The parting observation in Andrew Sewell’s book, The Overthinker’s Guide to Life, is overthinking “keeps you stuck and small”. You’ll burn through energy, he says, “leaving a lot of untapped potential — and a lot of unlived life — on the table”… but you can avoid this bleak fate.
Andrew’s book is for anyone feeling stressed out and with a busy mind. An experienced leadership and personal coach, he’s intentionally written it in a uniquely playful way to make sure it’s actionable for everyone, whether you’re into psychology or not.
Andrew knew 20 years prior to writing the book he was going to do it and told his partner, “it’s gonna look like a travel guide, but it’s gonna be a psychology book”. A couple of decades later and “the book wrote itself,” he says: “It happened to me”.
Thinking back to a time before he was a coach, highly successful in a corporate career, but deeply unhappy, Andrew says he imagined himself on a train doing the commute he dreaded, and asked himself: “Could I read one bit a day that would give me valuable information, and would I find it fun?”

The result is an upbeat, sincere book to help you move past your overthinking tendencies to take control of your life and destiny.
28 days to tame a busy mind
In The Overthinker’s Guide to Life, each form of therapy is distilled down into an accessible, yet powerful practice you can read through quickly and start doing today:
- Instead of reacting to every thought as if it’s a reality, say ‘I just had a thought about X’ to put some distance between you and it. You’ll begin to recognise your thoughts are just thoughts and you can detach yourself from the ones that aren’t helpful.
- You might already go for walks when you’re anxious, knowing it can help bring you calm, but Andrew suggests walking at the same pace as your thoughts, so you’ll walk fast and then slow down, with your thoughts slowing down with you.
- Perhaps the most memorable trick is to stop chasing the chicken:
“Imagine your mind is like a quiet living room. Suddenly, a chicken walks in. You’re understandably a bit startled, but you decide to relax and just let the bird do its thing. It walks around for a bit and then quietly leaves.
The other option in this scenario is to freak out. You chase the chicken around the room, frantically trying to get rid of it. All this does is stress out the chicken. It starts to fly around, knocks things over, feathers everywhere.
The second option is normally how we interact with our uncomfortable thoughts — and this leads to a very busy mind, fast. It’s way better to take the first option. Don’t chase the chicken. Just observe.”
Small, subtle changes to your mindset and behaviours like these can help you move past overthinking so you can flourish and be open to achieving all you want for your life.
Thanks, Andrew, for taking the time to share your story with us to help others ✨
