Are you kidding me? That's it? It was just getting good! And now I have to wait a full week to find out what's happening next? Oh, the suffering!
Cliffhangers. The bane of my existence. And now, it's going to feel like there's a splinter in my head that I can't get rid of. At least until the next episode, so that it can repeat all over again. Please remind me not to watch an ongoing Netflix series ever again.
But of course, the producers knows this. They're just leveraging a psychological phenomenon known as the Zeigarnik effect.
Named after psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, it was first described in the early 1920s as the tendency for people to remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones.
You've probably encountered this yourself in your day to day life, aside from the example I shared above.
You're working on a task, only to be interrupted with another one that requires immediate attention. Halfway through, you're being called up to deal with another matter. Spread thin, juggling between multiple unfinished tasks with the consolation of being constantly reminded by them popping up at interval in your mind.
How many did you get done? You have no idea. After all, the mental tension of not finishing what you started due to interruption ensures that it would continue filling up your head space. And it will persist until you eventually complete it.
Although the Zeigarnik effect made it rather unpleasant for me to consume any ongoing Netflix series, that doesn't mean we can't use this effect to our advantage.
If you're trying to memorize or learn something new, introducing momentary interruptions would help you recall information better. Instead of trying to cram it all in one continuous attempt, break it down into multiple sessions. Take a break in between and when you do, go ahead and focus on something else that's unrelated instead.
Don't worry. You will find yourself returning back to where you last left it automatically, whether you like it or not. Like I said before, it is a splinter in the mind indeed. But hey, at least you can recall and retain information better now, right?
That's great and all, but what if all these unfinished tasks are causing you to experience stress and making you lose sleep at night?
What works for me is to clear up my mind by acknowledging that I have unfinished tasks and dumping it all in a separate medium, like a journal or a simple to-do list. I would also set a simple call to action to work on them the next day, at the earliest time possible.
Usually, that's more than enough for my mind to accept it as a resolution and relieve me from the Zeigarnik effect.
With a clear mind, you know what to do next.
Go sleep.
You know you need it.
Quite an insight👌