Often unfinished tasks hold more mental power than completed goals

In the 1920s, psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik observed that waiters remembering complex orders kept them in mind until the bill was paid. As soon as the transaction closed, the details vanished. Psychologists later called this the Zeigarnik effect: incomplete tasks occupy more mental space than completed ones.

Imagine a student, Priya, juggling multiple assignments. A half-written essay loops through her thoughts even while she’s trying to relax. Her phone buzzes, a dishwasher hums, and her mind drifts back to that paragraph she never finished. That mental tug is her brain signaling an open loop. By consciously listing those pending tasks, Priya outsources the reminders to paper—freeing cognitive bandwidth.

In one experiment, people who wrote down their unfinished errands slept faster than those who didn’t. The act of capturing tasks reduces rumination and anxiety. By dedicating a focused block to one task and then marking it complete or planning a next step, you harness that lingering tension into momentum.

The principle is clear: your mind craves closure. Use it to your advantage by externalizing open loops, scheduling next actions, and freeing your brain to focus on what truly matters.

First, jot down every project you’ve left undone, from emails to larger goals. Next, pick the most valuable one and set aside a solid twenty minutes to work on it. After that session, either finish it or schedule your next step so your mind can let it go. By capturing open loops and closing them deliberately, you transfer mental weight onto your to-do list and reclaim your focus.