Podcast appearances and mentions of bluma zeigarnik

Are you intrigued by this week's title? That title is called a hook. A hook is something that gets your attention because it opens a loop in your brain, and gets you to keep reading/watching/listening until that loop is closed. Why do certain reels on Instagram get you to pause and watch them through? Because there is text or video or something that hooks you in by opening that loop in your brain. This little-known psychological phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik effect, coined by Dr. Bluma Zeigarnik.  This is why every episode of a good show ends in a cliffhanger. (It's why I'm really angry with the author of the Fourth Wing series… leaving every book with a cliffhanger.) It's also the same reason why many high-performing women find themselves overwhelmed quickly when making changes in their health and fitness. These women are giving their all in every area, but just like your computer only has so much RAM and you can only have so many tabs open before it slows down, you can only do so many things before your executive function (the “management system” of your brain) gets taxed. Add in stress, poor sleep, anxiety (all common symptoms of hormone imbalances) and your executive function is even more limited. The Zeigarnik effect states ''Our minds quickly forget finished tasks. However, they are programmed to continually interrupt us with reminders of unfinished tasks.” In other words, the Zeigarnik effect causes you to have lingering thoughts about the to-do's you haven't done, the deliverables you have yet to finish because your brain is looking for closure. We can hack this effect (the same way I've hacked netflix by pausing episodes in the lull instead of finishing the episode) by reducing cognitive overload. So how do we do that when we have a million priorities? In this episode, I'm going to share with you 4 key ways and strategies to mitigate the Zeigarnik effect that is causing you a lot of overwhelm and stress when it comes to your health and fitness goals. Let us know your biggest takeaway from this episode! Time Stamps: (1:15) Intrigued By This Week's Title? (2:27) The Concept of Hooks (7:32) Why This Effect Exists (15:14) #1: Top 3 Priorities (18:06) #2: Consistency (28:35) #3: Chucking 2 Minute Tasks (33:27) #4: Mind Management (37:34) You Once Prayed For These Tasks (42:55) The Power of Breath Work (45:25) Please Share with A Friend---------------------Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation. ---------------------Download Our FREE Metabolism-Boosting Workout Program---------------------Join the Women's Metabolism Secrets Facebook Community for 25+ videos teaching you how to start losing fat without hating your life!---------------------Click here to send me a message on Facebook and we'll see how I can help or what best free resources I can share!---------------------Interested in 1-on-1 Coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts? Apply Here!---------------------Check out our Youtube Channel!---------------------Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

Hai mai finito la giornata con la sensazione che qualcosa sia rimasto "in sospeso"?Un messaggio senza risposta, un progetto non concluso, una discussione lasciata a metà? Ti sei mai chiesto perché questi pensieri continuano a pesare sulle nostre serate, perfino sulle nostre notti?L'episodio di area d'Impatto dio questa settimana esplora un l'Effetto Zeigarnik: la tendenza della mente a ricordare ciò che non è stato portato a termine. Scoperto quasi un secolo fa dalla psicologa Bluma Zeigarnik, questo effetto ci dice molto su come funziona il nostro cervello... e su come possiamo gestirlo.

What's the best way to carry out random acts of kindness? What's wrong with making an “Irish exit”? And why is Mike secretly buying lottery tickets? SOURCES:Roy Baumeister, social psychologist and visiting scholar at Harvard University.Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University.John Gottman, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington.Kurt Lewin, 20th-century German-American psychologist.E. J. Masicampo, professor of psychology at Wake Forest University.Timothy Wilson, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.Bluma Zeigarnik, 20th-century Soviet psychologist. RESOURCES:"Life and Work of the Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik," by M. Marco (Neurosciences and History, 2018)."Why We Need Answers," by Maria Konnikova (The New Yorker, 2013)."Consider It Done! Plan Making Can Eliminate the Cognitive Effects of Unfulfilled Goals," by E. J. Masicampo and Roy Baumeister (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011).The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples, by John Gottman (2011)."'Let Me Dream On!' Anticipatory Emotions and Preference for Timing in Lotteries," by Martin Kocher, Michal Krawczyk, and Frans van Winden (Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper, 2009)."Explaining Away: A Model of Affective Adaptation," by Timothy Wilson and Daniel Gilbert (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2008)."On Finished and Unfinished Tasks," by Bluma Zeigarnik (A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology, 1938). EXTRAS:Big Five Personality Inventory, by No Stupid Questions (2024)."Can We Disagree Better?" by No Stupid Questions (2023)."Would You Be Happier if You Were More Creative?" by No Stupid Questions (2023)."How Can You Be Kinder to Yourself?" by No Stupid Questions (2023)."What's Wrong With Holding a Grudge?" by No Stupid Questions (2022).Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinelli (1991).

Earth shattering news fam: the Perfect Moment IS A REAL THING. It's really about the present becuase other than that, you're waste time "training to train," or preparing to start. Just Start. Figure life out as it was intended - as it unfolds before you in the time gap called RIGHT NOW. Let's breakdown these 8 concepts that prevent you from moving on your now goals.   The "Perfect" Moment Concept Procrastination and Its Consequences: Evidence: Psychological studies, including research by Piers Steel, highlight the negative impact of procrastination on goal achievement. Waiting for the 'perfect' moment often leads to unnecessary delays and missed opportunities, hindering overall success. The Zeigarnik Effect: Evidence: The Zeigarnik Effect, studied by psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, suggests that incomplete tasks tend to occupy more mental space than completed ones. Waiting for the 'perfect' moment creates an ongoing mental load, contributing to stress and anxiety. Action Bias and Decision-Making: Evidence: Behavioral economics research, such as the work of Amos Tversky and Eldar Shafir, indicates that individuals often prefer taking action over inaction. Waiting for the 'perfect' moment can lead to decision paralysis, hindering the benefits associated with proactive behavior. The Progress Principle: Evidence: Teresa Amabile's Progress Principle suggests that small wins and daily progress contribute significantly to motivation and well-being. Waiting for perfection overlooks the value of continuous progress, impacting overall satisfaction and goal attainment. Neuroscience of Procrastination: Evidence: Neuroscientific studies, like those by Timothy Pychyl, reveal that procrastination involves a struggle between the brain's limbic system (associated with emotions) and the prefrontal cortex (responsible for decision-making). Waiting for the 'perfect' moment engages this internal conflict, leading to delays. Learning Through Imperfection: Evidence: Carol Dweck's research on fixed and growth mindsets emphasizes the importance of viewing challenges as opportunities for growth. Waiting for perfection reflects a fixed mindset, while embracing imperfection aligns with a growth mindset, fostering resilience and adaptability. Decision Regret and Perfection: Evidence: Studies on decision regret, such as those by Daniel Kahneman, highlight that individuals often regret inaction more than imperfect actions. Waiting for perfection can lead to prolonged inaction, resulting in greater potential for regret. Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: Evidence: Research on implementation intentions by Peter Gollwitzer suggests that specifying when and where a behavior will occur increases the likelihood of goal attainment. Waiting for the 'perfect' moment neglects the power of intentional planning and execution.   Procrastination Impact: Research by psychologist Piers Steel suggests that procrastination affects approximately 20% of the population chronically and up to 70-95% at some point in their lives. Waiting for the 'perfect' moment contributes to procrastination, impacting a significant portion of individuals. Decision Regret: Studies on decision regret, as conducted by psychologists like Daniel Kahneman, indicate that people tend to regret inaction more than action. Waiting for the 'perfect' moment may lead to greater decision regret, emphasizing the importance of taking action even if it's imperfect. Implementation Intentions: Research by Peter Gollwitzer on implementation intentions shows that setting specific plans for goal implementation increases the likelihood of goal attainment by about 50%. Waiting for the 'perfect' moment may decrease the effectiveness of implementation intentions, potentially hindering goal achievement.

In this episode lalitha explains how she was impacted by a forward from WhatsApp about  Zeigarnik effect. In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect (ZE), named after Lithuanian-Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, occurs when an activity that has been interrupted may be more readily recalled.  Then she goes on to explain how she made use ZE to her advantage by following 3 easy and simple steps to overcome procrastination to write an article and encourages her audience to try there three steps Thank you for listening and reading Link to the article https://medium.com/explore-your-magnificent-self/does-unfinished-task-bother-you-if-yes-it-is-a-good-memory-stimulator-and-you-must-read-this-433387ca2a40 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lalitha289/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lalitha289/support

In a special episode of No Stupid Questions, Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughan talk about unfinished tasks, recurring arguments, and Irish goodbyes. SOURCES:Roy Baumeister, social psychologist and visiting scholar at Harvard University.Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University.John Gottman, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington.Kurt Lewin, 20th-century German-American psychologist.E. J. Masicampo, professor of psychology at Wake Forest University.Timothy Wilson, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.Bluma Zeigarnik, 20th-century Soviet psychologist. RESOURCES:"Life and Work of the Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik," by M. Marco (Neurosciences and History, 2018)."Why We Need Answers," by Maria Konnikova (The New Yorker, 2013)."Consider It Done! Plan Making Can Eliminate the Cognitive Effects of Unfulfilled Goals," by E. J. Masicampo and Roy Baumeister (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011).The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples, by John Gottman (2011)."'Let Me Dream On!' Anticipatory Emotions and Preference for Timing in Lotteries," by Martin Kocher, Michal Krawczyk, and Frans van Winden (Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper, 2009)."Explaining Away: A Model of Affective Adaptation," by Timothy Wilson and Daniel Gilbert (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2008)."On Finished and Unfinished Tasks," by Bluma Zeigarnik (A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology, 1938). EXTRAS:"What's Wrong With Holding a Grudge?" by No Stupid Questions (2022).Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch,  by Eileen Spinelli (1991).

Im Jahr 1927 hat eine russische Psychologin eine bemerkenswerte Eigenschaft des menschlichen Gehirns entdeckt: Den Zeigarnik-Effekt. Dieser Effekt besagt, dass Menschen sich (deutlich) besser an unvollendete Aufgaben als an abgeschlossene erinnern. Dieses Phänomen ist ein zweischneidiges Schwert. Es kann deine Produktivität beflügeln - oder zerstören. Mehr dazu erfährst du in dieser Folge. Show Notes: >> Crashkurs Intrapreneurship: mentorwerk.de/mentornotes >> Kostenloser Live-Workshop: mentorwerk.de/live >> Tim Schmaddebeck auf LinkedIn ansehen: Hier klicken >> Buchempfehlungen: mentorwerk.de/buecher Stichworte zur Folge: Zeigarnik-Effekt, Gedächtnisverbesserung, Bluma Zeigarnik, Produktivität, Stressabbau, kognitive Prozesse, Erinnerungsvermögen, unvollendete Aufgaben, Lernen, Kreativität, Hemingway-Methode, Prokrastination, Schreibblockade, Shutdown Routine, To-Do-Liste, Second Brain, Motivation, Prüfungen, Training, kreative Projekte, Gehirn, Aufmerksamkeit, Informationsflut, Gedächtnis

Transcript: Joe Krebs 0:20 Today I'm here with Staffan Noeteberg, who is the author of two books that is mono tasking that was released in 2020. And a little bit earlier, Pomodoro technique illustrated, I believe it was in 2011 that was forwarded by the one of the creators of the Pomodoro Technique, Francesco Cirillo and Henrik Kniberg. So what we have here with Staffan is a person that is very well connected with the Agile community as well as it is super interesting topic of mono tasking, what we want to talk about today, he's an Agile coach. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as in Istanbul, Turkey. If I'm informed here correctly, he has trained 1000s of people on improving their personal productivity. He has sold over 700,000 copies of his book. I'm super thrilled to have you on the podcast. Thank you for being here.Staffan Nöteberg 1:22 Thank you for having me. Joe Krebs 1:23 Yeah, this is this is awesome. We want to talk today really about mono tasking, that is that is obviously your latest book. And we want to connect a few dots because this could be super interesting for everybody listening to this podcast today from two angles. One of them is individually improving productivity as a as a person you know, in everyday life situations as well as professionally at work. But also how we can connect mono tasking maybe to agile teams and agile roles, maybe we can touch on that as well. So I think these are the two angles we want to explore here a little bit today. Mono as part of that title, if I go back in times and I'm like just thinking about audio mono was something that I would now relate with something negative right mono is like it's simple and and everything we're like all thinking about stereo at this point Dolby Stereo. Using mono in terms of tasking is something for the future. What is mono tasking, Staffan? Joe Krebs 2:30 It is interested that you mentioned that mono mono is something negative, because I think that the in job ads maybe 10 years ago, 20 years ago, there were often the demand for people that were they were looking for property property that said you you can juggle many balls at the same time, that's where our, that's what we're looking for. And nowadays, maybe they say you should be able to finish something to complete something. And that's and in order to do that maybe you shouldn't stop so many things and all these Kanban things that has been popular now for 20 years in software industry is very much about this stop starting and start finishing. So weekly meats and things like that, but I mean the mono tasking method then came out I wrote this Pomodoro technique book which is a personal productivity method. It's a particular concern about focusing on focusing. So, how do you really focus but I wanted to see this broader and I read many many personal productivity books and I think most of them almost everyone or almost none of them consider complexity and cohesion. I will explain what I mean by cohesion they like these books are often create order these books this these methods these processes are often made by engineers people like like you and me programmers or software engineers and the idea in them is often to like keep a list or multiple lists of in like in shipshape and Bristol fashion, you say ship ship in Bristol fashion in the US, or is that a British idiom?Joe Krebs 3:36 Which one is that?Staffan Nöteberg 4:28 Ship shape and Bristol fashion is one of my favorite idioms. We are doing everything under control and everything. We need to add the unit at the link in the show notes. Joe Krebs 4:51 We will definitely be in the data link for that. Yes.Staffan Nöteberg 4:53 Yeah. So so the idea of most personal productivity method is to have a lot of lists and they should be be perfect all the time. And they should contain a lot of ideas, everything that you you plan to do and why you're doing it. And so, and then there's the processes are often kind of, if else logic. So, if this happened to that, if that happened if this, but they are, I mean, that may work for you and me and other engineers, but for most people, it demands too much discipline. And it doesn't really accept that there are humans that are willing to use these methods, I wanted to create something that is more creative and more suitable for humans. So it's not like you're a silo, and you are fed from the top with the new tasks, and you work on them, and you complete them and just throw them out. Because there is some cohesion, you have your co-workers and, your teammates, and you have your stakeholders, your your product managers, you have your customers, and all these people, they change the mind, sometimes sometimes they say they want something. But they changed, they changed the mind, or they didn't explain it in a way that you understood, really started to do something else. So it's not really only about taking it as completing it. And doing that as fast as possible. And with the highest quality. It's more like you're putting in a big ecosystem. And you need to manage within that ecosystem. And I think that in that way, if you think of personal productivity in that way, it can be hard to have, like saying that you should do exactly like this, and exact like that maybe we should think more in arranging your environment and your circumstances, to have the best the best possibilities to succeed. So I started to read a lot of books and papers about what science says about human cognition, and evolutionary psychology and so on, I tried to create a method, which is little bit different from other methods that like embraces the human intuition and the human cognition and human heuristics, so that you don't have to maintain your there, you don't have to maintain all this list and doing all this documentation, and instead can use your intuition and in most cases, do the correct choices anyway, because we as humans are very good in this complexity, if we use our intuition to see what is most important than what what is not most important.Joe Krebs 7:52 Right? So it's interesting, right? So first and foremost, I'm thrilled to hear that I'm not the only one who experiences stakeholders changing their minds on things. So I'm kidding. Obviously, I think this is a, this is a huge problem in our, in our, you know, work in general, I think that's typical. But it's also fascinating what I've heard, I don't know if you would second that is that humans are pretty much incapable of multitasking. Right? So it's some basic things we can do. We can walk and talk at the same time, or I don't think that's going to cause a conflict. But we cannot work on two different kinds of systems at the same time, that causes a conflict, obviously. And that's where we're transitioning. So you're saying already with mono tasking, you're saying like, work with a reduced list of task, right? I believe you were mentioning something about like five shortlist or something like that, or like five items, or five tasks or something. And why is that? Why is why is the list? Short? We're not saying we're working on five items at the same time, right? We're just saying there's a list of five items. Where, Why? Why the number five? And why is it so short? Or why does the list exists? What What's your reasoning behind it? I'm just curious.Staffan Nöteberg 9:12 So you're right about multitasking that most people we cannot multitask if you don't have to pay attention to things like breathing and work at same time. But most people can't pay attention to more than one thing. And when we think that we are doing that, like we're listening to lecture and we're taking notes, were actually task switching. So we're switching back and forth. And when we're task switching, we make more errors, science shows and researchers and we're slower and we forget about good ideas. And in general, it's not the best way to complete things from what we learned in Lean, for example, when we're doing many things and so one one idea here in the book is our in this method is the shortlist as you mentioned, and the shortlist is like, in the morning, from the top of your head, write down five things on a paper on the piece of paper, instead of looking at your, you know, in, in my trainings, I am an exercise where we're asked people to, to, to write down every source of tasks that they have. And they think less about them and say, I have some things in my brain, I have something in my email inbox, I have some things in Trello. And I have some things in JIRA, I have some things on my refrigerator, and I have some post it's on my display. And there's a lot of sources of all these tasks. And then the next step is to look at all these and say, roughly how many tasks do I have in each of these. And usually, it aggregates to something between 80 and 200. So like, if you have 200 tasks there, if you have 100 tasks, it's impossible to make a prioritization to choose the best one because you can think about 100 tasks at the same time and see which one of these is most important right now. So instead, when you start morning, write down maximum five tasks on a piece of paper in front of you. Maximum five, and these are small tasks, so they should estimate them. If you estimate roughly you don't have to write down, it should not be things that takes more than two hours or something like that should be things that the tasks that take 10 minutes, two hours, some something in this, if they're bigger than YouTube, break something out and put them on on your list. And this is not the plan. It's not a competition or some kind of gamification, so that this is the sort of fight that I'm doing to complete today. It's more like moving away the tension of of gamification, instead of saying, These are my five candidates for my next, the one I'm going to pay attention to next, right, and then you don't have to think about anything else, all the other 100 tasks that you have promised someone or that you have thought about that you pressed you do. So because you have in front of you only these five, five is not magic, of course, but five is, is a number that usually we can look at five things and maybe compare them together. If it comes to 6, 7, 8, 9, then we have to make to look at some of them. So maybe you should have have have less than five, but not not more than five, I believe for most people. Yeah. And then then you pick one of these and say, I'm going to focus on this one. And you set an alarm, maybe to the next hour or something like that, to remind you to not stay too long, because maybe when you have worked with at one after an hour, you need to take a break or maybe you should reprioritize because he didn't believe that this was this was going to take this long time that that it took so you need some alarm to wake you up and then use your stop focus on on that that single task. And during the day if if something comes up, you get a new idea, either either you should write it down and put it somewhere else. Or you need to trade away something from your shortlist. You should never have more than five things on your on your shortlist. And this this many people try this and say it works for some people doesn't work but you need to you need to try yourself and be you know you we are different. So it might not be suitable for everyone.Joe Krebs 14:04 But I think you just answered my next question. I just want to clarify because that is the bridge to my next topic about agility here is so that the list is maximum five, right? Let's say this as a as a number here to work with, right? What would happen if like that stakeholder out there changes his mind and there would be a sixth item or a seventh item, because there is the risk that the list is going to grow. So you're saying like keep it at five, right? Something has to go from there. Yep. Just to keep it manageable,Staffan Nöteberg 14:35 maximum five, maybe have completed something so you'll have four three. Okay. And of course, these numbers are heuristics. You can use any number but it's good to put the limit and see how much but five is a good starting number. According to me at least.Joe Krebs 14:54 Yeah, there is also in your book. I don't I don't know the from the top of my head. Add, I don't know the exact details here right now. But you also have some advice on the time-boxing, right? How much time would be dedicated to these tasks. So let's say you're starting a task, let's say at 10.25am. In the morning, that timer would be set to 11 o'clock or something like that, right? So there's some some concrete advice at your book. But the time box is relatively manageable and short too right?. So it's short working increments before you take a break. Staffan Nöteberg 15:24 Yeah, a break or reprioritize, you looked at your shortlist again, and see, should I continue with this one? Or do that? One, do something else, maybe because I completed that one, or maybe something else became more prioritized. But you trust during that period that time box, your trust, your prioritization, I think that you shouldn't you distinguish between focusing and prioritizing. So when you have decided to focus, then you need to explore it. That and oh, and trust that you have chosen the right one, if something else comes up, write it down or, or something like that, but don't change your business idea. Every few minutes, just because something comes up.Joe Krebs 16:15 Yeah. Interesting. So so what I what I would like to touch on is and I think that is to connect with you have with the Pomodoro Technique, right, where it's also a time or is involved in time intervals. So time boxing, just in the Agile world, in general is a is a is a good strategy. Now, I do know that let's say in Scrum, the product backlog is not necessarily a list of tasks, why but it's just to see a container of things to be to be worked on eventually, but also the sprint backlog has has items in it. Let's say a product backlog very often has more than five items in it. How would you idea like map to like some some agile teams, you know missing? Some of those mono tasking techniques could be applied to a personal level? Is there anything we can do as a team is anything as an Agile team could do like a scrum team or a kanban team or somewhere that says like, we're gonna start introducing and mono tasking techniques to make us more productive, effective as a team. But also help us with the prioritization ordering effort as well, as you know, just like staying focus is is there any connect between those techniques?Staffan Nöteberg 17:33 I think so one thing is, of course, you can learn from my monitor skin that and then scale it to the team level and think what would that mean to do the same thing on the team level. But another thing is that what I talked about cohesion, so the team members are part of the same ecosystem as you are. And if you're a team, then you probably have a shared goal, you have the same goal. Otherwise, you're more like a group of people that have the same manager or something like that. But if your team you have the same goal, so So what what you're looking for, is to succeed with the school together. And if you're all skilled in this method, the monitors method, which which is a lot a lot of thing about how to progress and how to cooperate and how to treat stakeholders and recharging and so. But if you're all successful, I think you also responsible since you have a shared goal, to support each other, to help each other to be better at Mono tasking or whatever personal productivity method you're using. So you, as I said, we want to arrange an environment and circumstances so that we can be productive as individuals. But that also, since we have a shared do need that we need to create circumstances environment for teammates, so that they can be successful, then there are, of course, mob programming and pair programming, and then you're working together. But when we work individually, we need to help each other to work individually in a good way. Also, it's not not only that, I take care of my environment and my circumstances so that I can do mono tasking or Pomodoro, or GTD (Getting Things Done) or something else. It's also the issue to help other people with thatJoe Krebs 19:26 Yeah. So one thing I wanted to clarify and this is this is a great connect between the team and the individual and how this technique applies on different kinds of levels. I think that's great. There's obviously a lot to take away from teams have a very long laundry list of things to do, right? And just feel like they are not getting you know, like their time or they're not using their time necessarily wisely. That's what they're thinking and but they might not know like, what is the what's the missing thing and maybe it is something like that to really focus on on a few things. Now, here's something that I want to clarify this with you? If I read this, right, if I heard thi right, it's fascinating because, you know, way, way back when I was running, I did like cross country kind of running myself, there was always this thing of, if there was a hill, let's say, you would always try to run up the hill. And if you if you had to take a break, you know, for whatever reason, it was right on the top of the hill, not before the top of the hill, because you wanted to make sure it's easier to restart running again. So stopping at the hill was always like seeing something like very hard to restart running again, because you're already in the middle of a hill. But it was always when you're on the top of the hill was very easy for you to run. Now you're mono tasking is like by task. The second is don't finish the task at the end of the day. Because it makes it easier to start and transition into the next day. When I saw that, I was like thinking about that. I was like, that is very interesting. Tell me like how, because it's so opposite to how people think. Right? So it's like finishing a task before they go home. And let's say at the end of the day, and might put these 1015 minutes extra in, and then I would just want to finish my tasks, but you're saying mono tasking says don't finish it all by the end of the day? Because it makes it easier to start in the morning. Can you elaborate a little bit on this? Because I think that's great.Staffan Nöteberg 21:20 Yeah. So there was a researcher 100 years ago in Berlin called Bluma Zeigarnik. I think she came from Russia originally. But she worked in with psychology research in psychology in Berlin. She and her friends went to the coffee shops in Berlin. Every day and sister was psychologist, they had some psychology researchers that had a lot to talk about with each other. And so they stayed there for hours. And they ordered things and they discussed things and then they ordered more and discuss things. And after some hours, they call for the waiter and said, Hey, waiter can can we pay now. And then the waiter always knew exactly how much they had ordered, even though he didn't take any notes. And that was a little bit provocative to a group of psychologists, researchers. So they made an experiment one day. So they they sat there discussing ordering, discussing ordering, and they say hey, can we pay, and the waiter knew exactly how much they had ordered, and they paid. But then they stayed there for another 30 minutes, then the call for the waiter again. And when the waiter came there, they asked him, Hey, how much did we pay 30 minutes ago? And what do you think he answered?Joe Krebs 22:56 He didn't know.Staffan Nöteberg 22:58 He didn't know. He said, I've dropped out How could I know now. So he knew about it, as long as it was like an open Task to remember this. But as soon as, as they had paid it dropped it. So it didn't take in place in in his brain. And this was interesting, but this experiment is not very scientific, because it was only one person's very small sample. But Illuma went back to her office and made an experiment with, like, the first 150 people or something like that. And they got 20 tasks each small things like creating a clay finger or translating something from German, to to French, or, or something. And what it didn't know was a part of this experiment was that in 10, out of these 20, they were interrupted. So blue mark came there and said, Oh, I see you're working with task number six. Yeah, stop that and go on and work with task number seven. And afterwards, when when when they had finished everything. Bluma said like, can you write down now all the 20 tasks that you worked on on paper? And you know, if you have 20 things you have done, you won't remember all of them. So then she counted at the fact was that those that are interrupted in the remember twice as many of these compared to those that they had completed. So things that we haven't finished that we have started but we haven't finished demand room in our brain. But you can see in a positive way that we are still analyzing them and working on them and thinking about them. So if we end the day, usually, if you're commuting, and you think that before I go home, I need to complete this. And then I will take a bus or take my car or something home. But if you think in the other way, and think like, before I leave the office, I need to stop something, and leave in the middle I should have a read test if I'm a software engineer. So you stop something and you leave in the middle, then the next morning, you will be much eager to start with that one. And we knew about procrastination, that the hardest time that whatever we procrastinate, most is in the morning, if we can just stop procrastinating in the morning, then we will continue for the whole day because we have started something. So if instead stop something before we go home, then then we will be very eager to start with on that one. Immediately, when we come to the office usually will not tell this in trainings, someone raises their hand and say like, Hey, I'll try that. And if I do that, I can't sleep for the whole night because I have a problem. Of course, you shouldn't try it, you shouldn't do this. But for many people who are trying this, this is really helpful.Joe Krebs 26:19 Wow, this is this is cool that this is quite interesting that that person had sleep problems by trying this. Why? Because part of mono tasking is also you know, taking care of things like sleep and breaks and, and healthy living. Why? Why is that like part of money? It's an interesting, it's an interesting approach. It's so with all that research and science that goes into something like this. It's also like to do take breaks, and to purposely slow down. I don't know if that's exactly at those time limits of these tasks are describing but also to, to just to sleep, and have a healthy lifestyle that includes nutrition and everything. Why why is that so important? Staffan Nöteberg 27:05 so the method or the book is divided into six different areas where one is called recharge, creative thinking. So these sorts of things, the six things that I suggest that you should think about to be able to mono task, to be able to focus. And one of these students reached out creative thinking says, I mean, I'm not the expert of all the Healthy Living, I'm personally. But what I found, and I think most people agree on this is that if you are going to be the best version of yourself, if you are going to be the best due tomorrow, then you will have a much better probability or higher probability of being that if you have a healthier living, if you sleep the same hours every night, if you eat fruits and vegetables, if your exercise. And if you don't do that, it will be much harder to focus and focus on one thing.Joe Krebs 28:11 Yeah, that is that is also important for agile teams, where I would do very often I'm, you know, working with teams or organizations, but that is not part of the ritual, right? And for a variety of reasons, and sometimes it's just like, you know, what the things are in organizations, but it is an important piece to point out like we're humans, we're part of this, of, let's say, any kind of method and recharging is a key thing, right? How is something like that being incorporated into an into an Agile team, right? On an individual level? I think that's a great idea, and probably easier to do, right? Because it's me influencing my own thing, but how does it work on a team? We're not gonna say you guys go into sleeping chambers during the day and taking breaks or anything like that, but how would that look like on a on a team level?Staffan Nöteberg 29:04 I think first I want to say that it's not that you shouldn't be an Olympic athlete, it's more like, you can always be a bit better than than what you were yesterday. But I think in an Agile team, you know, in extreme programming, there's one of these best practices was first called 40 hours a week, and then it was changed to a sustainable pace. If I remember correctly, it was a long time ago, I read this book. I think it's part of this, it. Ultimately, it's a personal responsibility, of course, but as a team, you can create a culture where it's not cool to stay the whole night to fix some bugs or something like that. You need to have a sustainable base. As Kent Beck pointed out already, and if I think no, this is a credit card, that if you overcharge the credit card, you can buy something right now that you couldn't buy otherwise, but you will have to pay with interest in the long term and that that's the same for teams. I think that if they have a culture where they don't take care of the people in the team, when it comes to breaks, and weekends and other things, then they will have to pay with interest in the long term.Joe Krebs 30:33 Yeah. Yeah, no, definitely I agree. And that was part of Extreme Programming even before Agile Manifesto. So this is deeply, deeply rooted, sustainable pace and having you know, if there was an overtime in a sprint, or iteration that there wouldn't be one in the following. So there was some form of balancing going on your book itself, which is great. I like visuals in a book, right? You drew them yourself. Which is, which is also great to see those notes and supported by visuals. I just like to read books like this, I think it just reinforces but you also say in this mono tasking, it's better for teams to or individuals to write by hand. Notes in journaling, rather than on a laptop.Staffan Nöteberg 31:20 I think depends on what you're going to use use it for. If if writing something that you want to distribute to the that you want to save for a long time, it's much better right in a computer, of course. But if you want want your brain to digest things to analyze it, in, we learn from doing things not from listening, when we listen to something like your podcast, you might get inspired but if we don't do something about it, or think about it or discuss it with someone then we will have forgotten about it one week later. So there are a lot of research showing that if if you write down something in need to like, think and that's especially if if you draw something if you make a mind mapping more or try to try to think of it in in pictures, what does this mean all the diagrams connecting,Joe Krebs 32:25 sketchnoting, for example?Staffan Nöteberg 32:27 Yeah, exactly. Then you learn more it stays in your head because in the brain the memory in the brain is not like a structured database. It's not like SQL, it's more like many many fragments of associations. And when you have new you learn something new and when you hear something new, you need to connect it to some of these fragments and when you think about it more then maybe some door opens in there are some fried fragment comes up some other Association and you can connect your your new learning to that one. And if you have a discussion about something like something you hear in this podcast or something new you learn that you have written down or so then it's more much more likely that you will save it actually and have it connected to some some other Association Yeah. And as I understand it, it's not an issue that or memory is not big enough we can read would be it would be possible to know a lot more than anyone has known so far. And the problem is that we it's not structured in in the heads we need to it's a different thing than the computer database and we need to connect it so we can pick it up when it when it's suitable. Joe Krebs 34:00 Yeah very very interesting stuff and obviously the book is filled with lots of material like this a lot of individuals and teams might find useful applying in their in their day to day work. Did you write your book using mono tasking? Did you use some of those techniques like like you basically just you know took your method in your in your own writing.Staffan Nöteberg 34:24 I did exactly like that. But I'm saying that this doesn't mean that this is the best method for everyone. But I think that if you read something like this, a book like this, then you will learn a lot of things and maybe you can try some some of these and test them and maybe some some will suit you and some will not suit you but you will learn more about your own productivity.Joe Krebs 34:53 Absolutely. I also see coaches Scrum Masters leaders working within organizations increasing agility, he's taking some of the research you have put together in that book, and providing the evidence to really run some experiments within the organization. Right. So there's continuous improvement going on, within organizations, change management. And some of those concept could be, could be applied to any of these efforts and run some experiments on are they showing the same impact as they will do in an individual productivity improvement also on on other levels, so I think it's might give some food for thought for. For some, some employees in organizations listening to the answers, I'd take a piece of that and run an experiment and see how that goes to just like the task switching or preventing task switching, and possibly do take the breaks and things like that we discussed. We're not finishing a task by the end of the day, things we have discussed here in this podcast together and just like try some experiments, but again, the book has many, many more. You also mentioned in your in your book, someone I think there was a little side story, where somebody actually got a promotion probably not only because of that, but somebody got a promotion and one thing was that somebody started listening to podcasts in their transition time going from home to work. And using that transition time effectively somebody listened to podcasts and got a promotion out of it now I cannot guarantee by listening to Agile FM that you will be getting a promotion out of this thing but you might be listening to this in your car right now while driving so please drive safely. But transition time is also part of mono tasking and and to use that wisely could be having really really good benefits. So thank you Staffan for being my guest today and sharing your thoughts great thoughts on mono tasking here with me? But more importantly with all the listeners out there that possibly already or will be becoming interested in mono tasking. Thank you so much, Staffan.Staffan Nöteberg 37:02 Thanks, you it's been a pleasure to talk to you.Joe Krebs 37:06 Thank you for listening to Agile FM, the radio for the Agile community. I'm your host Joe Krebs. If you're interested in more programming and additional podcasts, please go to www agile.fm. Talk to you soon.

Tomado de El Libro de la Psicología (Ed. DK).

Zeigarnik Effect The Zeigarnik effect states that people tend to remember unfinished or incomplete tasks better than completed tasks. The effect was first observed by Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, who noticed that waiters in a café could recall the orders they had not yet delivered better than those they had distributed. Much research supports the Zeigarnik effect, but it can also be undermined by things like the timing of task interruption, one's motivation to engage in a task, and how difficult one believes a task is. Knowledge of the Zeigarnik effect can help overcome procrastination, improve study habits, and promote mental health. Huh, the Zeigarnik effect? You might be wondering what that is. And what does it have to do with the study on performance indicators and personality traits sofar? In order to answer these questions, we have to take a trip back in time. It isthe mid-twentieth century. Near Berlin University, a large group of university staffdecides to have dinner in a local restaurant. Among them are the legendary professor Kurt Lewin, founder of Positive Psychology, and a doctoral student of his called Bluma Zeigarnik. A holiday that would go down in history as the moment when a new scientific phenomenon “emerged” that would later be known as the Zeigarnik effect. The story led to a theory that explained why some soccer players become legends, why some scientists become geniuses.Their secret? The Zeigarnik effect! Improving running Habits The Zeigarnik effect can also be useful for runners who are preparing for a special race event. The effect tells us that breaking up run sessions can actually improve muscle recall. So instead of focusing on one special training plan, breaks should be scheduled in which the runners focus on something else. What part really makes you struggle is it the hills? The fartlek training? This will cause intrusive thoughts about the information that must be remembered that will enable the runner to rehearse and consolidate it, leading to better recall when you test yourself or go for the run event. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. SHOWNOTES: What does this mean for your running? Here some useful links. Your “how to do it” run streak Run 365 Days: Your 365 Day Run Streak Brain Training For Runners': Your Mental Guide To Better Running. Improve your discipline Accountability Coach. Add swimming to your run Become a better swimmer. Follow us on INSTAGRAM. Follow us on TWITTER. Follow us on YouTube. More about your HOST. Train your BRAIN become a better runner. God bless you, share the show give it a like, and remember… take it easy.

In this episode a tunnel is not ALWAYS a tunnel and a cigar is not ALWAYS a cigar. We are talking the smokingest psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, and head-shrinkers in history. By popular fan request, Hermann Rorschach hits the field, competing against Bluma Zeigarnik. Show notes at historicallyhot.com/episodes/psychiatrist

Mindset with Neil and Will Episode 019 where the guys discuss one of the many tools and techniques in Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. In this episode: 1. The 'Just Not Gone' meditation technique shared by Chade-Meng "Meng" Tan and how it will help overcome pain. 2. The 'Zeigarnik Effect' by Bluma Zeigarnik to help task management. 3. How to switch your state from day job to an evening mindset.

   PRIORITIZING In this episode, we will be looking at how to prioritise your tasks and gain clarity of mind that will allow you to move forward. Before we start though: have you been actioning the word NO from last week’s episode? I started with NO for good reason – it’s going to stop you sliding down whatever slippery slope you are on. Whatever time-consuming rabbit holes you have found yourself in. This week’s topic is prioritising because saying NO to the wrong things means that you can start saying YES to the right – Saying NO liberates you from non-essential commitments and makes much more room for you to say yes to what is meaningful and important to you. It opens up free time by giving you choices. NO being one that will stop the influx of new commitments, MAYBE which will buy you time to think about a commitment and YES which comes from knowing that commitment is something that furthers your end goals something you really want to do or perhaps just something that pays the bills. But how can you decide what’s important and what is not? THE LESSON I nearly called this episode WHITE NOISE AND HOW TO NAVIGATE THROUGH IT as that’s often how I feel when I get bogged down in my THINGS TO DO list – It’s a foggy buzzy place where I can get lost and sometimes I find myself obsessing over things which when all are said and done, are just not important. That fog, no matter how driven you are, can drop down and, in productivity terms at least, hide from you what is important, and cause you to slow down and meander into a rhythm of unproductiveness. About a year ago I picked up 6 retro  VHS camcorders from a college that was getting rid of them. I had them sent to me and all in it was about £200. Great deal and I had a plan for them. I was going to give them to fellow filmmaker friends with a challenge, I’d give them a camcorder and a single tape which costs about £2, the means to capture from them which was another £10 and I was going to ask them all to make a short film to a deadline with a prize of keeping the camcorder and something more for the winner – It would be fun right? Wrong. I ended up chewing over how I would do this for months, and it was always on my mind. I had a Ton of other far more important things to do, fight contracts that required constant attention, relationships, I had just got a puppy, I had my own films I was trying to develop and a load of house-related problems and personal matters that needed my time and time. When I stopped for a moment and looked at what I had on my todo list it was probably 6 months later and I was drowning. Within two minutes of assessing what I had to do, I realised I had to dump this camcorder idea. As I stopped and took stock I realised it was a total waste of time and money. I mean if I’d been a millionaire playboy with plenty of free time maybe I could have done it with my friends one weekend, but I’m no millionaire. By simply eliminating this task not doing it I was able to: Save a load of money. Save a load of hassle - communicating and organising an idea which other filmmakers would likely not have the time to actually do anything with. These people have businesses and families. Save a load of time. This project wouldn’t have taken 5 minutes. It would have taken weeks and possibly months of time I didn’t have. Free up my mind for more important things. Getting what’s on your mind and onto paper, or on to a whiteboard as that’s my preferred medium, allows you to honestly assess what is important and what was not. My time consuming altruistic camcorder idea which would ultimately led to me giving away my those camcorders just didn’t fit with what I was about at that time. I only realised that though when I stopped and assessed all that I had on my mind. Prioritising starts with what I call a BRAIN DUMP. Get a whiteboard or a just a piece of paper, but whiteboards are cheap and really give you a good chance at tackling this sort of thing. I actually have 4 large whiteboards in my office and one at home for doing this sort of thing. Get that whiteboard and Dump whatever is on your mind onto it. Get it all out there. Any incomplete task, anything that’s on your mind and anything that is slowing you down. If you’re using a whiteboard and run out of space you can always photograph it and type it up and start a new board btw. If you enjoy this episode and would like to support the show, please buy whiteboard through my Amazon Affiliate link. I get a small bump for any sale made (Doesn’t have to be what I am linking to either!) Thanks! Whiteboard US: https://amzn.to/2xGP9lp UK: https://amzn.to/2NvDMro   Now the task of getting everything onto a whiteboard or a piece of paper starts to make a difference to your mind. That working space that’s been holding these ideas and worries starts to free up. That RAM or headspace can be put to better use than remembering all these incomplete tasks. Just having that host of tasks in your head will actually tire you out. In 1927 a Russian psychologist called Bluma Zeigarnik found that waiters remembered orders only as long as the order was in the process of being served. When we hold multiple things in short-term memory, we have to rehearse them continuously, otherwise, they would disappear. This requires a lot of cognitive effort and the more things we are rehearsing the more effort. The Waiters had better recollections of still unpaid and incomplete orders but after the completion of the task — after everyone had paid — they were unable to remember any more details of the orders. This trick now known as the Zeigarnik effect is very well applied by soaps and serials. The episode ends, but the story doesn’t. Thus you get stuck in a cliffhanger. Software designers do the same things with games. The point is that this is a thing, it’s been understood for years and it’s something you can deal with. HOW TO SAY PRIORITISE So now that we know that we have gotten these tasks out of our short-term memory and on a whiteboard or a piece of paper we can now apply one of several systems to help us to prioritise. The "Eisenhower Method" stems from a quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower: who said "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent is not important, and the important is never urgent." I’ll detail that system in the show notes but my preferred system is Rory Vaden’s focus funnel. The way this works is - If you can imagine a funnel wide at the top and getting tighter as it goes down, you would run you to do list through this. This dilutes your list into a priority list. ELIMINATE – What can you get rid of. For me, it was, amongst other things, the camcorder thing. It was an incomplete task or loop in my head and it took up space for no good reason. AUTOMATE – Examples DELEGATE – Dog Walking. PROCRASTINATE – till a later date CONCENTRATE – This is the dilution of what is important.   SUMMING UP The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule but to schedule your priorities. Stephen Covey I’ll look at the bigger questions of life purpose and life goals which will, in turn, inform your priorities in a later episode but the combination of a Brain Dump and the Focus Funnel system will help you to navigate your way through the white noise of everyday life and work and start to get back on top. Straight off the bat, decide what of your to-do list can be eliminated – combine that with a  bit of honesty in yourself and the word NO I talked about last time, and you are well on the way to escaping that overburdening feeling of obligation you may have gotten yourself into. CALL TO ACTION Let's get that white noise out of your head and onto a piece of paper, or a whiteboard. Apply the focus funnel, which again will be shown as a diagram in the show notes and you will soon get back control. Remember that you are driving the bus, not some unimportant commitment or incomplete task. ENDING Thanks again for listening - Next episode I’ll be talking about PERFECTIONISM and why it’s a really bad thing. Good luck in the week ahead. Buckle up, take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me next time on Film Pro Productivity. The music for this podcast is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode3 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://www.southwesternconsulting.com/roryvaden/blog/the-focus-funnel/focus-funnel-from-procrastinate-on-purpose-by-rory-vaden/ Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin. Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A  

Zeigarnik Effect When we feel we've been left hanging, it drives us crazy! We want to know the end of the story. What is the missing piece? We want our tasks to be completed so we can check them off our list. This is also known as the "Zeigarnik Effect," named after Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist. This effect is the tendency we have to remember uncompleted thoughts, ideas, or tasks more than completed ones. The story goes the Bluma Zeigarnik was sitting in a café in Vienna when she observed that a waiter could remember everything someone had ordered, but once the food was delivered the waiter forgot everything.  This led for her to realize that it is easier to remember everything about an uncompleted task, but once the task is completed the memory will immediately fade.  That uncompleted task will hold onto our memory, improve the recall and help us remember. We experience intrusive and almost nagging thoughts about a goal or an objective that was left incomplete.  It is built into our psyche to want to finish what we start. We see the Zeigarnik Effect on the television news and other programs. Right before a commercial break, the newscasters announce some interesting tidbit that will come later in the hour. This piques your interest and, rather than flipping the channel, you stay tuned. Movies and dramas on television also leave you hanging in suspense. By leaving something uncompleted right before the commercial break, the programs draw our attention, keep us involved, and motivate us to continue watching. We don't feel satisfaction until we receive finality, closure, or resolution to the message, our goals, or any aspect of our life.  Incomplete tasks trigger thoughts. The thoughts of the incomplete task trigger more memory retention.  More memory retention triggers anxiety that triggers more thoughts of the uncompleted business. You also see the Zeigarnik Effect in the courtroom. We already know that people feel more confident and impressed with information they discover for themselves over time. This dictates that persuaders slowly dispel information, rather than dumping large volumes of information all at once. A good lawyer does not disclose everything he knows about the case or the plaintiff during his opening statement. As the trial progresses, the jury can fill in the blanks for themselves with the additional information they gradually receive. This works much better than dumping all the information on them in the beginning. It holds the jurors' attention longer and gives the message more validity. The jury discovers the answers for themselves, and is more likely to arrive at the desired conclusion. 

Have you heard of the Zeigarnik Effect? I read an article recently about the Zeigarnik Effect. The article I read was aimed at writers and not graphic designers but I found a lot of it relates to what we do as designers. Here's a quick background on the Zeigarnik Effect in case you've never heard of it before. Back in the 1920's Psychologist Kurt Lewin noticed that a waiter at a local restaurant remembered all the orders from each table until the bill was paid. Once the bill was paid, he couldn't remember the orders anymore. Bluma Zeigarnik, a student of Lewin, studied this phenomenon. Her research explored the idea that a task that has been started but not completed creates a task-specific tension in our mind and allows us to focus more clearly on it. In other words, when you start a task, your mind is set in motion and a tension builds until that task is completed. This explains why we feel good when we finish some tasks. Finishing things like crossword puzzles, a good book, an exercise routine or a design project brings us a sense of joy and satisfaction. Get started on that design You may have never heard of the Zeigarnik Effect, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that when it comes to designing, starting the design is often half the battle. If you want to design something, the most important thing you can do is start designing it. Even if your ideas are not concrete and you don't know what direction you want to take. By simply putting things down on paper or on a computer you get your mind thinking about it in different ways. This is when the Zeigarnik Effect kicks in, by creating a kind of tension that your mind wants to satisfy so it devotes more power to it, boosting your ideas and creativity. Simply get the ball rolling by jotting down anything and everything you can to start the design process. Tension accumulates Sometimes, when we have a lot of design projects to work on we start to feel overloaded. The Zeigarnik Effect states that that overloaded feeling comes from too many unfinished tasks that your mind wants to finish and forget about. Your brain doesn't really distinguish between the amount of time a task takes. Whether it's emailing a client, finding a stock image, updating a name on a business card, or designing an entire website. Your brain doesn't know one task requires more time than another, it just knows you have a bunch of things that are not done. In episode 66 of the Resourceful Designer podcast, I discussed how to Tackle Your To-Do List With Tasks and Projects. In it, I explained how every project can be broken down into either smaller projects or individual tasks. By completing those individual tasks you are able to check off more items from your To-Do list and feel better about yourself. At the time of that episode I hadn't heard of the Zeigarnik Effect, but in hindsight, it's exactly what I was talking about. Completing a task eliminates the tension associated with it and frees up your mind for other things. Eliminate tension If you find yourself with too many things to do, one solution is to simply eliminate some. Get better at ditching, delegating and doing the little things quickly so you have the mental space for the important projects. Tackle the quick items first. Delete unimportant things from your To-Do list. Hire someone such as a Virtual Assistant to take on some of the work for you. And remember the Zeigarnik Effect. Once a task is completed, or no longer on your To-Do list, your mind is free to forget about it and concentrate its creative juices on the remaining tasks at hand. Did you know about the Zeigarnik Effect? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. This week’s question comes from Sunil This is Sunil from India, I have started a design consultancy as a soal-pruner currently. I have boldly dropped my regular job as a senior graphic designer after 12+ years of experience with handling top notch brands on a large scale, from design to execution. Here’s my question. Even after serving as a senior Graphics designer and having 12+ years of experience, there is some kind of fear in me that is stopping me to move ahead. Kindly help me in removing/getting out of this barrier of fear to move ahead and also when meeting the clients? To find out what I told Sunil you’ll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Paparazzi! Simply put, Paparazzi! is a simple application (Mac only) that allows you to take screenshots of an entire webpage, even the parts not visible in your browser window. Simply enter a URL in Paparazzi! and save the page as a PDF, JPG, PNG or TIFF file. It's as simple as that. Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Subscribe on Google Play Music Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and Facebook I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com