Back for another spoonful? This is Sugar Cereal: the newsletter that makes behavioral psychology taste like a cheat day.
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Let’s chow down! 🥣
send me forget-me-nots 📝
Did you hear about that new app that fights off procrastination? We’ll take a look at it tomorrow (ba-dum-tss 🥁).
Ever lay awake thinking about that task you didn’t finish? If you didn’t, tell us more about your extraterrestrial origins. 🛸
Our (human) brains keep us looping on all the stuff we meant to do, but didn’t. But before you tumble into another guilt spiral, know there’s a reason. Experts even gave it a name: the Zeigarnik Effect.
Back in the 1920s, experimental psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik noticed something odd while people-watching at a café in Vienna. The waiters remembered unpaid orders perfectly, but forgot the paid ones almost immediately.
Turns out, our brains treat unfinished tasks like mental open tabs. They demand more attention, stick longer in memory, and can stress us out even when we’re off the clock. 😫
Even trivial, half-done tasks can create mental noise. When we don’t check that completion box, our unfinished business keeps us up at night.
Want to hack the Zeigarnik Effect instead of falling victim to it? Try this 👇
🎬 Break big tasks into micro-steps.
Even starting part of something creates momentum (and calms the cognitive noise).
📩 End workdays with an "incomplete recap.”
Jot down where you left off so your brain doesn’t keep cycling overnight.
🎤 Storyteller or marketer? Cliffhangers work for a reason.
Unresolved tension keeps people engaged until they get that satisfying resolution.
So yeah…when that unfinished to-do is living rent-free in your brain, don’t get down on yourself. You’re human.
If you’ve got open tabs in your head, start closing them. One messy scribble at a time. 🤸♀️
Like what you see? Don’t miss the next issue! 👇
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