updated 3mo ago
Ovsiankina effect
The concept of a shutdown ritual might at first seem extreme, but there’s a good reason for it: the Zeigarnik effect. This effect, which is named for the experimental work of the early-twentieth-century psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, describes the ability of incomplete tasks to dominate our attention. It tells us that if you simply stop whatever you
... See morefrom Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
the Zeigarnik effect
By delaying the task of fleshing out and firming up the speech, King allowed Jones to benefit from the Zeigarnik effect. In 1927, Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik demonstrated that people have a better memory for incomplete than complete tasks. (Page 99)
from Originals – Adam Grant by Adam Grant
Jennifer Baez and added
But thanks to Zeigarnik’s follow-up research, we also know that we don’t actually have to finish tasks to convince our brains to stop thinking about them. All we have to do is to write them down in a way that convinces us that it will be taken
from How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens