I was the queen of overthinking. When it came time to choose a dissertation topic, my brain turned into a courtroom where every idea was put on trial and found guilty. Too simple. Too complex. Too controversial. Too boring. I’d write a possible topic on a sticky note, then spend twenty minutes imagining all the ways it could go wrong. I made mind maps, pros‑and‑cons lists, and even a colour‑coded spreadsheet. None of it helped. The more I analysed, the more confused I became. My friends started avoiding the question “How’s your dissertation going?” because my answer was always the same: “Still thinking.” The truth was I wasn’t thinking — I was drowning in second‑guessing, and it was exhausting me mentally and emotionally.
One evening, my cousin called me out of the blue. She had finished her master’s a few years earlier, and she listened patiently while I rambled about my inability to decide. Then she said something that hit me like a splash of cold water: “You’re not stuck because you don’t have ideas. You’re stuck because you want absolute certainty before you’ve even started. That certainty doesn’t exist.” She told me to stop trying to think my way into a topic and instead just go look at what real students had actually researched. She sent me a link to a collection of dissertation topics (you can find them here: https://premierdissertations.com/dissertation-topics/) and said, “Browse. Don’t analyse. Just notice what makes you curious.” I followed her advice, and something in my head finally quieted. I saw topics that were practical, imperfect, and completely doable. A few made me think, “I could actually write about that.” By the end of the evening, I had circled three ideas with genuine interest — not because they were perfect, but because they felt right.
From there, the decision became surprisingly easy. I chose the one that kept pulling at me, the one I couldn’t stop thinking about even after I closed the laptop. I took it to my supervisor, who helped me shape it into a clear research question. I won’t pretend the overthinking disappeared forever — it still creeps in sometimes, especially when I’m writing a difficult chapter. But I learned a simple trick: when I catch myself spiralling, I go back to the list of real topics and remind myself that others have walked this path before me. It grounds me. It reminds me that starting with something imperfect is better than never starting at all.
If you’re stuck in an overthinking loop, I want you to know that the way out is not more thinking — it’s more exploring. Stop trying to make the perfect choice in your head. Go look at real examples, let your natural curiosity rise to the surface, and then trust that small spark. Your dissertation topic doesn’t need to be a masterpiece on day one. It just needs to be a question you’re willing to chase. And once you start chasing it, the overthinking slowly loses its power over you.