The Zeigarnik Effect

I was doing my monthly reading of a new and interesting way of looking at the world,  and came across the Zeigarnik Effect.  

It's basically about how unfinished tasks keep looping on,  in the back of your mind, and that can make your mind feel cluttered and unable to let go of these unfinished tasks,  whose lack of completion (as opposed to their factual importance) takes up memory and energy in your brain.  

Once you complete something,  your brain can let go of the details and let go of the loop.   So it's not how important the task is,  but how many 'tabs' you have open in your brain. 

This really goes to my list philosophy.  If I have a list,  the page contains the task,  it makes it less overwhelming.  A good list will put things in order - first do a) then b) and now c) is possible.  It gives me some structure and I don't need as much brain energy reminding me,  it's there in the list.  And then,  most importantly,  I tackle the list. 

Completing even small jobs releases memory and bandwidth,  which allows you to move on to the next task cleanly.  If you never complete anything then your brain just keeps looping back,  increasing your anxiety and lessening your bandwidth. 

So don't start doing 15 different things.  Write them down and do them one at a time,  to completion,  and you will feel calmer and more contained.