Top Weapon to Outsmart Procrastination When Facing a Big Task
This one mind trick will keep you going: How Understanding Psychology Can Combat Procrastination
This one mind trick will keep you going: How Understanding Psychology Can Combat Procrastination
Each year, when I have to do my taxes, I do anything but my taxes. I clean the house, organise my office... you get the idea. It is insane. I’ve done this for as long as I can remember.
This year was different! I had read the book How to Take Smart Notes by Soenke Ahrens and stumbled upon a phenomenon called the Zeigarnik Effect. It felt like I found the secret to stopping me from procrastinating!
This year, I did my taxes within a day. All I had to do was exploit this phenomenon.
Today I want to share with you what I found out, how I implemented it, and how you can use it as well.
The Zeigarnik Effect: How Unfinished Tasks Dominate Our Minds
Named after Lithuanian-Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, the effect happens when a task is interrupted. It leads to it being more easily recalled later. We tend to remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
Like an open loop, it…