@Silentman: I agree, both approaches on the surface appear to clash, but if you dig a little deeper, you kinda see that they are really just two sides of the same coin. Even Rune commented that there has to be some sort of happy medium, as each extreme is unsustainable....it's just it's difficult to find it. The 3-Second Rule works, but only if you come prepared with good game prior to the event.

As Neil Strauss wrote in The Game, "Perception is reality"....if you start thinking of every bad thing that could possibly occur, chances are that you will either fail exactly as you imagine it to be, or you'll chicken out, and end up reinforcing your own social anxiety. And as I've found out recently, trying to get rid of a lifetime of bad social habits can be as tedious as breaking up a house-sized boulder with an icepick.

So what's the magic bullet? How does one find the right balance between "living in the now" with quick-draw analysis?

I am constantly thinking, it is effortless. Quick-draw vs Machinegun with unlimited ammo. I shoot at everything that moves, so obviously she is analyzed by the time that I arrive.

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I'm not trying to be a dick Ezo, but you're being a Pick Up Snob in my opinion.

bbardot: you just reminded me about porn

The first thing is setting yourself in the moment, right now. How can you shoot your magic bullet if you're not aiming it at a target?

The 2nd is to shoot.

That's it.

Thinking isn't wrong. Overthinking however is.

This is triggered when your actually overanalysing a set for example.
Thats wrong indeed, but for the other parts of thinking, work related, preventing problems etc. Nothing wrong with that.

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True communication is communion―the realization of oneness, which is love! ~ Eckhart Tolle

One of the problems is the whole "work in the now" and "stay in the moment" philosophy. I have yet to find a good, simple explanation of this philosophy that can be explained clearly to the average man-on-the-street in 10 seconds or so. If it was really that easy, people wouldn't have to write a whole book about it, now would they?

That's not to say it isn't a great idea to incorporate into one's mindset. I *is* a great philosophy, and I *do* get it. That doesn't mean 80% of the blokes out there can wrap their heads around it though. It also doesn't mean it's easy....IT'S NOT EASY AT ALL. Remember, you are trying to change how a person thinks.....going against years of learned behaviors.....and that's NEVER going to be easy.

I do like Rune's anecdote....If you're trying to shoot at a target with a gun, aiming somewhere between where the target's been (bad experiences in the past) and where it's going (worrying about what MIGHT happen in the future) isn't accurate enough. You have to aim at where it is AT THE PRESENT TIME....everything else is just a distraction.