The Psychology Behind Why You Feel Overwhelmed All the Time

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 00:00

You know how having too many open Chrome tabs bogs down your computer? The same happens to our brains. Unfinished tasks keep running in the background. It's called the Zeigarnik effect. Here's what it is and what to do about it.

So the Zeigarnik effect was originally named after Dr. Bluma Zeigarnik. While sitting in a busy restaurant in Vienna, she noticed that the waiters had better memories for the unpaid orders versus the paid orders. Once the bill was paid, they struggled to remember the exact details of that order. But why? See, our brains are wired to remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones.

Like a to-do list, once you finish a task, your brain checks it off the list to free up mental bandwidth. So the more unfinished tasks, the more resources our brains dedicate to keeping track of it. Storytellers leverage the Zeigarnik effect by using cliffhangers. We keep reading or watching to find out what happens next, because our brains are driven to seek closure. Once resolved, we can forget it and move on. Until then,

we lean in with wrapped attention. This is another reason why blocking uninterrupted time for deep work is super important. What most people call multitasking is what psychologists call task switching. And the Zeigarnik effect is one reason we suck at it. Because when we're doing something and we get interrupted, our brain keeps that tab open, draining our CPU. Versus if we do one thing fully to completion,

our brains can check it off and move on. But if we're constantly trying to keep up with multiple things at the same time, each of these is a different tab in our brain. Perfectionists struggle with anxiety from obsessing over details and having unrealistic expectations, AKA they're drowning in unfinished tasks. So the Zeigarnik Effect keeps their brains bogged down, poorly focused and stressed out because they can't let things go. The Zeigarnik Effect is one reason why a lot of us struggle

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 02:26

to get to sleep. Because for many of us, bedtime is the one time where we're not surrounded with distractions. So our brain goes into overdrive, refreshing and resurfacing all the tabs we've kept open throughout the day. Here are two simple strategies to combat the Zeigarnik effect if your brain is constantly bogged down. The first is to switch from a to-do list to what I call a needle movers list. To-do lists are never ending. Like fighting a hydra,

for every one task you complete to rise in its place. A needle movers list on the other hand, only has the one to three highest leverage tasks to complete that day. You basically ask if I could get nothing else done today, but one to three things. What one to three things would move the needle the furthest toward making progress on my long-term goals? The most important things. A needle movers list is way easier to remember, to track,

and to complete because it'll fit on a post-it note. The second thing, you can build a second brain, right? Tiago Forte talks a lot about this. Definitely check out his channel and his book if you're curious. But basically a second brain is just like a digital repository or archive of the things you don't want to forget because the more tasks and information you can offload, the fewer your brain will have to constantly monitor and keep up with. You don't build a second brain so you can remember.

you build a second brain so that you can forget. Think of it like this, if you have an idea for a piece of content, but you can't write it down for some reason, your brain is gonna constantly rehash it over and over and over again because you don't want to forget it. That is going to take up so much mental bandwidth that is going to mean you have less mental bandwidth to dedicate toward any other task you're trying to do. But as soon as you write those ideas down into,

notion or whatever your note taking second brain of choice is, as soon as you write that down, your brain is freed up to then focus on the task at hand. You don't have to worry about remembering it because you wrote it down. You can go back to it when you're ready to. The Zygernic Effect unintentionally forces our brain to dedicate more memory and attention to unfinished tasks. So if you want to improve your focus and free up your memory, minimize and offload

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 04:48

unfinished tasks. Let me know in the comments below, how has the Zygernic effect shown up in your life and what is your strategy moving forward to overcome it? If you want more deep dives into psychology, online business, and content creation, consider checking out the Critter Alchemy newsletter. New issues go out each week and it's completely free to join. Check out the link in the description for more. Until next time, take it easy.