missed something? Am I dumb? Is something really broken inside me?
So I started living—not by choice, but by inertia. Past choices dictating present choices to be “coherent,” “normal.” I was on autopilot, and I didn’t like it. So I started analyzing the different ways people chose to live:
Traveling the world?
Art?
Philosophy?
Science?
Spirituality?
I started dissecting everything, trying to rationalize something that couldn’t be rationalized. I was exploring new things more than others, sure, but I never committed to anything.
I went down the rabbit hole of ego-death, Jung’s individuation… But in the end, they were just coping mechanisms.
What if this isn’t the “best” way to live?
What if there’s something even better?
Then… I realized something. Something that a lot of people eventually realize.
“Life is meaningless.” — Everyone, at some point.
And that’s when the panic attacks started. Anxiety. Crushing existential dread. I was cynical, but I kept a “good face” so people wouldn’t worry. Good ol’ existential crisis.
But I kept going with my analysis.
What if I missed something?
What if something was just wrong with me?
What if… I was going crazy?
I became chaotic in my work because I didn’t know why I was doing it. It felt pointless, but I kept lying to myself (and to others). I sabotaged myself in relationships. I convinced myself that my friends despised me.
I was going too far into analysis mode—addicted to understanding, optimizing. I was tired of not doing anything “meaningful,” so I kept searching for meaning everywhere... except within.
Then… two weeks ago, I started feeling dissociated. I was too alert, constantly scanning for new information, convinced that everything meant something.
It felt like I had developed a mental Diogenes syndrome—hoarding knowledge, searching endlessly for something I couldn’t even define.
I realized that we have no control over our thoughts. I was terrified that my mind would somehow turn against me, trying to make me “UNDERSTAND SOMETHING” by pushing me into madness.
I talked about it—with friends, with a therapist, with family… And then my mom (bless her) told me something:
“That’s just life, my son. It’s pointless, but we keep going. We keep moving, because what’s the alternative? We keep getting hurt, laughing, and smiling.”
— My mom, yesterday on the phone.
And one lonely night in March, I felt fear. Not the fear of something in particular—just fear, raw and primal. My heart was racing, cold sweat, even sleeping was looking like a terrifying challenge. I couldn’t even understand why I was afraid
And then it hit me: my brain will literally interpret this however it wants. .So I slept and woke up the next day, for even the coldest of night will end in the warmth of a new day.
I could analyze the world, myself, my relationships forever, but I would never find anything.
So instead of sliding further down this endless slope… I decided to act.
It was time to see Sisyphus happy.
It was time to take responsibility for myself.
It was time to be an adult and stop playing pretend.
It was time to face the world, with all the emotions and all the failures and all the success.
The world has no meaning ? Okay, so I’ll chose my own. And it’s scary as shit!
Applying This at Work: The Balance Between Thinking and Doing
You see it all the time at work.
Some people analyze everything to death—meetings, reports, strategy docs, endless brainstorming. They’re stuck in an intellectual hamster wheel, running in circles but never actually going anywhere.
Others? They just do. Execute, execute, execute. New project? On it. New initiative? Let’s go. No time to think—just ship. And then? Burnout. Because they never stopped to ask: Wait, does this even make sense?
The truth? You need both.
Too much analysis? You’ll stay stuck. Paralysis by overthinking. You’ll be that person in meetings who always asks, “But what if…?” and never gets anything done.
Too much synthesis? You’ll burn out. Your output will be high, sure, but at some point, you’ll hit a wall. You’ll wonder why the hell am I even doing this?
So how do you fix it? Timebox your thinking.
Need to make a decision? Give yourself 10 minutes to analyze, then act.
Stuck on a problem? Take a step back, set a deadline, then execute.
Feeling lost? Zoom out, reframe, but don’t let it take weeks—a few focused hours are enough.
The goal? Think just enough to move forward. Act just enough to avoid crashing. Find the rhythm between understanding and doing, and suddenly, work stops feeling like an endless loop of frustration.
And if you overthink this paragraph? Congrats, you’ve proven my point. Now go do something.
How to overcome Analysis Paralysis
The short answer: “Do something.”
Do something. Anything.
Analysis is destruction. Synthesis is construction. You need both.
Trying to build something on rotten foundations? It will collapse.
Trying to only destroy? Eventually, you’ll just destroy yourself and never build anything.
Will it be perfect? No.
Will it be something you can be proud of? Yes!
We have more information at our fingertips than ever before. A constant stream from our phones, the news, books, movies—even this very article is just more information.
You can hoard it in your mind… or you can do something with it.
Start with this article. You hated it? Great! Tell me why.
You loved it? Awesome. Share it with your friends and tell me what resonated.
But whatever you do—do something.
Thanks a lot Achraf for this article !
❤️