In my experience, intelligent, empathetic and ambitious people can have a tendency to overthink things.
It often happens when you over-use your strengths.
Your intelligence and desire to deliver work to high standards can sometimes flip over into perfectionism - and there can be a lot of overthinking around that.
Your emotional intelligence and consideration for others can flip over into spending too much time trying to process how others might be reacting to you, or people pleasing.
Your ambition and drive can flip over into burning the candle at both ends. You end up having too many things on your mind, and obviously that can lead to lots of overthinking. This could trigger something like imposter syndrome, where you feel like you're not up to it, and are just waiting to be found out.
The MOST important thing to recognise in all these situations is that your strengths - your intelligence, empathy, and ambition - are superpowers. They'll take you a long way in life.
The most important thing to do is the inner work that leads to self-awareness. You become better at noticing when you're overusing your innate talents.
In all of this, it's crucial to be give yourself a break. Be kind to yourself. As knowledge workers, we're all operating in environments where the cognitive demands are higher than they have ever been.
Understanding how and why you overthink things can free up some headspace. There's less friction in your mind. This means you're better able to make the most of your potential, without paying too high a mental price.