Let me pose 2 seemingly unrelated questions:
What do these questions have in common, you might ask, besides the procrastination being on occasion the direct effect of binge-watching TV?!
- Do you ever procrastinate?
- Do cliffhanger endings in TV shows make you impatient to see the next episode?
What do these questions have in common, you might ask, besides the procrastination being on occasion the direct effect of binge-watching TV?!
Enter
the Zeigarnik Effect! A psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik developed a theory in the
1920s that we tend to remember incomplete tasks better than completed ones. She
observed that waiters in a restaurant were able to keep track of orders and
unpaid bills but could not recall the information after the bills were paid. She
then did several lab experiments to support her hypothesis. Later studies were mixed in terms of replicating this effect.
For
me, the Zeigarnik Effect does seem to hold true. Incomplete tasks loom
much larger in my mind than the ones I have crossed off my list. Maybe the
brain encodes unfinished business differently. Maybe the mind literally just
gets “stuck.”
How
do we get un-stuck? How do we learn to procrastinate less? This is what works
for me:
1) Make a list and break a large task into smaller steps - then it will not seem that intimidating.
1) Make a list and break a large task into smaller steps - then it will not seem that intimidating.
2) Just start. Do one thing
and not only you will be a bit closer to completion, you might actually find
your flow!
3) Take breaks. Some studies
suggest that interrupting your work will make you mentally return to the unfinished
task.
Sources:
- https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/procrastinating-how-to-stop-zeigarnik-effect-phenomenon-at-work-now-a8247076.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeigarnik_effect
What did you think? Drop me a line!
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