Latest news with #Zeigarnik
RTÉ News
27-05-2025
- General
- RTÉ News
Why your long list of unfinished work tasks takes up so much time
Analysis: Modern work environments mean an ever-growing list of unfinished tasks so what can we do to fix this and reduce stress? You might be familiar with that niggling sense that you have not finished something. It might an email you intended to send before lunch, the meeting notes you promised to circulate, or the project that is edging towards completion. These unfinished tasks often nudge us while we are in the shower, on our commute or lie in bed at night, using valuable cognitive resources that could be spent elsewhere. From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show, Senior Lecturer in Psychology Dr Trudy Meehan on why you should get rid of the to-do list The Zeigarnik Effect has been described as the tendency to remember and fixate on incomplete tasks more than completed ones. In the 1920s, a psychologist called Prof Bluma Zeigarnik observed that waiting staff remembered orders in restaurants much better when the order was unfulfilled. Once the orders were fulfilled, staff no longer remembered the details. She designed a series of experiments to test the phenomenon. Zeigarnik gave participants a series of simple tasks, such as drawing, folding and arithmetic. Some were allowed to finish the tasks and others were interrupted mid-way. Later, she asked participants to recall what they had done. Those who had been interrupted were significantly more likely to remember the details of the unfinished tasks, perhaps due to a cognitive tension that arises when we leave something undone. While the Zeigarnik Effect is intuitively compelling, research findings have been mixed over time. At best, some of us experience the Zeigarnik effect. People with a high need for achievement tend to remember unfinished tasks better, while those low in achievement need show the opposite pattern. People high in need for closure are more comfortable with ambiguity and therefore, unresolved tasks may create more stress for them. From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, workplace psychologist Patricia Murray on why you should say 'no' more at work Modern work environments offer ripe conditions for a long list of unfinished tasks to grow. Digital distractions are hard to ignore. While information is abundant, it is increasingly difficult to filter, verify, or make sense of it. Work can become fragmented as we rapidly switch between tasks. For many of us, the digital distractions, information overload and task fragmentation can stifle progress on more meaningful work tasks requiring sustained energy and attention. As human beings, our ability to pay attention is limited and selective. There is limited (if any) compelling evidence to suggest that we can successfully divide our attention across tasks. Paying attention to reminders (whether our own mental interruptions or digital banners) of unfinished tasks can draw attentional resources that could be used elsewhere. Our working memory system is also limited in capacity and there is a limit with how much information we can keep 'live' in our working memory. Thinking about the content of unfinished tasks could be using up prime mental resources and causing stress. From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, Do you put off simple tasks? You might have errand paralysis However, we can also consider how both workers and leaders can work with, rather than against, these aspects of human psychology. For many of us, it feels great to complete tasks that have been lingering. Practical solutions to achieve this may include breaking larger tasks into smaller incomplete steps and creating "open loops" on the truly important tasks to drive persistence. A daily shutdown ritual, like reviewing your to-do list and mentally 'closing the office', could reduce stress. When reviewing your unfinished task list, you should ask what can I complete quickly, delegate to others or simply delete? Leaders can use progress tracking and check-ins to relieve task-related tension and balance the drive for urgency with psychosocial risks such as reduced wellbeing or occupational burnout (of which emotional exhaustion and perceived inefficacy at work are key aspects). We should reflect on our own experience of unfinished tasks at work, and to consider adopting strategies to work with it - not against it The Zeigarnik effect began with a simple observation of everyday behaviour at work. While many factors influence our cognition, there is an opportunity for us all to reflect on our own experience of unfinished tasks at work, and to consider adopting strategies to work with it, not against it. Zeigarnik herself remained resolute in her pursuit of education, love, and the creation of new knowledge despite the great challenges, interruptions, and losses faced in her own life. As Oliver Burkeman reminds us in Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, our time is finite both in work and in life; so how will you intentionally choose your "unfinished tasks" in both work and personal life domains?
Express Tribune
09-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
A half-built bridge rusts in the rain
The writer is an educationist based in Kasur City. He can be reached at Listen to article Endless beginnings characterise our time. Unfinished tasks cover our lives like digital dust, from the half-read books on our nightstands to the unused gym memberships. Since potential and resources both bless the modern mind, why do so many of us find it difficult to get across the finishing line? The "incompletion epidemic" contends that our general inability to complete what we start is more than just a personal flaw but a structural catastrophe with far-reaching effects. Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik found in the 1920s that waiters remembered unpaid orders better than finished ones – a phenomenon now known as the Zeigarnik effect. Our brains grip onto unfinished tasks, creating mental mess that drives anxiety. Perfectionists quit projects to parry off criticism, whereas procrastinators confuse the relief of procrastination with freedom. The current attention economy is a war on focus. The typical individual looks at their phone 144 times a day, destroying attention. Although society praises "busyness" above conscientious attention, neuroscientist Earl Miller points out that multitasking lowers output by 40%. The outcome is a disposable attitude that undervalues hard fighting. Chronic incompleteness is connected to lower life satisfaction in Dan Ariely's behavioural economics research. The writer who never finishes their manuscript, the student who drops out – these "ghosts" trigger imposter syndrome. In the Bollywood movie Toolsidas Junior, a young boy resolves to take revenge on the nemesis of his father who after having walkovers to the finals of the club snooker championship loses six times to the same rival. With the help of a hardened pro, the boy, after overcoming the curveballs, proves himself a prodigy. But like his father, the boy also has the flaw of not finishing off the decider with aplomb. The maestro locates its reason in the boy's failure to wrap up his routine activities like he never eats up his meals. He asserts: "Start finishing the small things in life. Then, not just blackie, you'll be able to pocket the entire universe." The boy starts polishing off his dinner plate and overcomes his weakness. You would be rightly thinking of the dining etiquette taught by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that one should eat one's meal to the last crumbs. The deserted tasks can cause mental clutter in students. The brain allocates a portion of our short-term memory to unfinished tasks, causing a sense of cognitive tension. This tension manifests as intrusive thoughts, making it challenging to pay attention to the task at hand. Similarly, standardised testing promotes rapid answering, making students avoid sustained inquiry. Psychologist Carol Dweck's research on 'fixed vs growth mindsets' reveals how a fear of inadequacy keeps many trapped in cycles of stagnation. Botched tasks lead to multitasking that causes gradual loss of working memory. Finishing in a distracted planet is a source of mindfulness and happiness. The Zeigarnik effect subjects us to the 'Tyranny of the Shoulds', as described by psychotherapist Karen Horney, in which we compare what we are with what we should be. Tasks forsaken for too long result in rumination or anxiety that dent self-esteem. One who deserts tasks ditches relationships. Without any ulterior motive, he never dedicates himself to anything. He remains in search of lame excuses to shirk commitments. To hold back the truth or counterargument also nurtures in us stifling incompleteness. It might be out of fear of conflict, social pressure or self-preservation; it leads to emotional suffocation which is vented, then, in ugly forms. Incompleteness is not only personal; it's also civic. Political philosopher Francis Fukuyama cautions that quick electoral cycles dissuade politicians from addressing intergenerational problems. In Pakistan, few governments mature to completion. Hence, incompleteness is in our political and national DNA. Laodicean governance spawns public disillusionment and cynicism. When people equate good governance with completion of projects, they downgrade the role of a government from glorifying the country in the comity of nations to mere completion of projects. Such a role is incomplete.
