Tag: zeigarnik

Saturday Snippet Smorgasbord [en]

Another dry spell on the blog, but not in my mind or my intentions. I figured I’d try and challenge myself to do something a little different in terms of format: a list of stuff that’s jostling about in my head, in no particular order, without much explanation, a couple of sentences max for each. Just some stuff. Feels like it should be bullet points, but I’ll try without.

Caved in and bought AirPods, given how much I spent these last years replacing the EarPods I keep breaking because they catch on stuff or I drop my phone. Unintended side-effect: I’m watching more videos on my phone.

Julius has been regressing a little lately, more scared of me and people, scared of coming upstairs. Maybe it’s because I spent a few weeks putting medications in him.

I’m finally figuring out the point of hierarchical keywords in Lightroom. And toying with AnyVision to finally get my 150k+ photos more or less organised (motivation: tagging my cats and my orchids).

I now I have 41 orchids and an outbreak of thrips. Treat every 5-7 days, repeat, repeat, repeat (they lay eggs and start developing inside the leaves).

Something is definitely off since my accident between eyes and inner ear, investigation on track, and moving around less (like being ill for a week) definitely has a positive impact.

The solution to bedtime procrastination should also be searched for in the morning, just like the solution to difficulties in picking up an interrupted task or project should also be addressed at the “stopping” stage.

I love my Multi Counter app. I use it to track symptoms, adherence to habits I’m trying to get into or stick to, life balance, daily energy use or recuperation.

Understanding that when habits or routines are interrupted, they’re not as easy to resume as “pick up where you left off”. You have to approach it as “rebuilding” (though it can of course be accelerated). Assume nothing. Unintended interruptions result in a shift in context. Context is key. Routines evolve.

Try out habits or routines first, start tracking later.

A light antihistamine treatment all year around is definitely doing wonders regarding how often I fall ill. Oh, and when ill, paying very close attention to my nose is the key to less coughing (rincing + nasal spray + anti-inflammatories: remaining decongested has other benefits than just comfort!)

Phalaenopsis leaf width can tell you if they’re getting enough light or not. Also, make sure decorative pots are wide enough that air can circulate freely.

I’ve finally figured out how to prevent my clean laundry from sitting in the basket until the next laundry day two weeks later: book an hour in the calendar on Thursday night to not only pick up the laundry but put it away.

Death by Powerpoint is still a thing. But I’m starting to love the exercise of extracting a key nugget people absolutely need to get and synthesising it into a very clear, easily understandable slide. Understanding a point in the context of a deep, intense conversation does not mean it will stick with you afterwards.

Purging suspended folders containing 20-year-old documents goes much faster and is much more satisfying than I expected.

Trying to figure out how to adapt making a fruit tart in the air fryer. Not quite there yet, though finishing off the last one in the pan to get the pastry nice and cooked was a good move.

I gave my orchids names and stuck them in a Google Sheet. Started tagging them by name in Lightroom and trying to track down individuals to figure out who is who and what their history is (none of them are in bloom right now, and what looks more like a Phalaenopsis than 20 other Phalaenopsis?)

I still haven’t scattered Oscar’s ashes. Or Erica’s for that matter. I feel bad about it, particularly Erica. He should be resting in his garden, not in a little box in my bookcase.

If you need a proper “blackout” eye mask where you can keep your eyes open as an alternative to palming, if your eyes need that kind of rest, check out the “BDSM accessories” section đŸ«Ł

Light Meter app allows you to measure luminosity (useful for plants). Probably not great for absolute measures, but useful to compare relative luminosity of different windows, and to see how it changes dramatically as soon as you back away from the window a little.

I’ve left PAI/LifeOS on the backburner and am back to “just using” normal Claude, and being much less ambitious in what I ask of it.

Water is the number one enemy of skin and nails, said my dermatologist. Washing my hands less (hello, disinfectant gel and nitrile gloves) has done wonders for my breaking nails.

Realising how key the Zeigarnik Effect is in so many aspect of my life that I struggle with. Looking at things through the lens of “open loops” is really changing how I manage certain issues. Amongst other things, I’m working on a “Loop Card” format (in Google Keep) that helps me stop and restart things.

The more time I spend doing a certain activity (caring for my orchids, watching a TV series, tidying, working, whatever) the more difficult it is to stop.

Invisible injury/disability is a bitch. People keep expecting you to do the “brain equivalent” of hobbling another 500m on crutches to the bench over there when the problem is you can’t walk another step and need a place to sit down “here”. Being accepting and actively supporting are not the same thing.

Discourse Workflows are a dream come true for an online community.

Yes Wil, let’s keep blogging. We can reboot the blogosphere, one post at a time.

Reading “Moral Luck” by Thomas Nagel when I was young had a strong impact on me. I’m reluctant to pass moral judgment on others and find the current propensity to label people as “bad” or “toxic” or whatever essentialising qualifier one favours abhorrent. I however don’t seem to be able to get rid of the nasty habit of judging others for “doing it wrong” or “being wrong”, particularly when they double down on it.

I haven’t been doing a good job of eating my veggies these last two weeks.

Books: making my way through the Ruth Galloway series. TV: Grey’s Anatomy, season 20. Podcasts: so many, but check out Cautionary Tales. Music: James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Suzane, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, Asaf Avidan, Myles Smith, Mika, Pomme. Recently discovered Control (Zoe Wees). YouTube musical reaction stuff: The Charismatic Voice, Wings of Pegasus, Justin Hawkins Rides Again. Puzzles: Rosina Wachtmeister and Demelsa Haughton (yikes, just realised I’ve been spelling her name wrong for years, “Damelsa” when it is “Demelsa” 😰 – no wonder I always had trouble looking her up). Guilty pleasure: Graham Norton Show shorts…

The Zeigarnik Effect and Open Loops [en]

[fr] L'effet Zeigarnik, c'est ce qui nous fait finir quelque chose dans lequel on est lancĂ©, ou qui fait qu'on repense Ă  ce qu'on a interrompu pour y revenir. A mon avis, cet effet joue un rĂŽle clĂ© dans ce qui nous attire encore et encore Ă  retourner sur Facebook ou autre: en prenant part dans des communautĂ©s et rĂ©seaux en ligne, on met en marche toutes sortes de choses dont on veut voir l'aboutissement. J'ai postĂ© un lien, la chaĂźne d'actions logique est ensuite que des gens vont liker, commenter et partager. Il y aura peut-ĂȘtre une rĂ©ponse Ă  donner, ou tout du moins, je veux "suivre" pour savoir comment ça fini. Les conversations en ligne, idem: il y a toujours quelque chose qui se passe dans un chat, la discussion ne se termine jamais.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon the Zeigarnik Effect. It is the effect that prevents us from interrupting our teeth-brushing in the middle. Once we’ve started, we feel a need to keep going. It’s really useful.

For me, it was a missing piece of the puzzle that fitted nicely alongside the idea of GTD’s “open loops”. If you have to interrupt something before you’re done with it or the task is completely, the Zeigarnik Effect will make sure your brain nags you about it.

It explains why it’s important to “just get started” or “just do something”. It also explains why having a lot of ongoing stuff in parallel is stressful.

While I’ve been writing this post, I’ve given myself a wonderful demonstration of the Zeigarnik Effect in action. You see, I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d heard about it. I’m pretty sure it’s in one of James Clear‘s posts, because it’s definitely the kind of thing that he writes about, but I’m not 100% certain.

I can remember the context: for a given task, there is a kind of “tipping point” where the Zeigarnik Effect kicks in, and you finish what you’ve started. Knowing where that point is comes in really handy for getting things done rather than just thinking about how we’re not doing them. I remember the example clearly: for flossing, the “tipping point” or “trigger” in question was when he’d torn the piece of floss off the roll.

I’ve just spent… oh, I don’t even dare tell you… way too much time trying to find that article so I could link to it. I found plenty about flossing and the Zeigarnik effect. The worst is that I already spent way too much time trying to dig out that source when preparing a mini-workshop on “time/task management” I gave two months back. And didn’t find it.

You know the irony? I just stumbled upon the article in question! It wasn’t James Clear after all. And you know the funny bit? I thought I’d add a link to a Google search in the above paragraph. Just to show you how much stuff about Zeigarnik and floss I had waded through. To my surprise, many of the links there were not those I had been wading through an hour ago. Maybe I only searched in specific places where I thought the article was, like Clear’s blog. Anyway. I have it! Incredible!

The reason I went down that rabbit-hole was because it was an “unfinished task”. And the more time I spent trying to “finish” it, the stronger my urge to keep going became. Typical, right?

And here we go again: while looking up some old articles of mine, I remembered that the markdown plugin wasn’t working on the new server. I had to hold myself back from downloading and installing it. It would have meant interrupting the writing of this blog post, though, so I guess that is what just saved me. But now I have this nagging “open loop” in a corner of my mind.

(Bear with me while I add it to my running list of things that need to be done so I can stop thinking about it.)

(Oops, while I was there, I quickly checked a spreadsheet to see if there were any new sign-ups for my next workshop. There weren’t. Do I leave the form open or close it now?)

As you can see, there is a clear link here to multitasking, procrastination, and the general feeling of “not enough brain space” that I have a times. It also makes me think about how when I start something, I have a lot of trouble stopping. Hypertrophied Zeigarnik Effect?

Today — and this is what prompted this post — I suddenly realised that the Zeigarnik Effect played an important part in dragging me back to my computer, or my phone (home to Facebook and Google Plus). By participating in online communities and networks (sounds better than “social media” doesn’t it? more human?) I set things in motion that do not end.

An online conversation is never-ending. There are always people in the chatroom. I post a link, it will be interesting to see who likes, comments, or shares it. I stumble upon interesting articles that need to be read.

My time on my phone or my computer is spent creating innumerable open loops that I am then desperate to close, while at the same time opening yet others that will also have to be closed. Whack-a-mole.

It feels like my “tipping point” for feeling the urge to finish something (or at least dive in) is ridiculously early. Am I mixing two things up here? Do we still speak of the Zeigarnik Effect when a task has not actually been started? Is thinking about doing it sufficient in some cases to “initiate” it?

So here’s my next mission: taming my open loops. I can’t remove them, but I can learn to live with them better.

(This was originally the title to this post, but given I’m not sure how I’m going to do that it seemed a little misleading.)

Before writing this post, I googled for “open loops social media” and other related searches, and I now have about a dozen articles to read about “compulsion loops” and the inevitable “social media addiction” (disclaimer: I’m not convinced it is correct to speak about “addiction” in this context). I’ll probably have more to write on the topic… if I manage to get around to reading them. 😉