Why Overthinking Is Killing Your Growth (And What To Do Instead) - Mortgage Marketing Radio

Summary5 min read

Podcast Summary: Mortgage Marketing Radio – "Why Overthinking Is Killing Your Growth (And What To Do Instead)"

Introduction

In the May 16, 2025 episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, host Geoff Zimpfer delves into a topic that resonates with many Mortgage Loan Originators: the detrimental effects of overthinking on business growth. Titled "Why Overthinking Is Killing Your Growth (And What To Do Instead)", Geoff explores the concept of resistance, analysis paralysis, and the importance of taking decisive action to propel one's business forward.

Key Themes and Discussions

The Cost of Overthinking and Fence-Sitting

Geoff begins by addressing a common struggle among professionals—being "on the fence." He emphasizes that overthinking isn't limited to a single decision but can become a pervasive mindset that hinders progress across various aspects of business.
- “Maybe being on the fence isn't just about, you know, one decision. Maybe It's a pattern, a mindset, and it shows up everywhere.” [02:30]
Examples include hesitating to reach out to potential agent partners or delaying the implementation of new lead generation strategies in search of the "perfect moment."
Resistance as Outlined by Steven Pressfield

Drawing inspiration from Steven Pressfield's books, The War of Art and Do the Work, Geoff introduces the concept of "resistance" as a primary obstacle to taking action.
- “Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. Resistance will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a knife in your heart like a thug.” [05:20]
Geoff explains that resistance manifests as doubt, hesitation, and the perpetual wait for ideal conditions. The solution, as Pressfield suggests, is to "do the work anyway," even if it means doing it imperfectly.
- “Do it badly if you have to, to, but do it.” [08:45]
James Clear’s Perspective on Action vs. Motion

Incorporating insights from James Clear's Atomic Habits, the discussion shifts to differentiating between "motion" and "action." Geoff points out that while motion involves continuous activity (like consuming content), action is about executing tasks that drive tangible results.
- “Motion feels like progress, but motion is an action.” [12:10]
Examples of motion include watching training videos or brainstorming ideas without follow-through, whereas actions are making calls, recording videos, and actively engaging with potential partners.
Mel Robbins’ Five-Second Rule

Geoff references Mel Robbins’ Five-Second Rule as a technique to overcome hesitation. By acting within five seconds of an instinctual decision, one can bypass the brain's tendency to seek comfort over growth.
- “If you don't act within five seconds of having an instinct, your brain will kill it.” [15:35]
This rule serves as a practical tool to initiate action despite fear or uncertainty.
The Trapeze Artist Analogy

To illustrate the leap of faith required in business decisions, Geoff likens entrepreneurs to trapeze artists who must let go of one ring to grab the next, embracing the moment of free fall and trust in the process.
- “You have to let go of one ring to be able to grab onto another... there's that moment of uncertainty and fear and doubt.” [20:00]
Personal Reflection and Confession

Geoff candidly shares his own experiences with overthinking, admitting that he has struggled with implementing a content strategy due to hesitation and the relentless pursuit of perfection. This vulnerability aims to connect with listeners facing similar challenges.
- “I've been thinking, right. Not in action, but in motion... but not actually taking action and moving forward with a content strategy that's been circling in my brain for far too long and it's been draining 100%.” [25:15]
Encouragement to Take Action

Emphasizing the importance of action over perpetual planning, Geoff encourages listeners to break free from resistance. He highlights the long-term costs of indecision, such as diminished momentum and increased doubt.
- “There’s a cost to being in motion and not in action. The longer you wait, the heavier it gets. Delay creates doubt. Doubt kills momentum.” [30:50]
Geoff underscores that taking the first step, even amidst uncertainty, is crucial for sustained business growth.

Notable Quotes

“Do it badly if you have to, to, but do it.” – Geoff Zimpfer [08:45]
“Motion feels like progress, but motion is an action.” – Geoff Zimpfer [12:10]
“If you don't act within five seconds of having an instinct, your brain will kill it.” – Geoff Zimpfer [15:35]
“You have to let go of one ring to be able to grab onto another... there's that moment of uncertainty and fear and doubt.” – Geoff Zimpfer [20:00]
“There’s a cost to being in motion and not in action. The longer you wait, the heavier it gets. Delay creates doubt. Doubt kills momentum.” – Geoff Zimpfer [30:50]

Insights and Conclusions

Geoff synthesizes the discussions by reinforcing that overthinking and resistance are significant barriers to business growth. Drawing from influential authors and his personal experiences, he offers a blueprint for overcoming these challenges:

Acknowledge Resistance: Recognize the internal and external factors that contribute to hesitation.
Prioritize Action Over Perfection: Embrace imperfection as a natural part of the growth process.
Implement Practical Strategies: Utilize tools like the Five-Second Rule to initiate action.
Commit to Consistency: Understand that regular, decisive actions build momentum and drive success.

By shifting focus from mere planning to actionable steps, Mortgage Loan Originators can break free from stagnation and achieve substantial business advancements.

Call to Action

Towards the end of the episode, Geoff promotes his program, the Agent Referral Accelerator, designed to help loan officers double their realtor referrals in 90 days without resorting to cold calls. He shares testimonials of success from participants like Tiffany, Brian, and Kevin, underscoring the effectiveness of taking action through his structured program.

“If you’re interested in learning more about what we do to help loan officers double their agent referrals in 90 days, no cold calling or chasing, check the link in the show notes or go to goagentrx.com.” [35:40]

Geoff encourages listeners to seize the moment, overcome resistance, and take decisive steps towards business growth by engaging with his program or reaching out for further discussions.

Conclusion

This episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio serves as a motivational guide for Mortgage Loan Originators grappling with overthinking and indecision. Through a blend of literary insights, personal anecdotes, and practical advice, Geoff Zimpfer effectively communicates the necessity of moving beyond analysis paralysis to achieve measurable business success.

For listeners seeking actionable strategies to enhance their mortgage business, this episode offers both inspiration and tangible solutions to break through the barriers of overthinking.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
What's up, my friend? Welcome to this episode of the Mortgage Marketing Radio podcast. I'm so glad you tuned in. It's almost the end of the week when I'm recording this Thursday, May 15, and it's been quite a week and yesterday was quite a big day. And I wanted to share with you lately what I've been thinking a lot about myself personally and I'm thinking perhaps you can relate to this, or at least that's hopefully my intention. And the idea is this, is that overthinking could be killing your growth. I want to unpack this theme of something I've been sitting in for a while and it actually relates to another kind of sitting and that's called sitting on the fence. The real cost of sitting on the fence. What is the impact of that? And why do you need to move before you feel ready? So first of all, a shout out of gratitude and thanks. The other day I launched, or relaunched, I should say, what's known as the Agent Referral Accelerator, what that is. It's been on the shelf for about six months and it is a more entry level way to get involved and work with me to help double realtor referrals in 90 days or less without chasing cold calling and all that fun stuff. And it's a program that works and works really, really well. So for anyone who's listening and you showed up, I want to thank you, whether you existing member of mine, you've been with me for a while, or you're new kind of checking it out. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll have a moment to learn more by the time we get to the end of this podcast. But I just wanted to say that I'm eternally grateful. I'm humbled and I'm inspired because a bunch of my existing members who've been with me three years, four years showed up and I really, really appreciate that. So if you guys are listening, you know who you are. I'm grateful for that. But here's what's interesting is something kept coming up and it was the recurring theme of this is I've been thinking about doing it. I've been on the fence and there's a number of folks I spoke to who had said that and I thought that was kind of interesting because I've also been in a place of reluctance, of fence sitting, of looking at and evaluating options and over evaluating analysis paralysis. Can you relate? Maybe being on the fence isn't just about, you know, one decision. Maybe It's a pattern, a mindset, and it shows up everywhere. Maybe being on the fence shows up in, waiting to reach out to those agents. You know, you should be waiting to not wait to reach out to, but to. To reach out to. Right? Maybe being on the fence is like, you know, wanting to start a new lead gen strategy, but you're just waiting for the perfect moment or you've got, you know, the perfect setup and the perfect tech, you know, platform and the ideal systems in place and, you know, way more money than you actually need to get started. Waiting for the perfect time to take action. And if that's you, I wanted to share some perspective that's helped me and the people that I coach. And it starts with, I'm going to go back to a book, a couple of books, actually, that I recommend. One of my favorite writers is Steven Pressfield. Two books called. One of them is the War of Art. Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles. And the other one is called do the Work. And in the War of Art, Pressfield introduces this concept of resistance. And a couple of quotes from the book is. Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. Resistance will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a knife in your heart like a thug. Resistance is insidious. Can you feel it? Resistance is the headwinds. Resistance is what we come up against consistently when we're trying to perhaps step out of our comfort zone, perhaps expand our mindset. Resistance shows up when the work matters most. Resistance shows up when it matters most. That's why you doubt. That's why you hesitate. That's why you think, I need more time. Pressfield says that the only way to beat resistance is to do the work anyway. Do it badly if you have to, to, but do it. We don't get confidence first. We get it after we take the leap. And in Pressfield's other book that I mentioned, do the Work, he gets more direct. He says, simply, start before you're ready. Don't prepare, begin, love that. And that's. Sometimes I get away from that, but I'm bringing myself back to that more often because there will never be a perfect moment, a perfect time. If you've ever asked your significant other to marry you, if you waited for the perfect time, you probably wouldn't be married. And let's talk about another book we all know, which is Atomic Habits. James. Clear. James. James gives us another lens on this whole idea of resistance, and that is that motion feels like progress, but motion is an action. Here's an example of some motion. I've been hanging out too long and maybe you have too. Watching training, watching YouTube videos, listening to podcasts. That's called motion. Making the call action. Recording the video action. Making the connection on social media action. Brainstorming ideas, whiteboarding. Masterminding motion. Scheduling the class action. Following through and going to the gym action. If you're prepping endlessly, you're likely avoiding. Another favorite of mine is Mel Robbins. She has something called the five second rule. If you don't act within five seconds of having an instinct, your brain will kill it. Your brain wants to protect you from discomfort, even if it's the exact discomfort that leads to growth. Don't wait for the fear to disappear. Move with it. That is how we get into forward progress, momentum. You know, the old saying I love is that a rocking chair is in motion, but it doesn't move forward, right? It just rocks back and forth. So are you in motion? Are you in action? And there's a cost to being in motion and not in action. There's a cost to not breaking through the resistance. Let's be honest, the longer you wait, the heavier it gets. Delay creates doubt. Doubt kills momentum. And momentum, that's everything in business. Indecision is an energy leak. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It wears you down without you even realizing it. So back to Pressfield for a moment. What he says is, do the work. Not next week, not when it's perfect today. You don't need certainty. You need a decision. The people who succeed in life, who succeed in this industry, mortgage and real estate, they don't wait to feel ready. They make a move, right? It's kind of like that. What's that? You know, the trapeze artists, when they're. You have to let go of one ring to be able to grab onto another. You have to trust, right? And there's going to be that gap, that moment when you make that decision. Kind of like on that, the trapeze artist, when they're letting go of one ring and there's that moment of free fall where they're in between different rings, right or wrongs, whatever, and they're waiting for their hand to grasp that next ring or rung that's coming to them. And there's that moment of uncertainty and fear and doubt. But you have to understand that that's coming and that's part of it. And because you make that move, because you're willing to step out in faith and just do the work, not when it's perfect. Results follow so this is a lot of time I've been thinking about lately with me and quite frankly, in the context of me evaluating where I want to level up my time and content strategy. And I've been thinking air quotes, thinking, right. Not in action, but in motion, thinking, watching videos, taking different courses, following other people, you know, consuming, consuming, consuming, but not actually taking action and moving forward with a content strategy that's been circling in my brain for far too long and it's been draining 100%. And so I'm at this place coming you today kind of as like a, an. A confession of. I've been there, I know what it feels like. And every time I've granted you have to go through your process. Let's evaluate. Yes, let's, let's analyze. Right. Let's look at. And this thing helps solve my problem. Let's get clear on that. Let's not be careless with how we invest our time and resources. But I think when you know, you know. And then you just get stuck on the fence because of fear, because of uncertainty. And that's called resistance. And that's what we need to do is break through, move forward, trust, let go of one rung and swing onto the other, make the leap. And so if this hits home for you at all, if you've been stuck maybe in thinking mode, this is your moment to choose action over motion. I don't know where you are in your business right now. I know that a lot of people I engage with around the country are in a situation where there's this transaction recession that the overall business volume might be down, and maybe that's not you. And by the way, congratulations to you. You've been clearly taking action in the right, right direction. But if you're in a situation where you want to take action, maybe you've been like the folks who showed up on my launch for the Agent Referral accelerator, and you've been hearing me talk about these aging classes for a while and what we do and how we helped Tiffany so far have her best year ever, or how we helped Brian at 15 million in production to his business, or we help Kevin get a $700,000 loan on a very first class that he taught. I mean, what we're talking about here is you taking action. If this sounds like it's potentially something for you, there's a link in the show notes. I put a recap, a really quick kind of review and summary of the launch I did the other day, my 60th birthday launch. We're doing a special offer. It's not going to be available forever. Expires very, very soon depending on when you're listening to this. So check the link in the show notes. It's goagentrx.com and maybe this is your call to move with it, to step forward. And if what I've said to you here in the last few minutes, you've been listening, your brain is telling you, your emotions are drawing you closer to learn more, well, just go ahead, check it out. There's the only cost to it is about 10 minutes of your time to grab the link of the show notes and see if what we're doing in the agent referral accelerator is right for you. And if you all want to learn more or you have something, some questions or whatever you want to talk, you can obviously always DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn or wherever is that you want to go. But look, and here's what I know is that part of being fearful and taking action is you don't wanna look dumb if you don't have all the information or you're unsure or you don't feel like you know, oh my gosh, well, I'm not an expert or I've never done this before or what if I look stupid and that's all real. But I'll close out by saying this action isn't always pretty and that's okay. Building a business can be ugly. But guess what? What's gonna get you through that is consistently taking action. It's the only thing that gets results. So if what I shared with you today is inspiring, hey, let me know. Leave me a comment if you're listening on Spotify. I can check if you're on Apple and listening to this podcast. Hey, leave me a review if you like this episode. That definitely helps me reach more people. And lastly, hey, if you're interested in learning more about what we do to help loan officers double their agent referrals in 90 days, no cold calling or chasing. Check the link in the show notes or go to goagentrx.com and I look forward to our next conversation. I'm thinking of you. I'm cheering for you. Let's break through the resistance together. See you soon, Sam.