How can you put the Zeigarnik effect to work for you?

Give it a break

When faced with a challenge, deliberately take a break, change location, get outside, move around, and talk to others. Your subconscious mind will continue working on the task.

Know when to take a break from problem solving. Too soon and your subconscious won’t have enough to work on. Too late and you may be anchored on one solution. The best time to take a break is right after you have defined the problem (as broadly as possible to allow for alternative solutions).

Often, solutions emerge while doing something else. Your first thoughts after a break may offer a fresh look at the problem. Record these first thoughts. I use dictation software to capture a stream of consciousness which I later edit.

Get it out of your mind

Unfinished business tends to pop into our minds at inopportune moments, disrupting our focus. These interruptions are the subconscious mind’s way of asking us to act.

Address this by capturing the unfinished business in writing to get it “out of your mind.” Once the next action is safely recorded in a storage system, you are free to pursue other mental endeavors with less danger of distraction.

Tools such as Microsoft Outlook, To Do, or Notes are extensions of writing. I favor Outlook but you could also write tasks on Post-It Notes. Low tech works as well as high tech. Choreographer Twyla Tharp uses cardboard boxes to manage her tasks—one box per project. The point is to get unfinished business out of your head so that it does not interrupt your workflow.

Cookin’ on the backburner

I also have a backburner folder (literally a folder on my Windows desktop) to store the stuff that I don’t yet know where to file. Thanks to Scott Belsky for this great idea. David Allen calls this the someday/maybe folder. This gets the tasks out of my head while they are still looking for a place to call home. Once a month, I review my backburner folder, filing and tossing tasks.

PS If your backburner folder keeps growing until it looks like it could explode, it may pay to address your procrastination. See Tips for Taming the Procrastination Demon.

References

Allen, D. (2015). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Penguin Books.

Baumeister, R. F., & Tierney, J. M. (2011). Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. Penguin Press.

Belsky, S. (2010). Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality. Penguin.

Tharp, T., & Reiter, M. (2006). The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. Simon and Schuster.

Zeigarnik, B. (1927). Über das Behalten von erledigten und unerledigten Handlungen. Psychologische Forschung, 9(1/2).

Photo CC0, Pxhere