Zeigarnik effect

Named after Bluma Zeigarnik and central to How to Take Smart Notes’s case for note-taking: open tasks occupy short-term memory until they’re done, which is why unfinished thoughts and tasks are so distracting. The book argues you don’t actually need to finish a task to quiet this effect — writing it down convincingly (so the brain trusts it “will be taken care of”) is enough, which is why systems like David Allen’s Getting Things Done work. The book also flips this: you can deliberately use the effect to your advantage by holding an unanswered question in mind so the brain keeps working on it in the background during unrelated activity (Zeigarnik 1927).

Where this appears

• How To Take Smart Notes