Some people can rarely make an important decision without mentally running through several possible futures. Before a job interview, they imagine getting the position and being rejected. Before a trip, they picture an amazing vacation and everything going wrong. Before sending an important message, they consider the best possible response and the most disastrous one.
This habit may look like overthinking, but psychology offers a more complicated explanation. People who repeatedly evaluate both the best-case and worst-case scenarios may be engaging in prospection, mental simulation, defensive pessimism and uncertainty management. Sometimes these processes can improve preparation. At other times, they can turn into repetitive worry.
