Are you a compulsive analyzer? If you developed this habit within the first six years of your life then you probably don't even realize that you are doing it. Unless you learn to recognize and break this habit it will most likely cost you all possibility of major success in your life.

Compulsive analyzers make great technical employees but they usually fail in business.

Success in business requires, amongst other things, an ability to make sound decisions quickly. Analyzers hate decisions. They gather so much information and they see so many possible outcomes that they delay and delay and delay that decision until the opportunity has passed them by.

Compulsive analyzers are much more likely to be unhappy in life than they are to be happy.

Happiness comes from within. In order to be happy you have to distance yourself from all the various problems and trouble that are going on in the world.

Imagine if you watched the evening news each night and you emotionally took on board each and every story. All the grief and disasters and troubles of the world. It would be impossible to be happy.

This is exactly what compulsive analyzers do. They see every little detail and think about it, and worry about it, and stress themselves over it. They can always give you a long list of what is wrong with the world.

The first known theory of personality (called the temperaments) was developed around 2,500 years ago. It is interesting that one of the four temperaments was the analytical personality and was named the melancholy (or depressed) temperament.

It's difficult to get started on your journey to success if you are a perfectionist.

The compulsive analyzer tends to be a perfectionist. They not only see every little flaw and short-coming but they are also irritated by them. It is hard for them to start on the success road because they are waiting to ensure that everything is lined up perfectly before they take that first step.

So what can you do if you are an analytical person? Is it simply your nature and you are stuck with it?

The latest research in biology has shattered the theory that our genes determine our personality. Dr. Bruce Lipton and others have shown that the gene is simply a blueprint and that how that blueprint is used is determined by our habitual thoughts.

If you are an overly analytical person then you can learn when to turn it on and when to turn it off. In that way you can use your analytical powers to benefit you and then turn them off when they would be restricting you. In other words you can have the best of both worlds.

The real trick to this is being able to recognize when you are being over analytical.

Develop the skill that the NLP practitioners call the meta-person. This is an ability to watch yourself at the same time as you are being yourself. At a technical level this involves your brain allocating some resources to self observation while other resources are being used to control your normal behavior.

This does not cost you any quality of functioning as a large proportion of the brain is being underutilized most of the time anyway.

The skill requires a little practice but you will be surprised how quickly you master it.

Once you become aware of the situations where detailed analysis is restricting you then you can change this habit and replace it with a more life-enhancing style of thinking.