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#experiment #task-management #motivation
Couple of days ago I saw a concept which caught my attention: open loops. After reading about it I had a chain of thought that needed some experimentation.
Open loops & Cliffhangers → Zeigarnik Effect → Using this to improve focus & productivity. Let’s start.
An open loop is an unfinished action, something left incomplete that keeps tugging at your mind. Writers and TV shows use this trick constantly.
Cliffhangers are a type of open loop designed to create suspense. A TV show ending on a dramatic twist is an open loop, but so is pausing mid-episode—except one is about tension, and the other is about your brain craving closure.
And here’s the kicker: The reason open loops stick in your head is because of the Zeigarnik Effect.
The Zeigarnik Effect is a psychological phenomenon where individuals remember incomplete or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. This effect was first observed by Lithuanian-Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik in the 1920s. She noticed that waiters could recall orders only as long as they were incomplete; once served, the details faded from memory (Wiki).
Examples:
✅ A waiter remembers unpaid orders but forgets them once the check is settled.
✅ You keep thinking about an unfinished email, but once sent, it fades from memory.
✅ You paused a podcast halfway through and find yourself mentally replaying it later.
This happens because unfinished tasks create mental tension and our brain holds onto incomplete information, keeping it active until it’s resolved.
Note to future self: Wiki says “The Zeigarnik effect should not be confused with the Ovsiankina effect.” So, what’s the difference? Another rabbit hole to dive into later.
And here’s where I realized something: This might explain why, for YEARS, the movie Tank Girl haunted me.
Memory unlocked: I was maybe 9 or 10 when I started watching Tank Girl. Then boom—bedtime. I didn’t get to finish it, and for 11 years, it lived rent-free in my head. I remembered the scenes, the feeling, but not the name. Then one day, I saw a concert poster with Tank Girl on it. I screamed. My friend looked at me like I’d lost it. That night, we finally watched it together. Sweet, sweet closure.
I thought I was onto something groundbreaking—leaving tasks unfinished to make them easier to come back to. Then I found out this has been a productivity trick for ages. Clever me 🤓. See this ADDitude article.
Still, I decided to experiment:
🔹 Cleaning: Start cleaning home but leave some parts undone → Idea is that you’ll naturally want to finish it later.
🔹 Exercise: Do half of your exercise (say 10 min) → You’ll feel an urge to complete the other 10 minutes later.
🔹 Reading: Stop mid-sentence instead of at a chapter break → Your brain will pull you back.
The result? I would have loved to say I finished more tasks, with less dread—but I can’t. What I can say is that this method definitely got me going. The overwhelming dread before starting a task dissipated.
However, the Zeigarnik Effect might not always be helpful for someone with ADHD.
For those with ADHD, the Zeigarnik Effect can be both a motivator and a source of stress. By understanding how it works and adopting strategies to manage it, individuals with ADHD can turn this psychological quirk from a source of frustration into a tool for productivity. ADHD Time
Here are some tricks I try to make tasks feel less overwhelming:
🔸 Task Segmentation: Break big tasks into unfinished chunks. So my brain will want to return. (And, oh how lovely it is to check boxes for done tasks ✅)
🔸 Playful Interruptions: Add a fun, random element to make things less rigid.
Note to future self: I need to explore playful interruptions more. For example, should I try writing a work email in the voice of a pirate? Then take a break, get coffee, come back and hit “send.” Nooo, arrrrgh. 🏴☠️
📌 The Zeigarnik Effect Explained — Psychology Today
📌 Zeigarnik Effect & ADHD — ADDitude Magazine
📌 Video: How Unfinished Tasks Affect Your Brain
