The Zeigarnik Effect: Why Unfinished Tasks Can Feel Overwhelming

Blog by Gem Fadling

Have you ever had a day when you weren’t doing anything particularly stressful but you still felt overwhelmed?

Maybe part of the reason is everything you weren’t doing.

At any given moment, I might have unanswered emails, incomplete appointments, partially finished projects, and decisions waiting to be made.

All these unfinished tasks can remain quietly active in the background of our minds, even when we aren’t consciously thinking about them.

I recently learned there’s a name for this: the Zeigarnik effect.

THE BURDEN OF UNFINISHED TASKS

The Zeigarnik effect is the observation that our minds tend to keep unfinished tasks psychologically "active." Once something is completed, the mind relaxes and lets it go. Until then, it keeps nudging us: Don't forget. This isn't done yet.

For example, a server at a restaurant can memorize the orders from a table of four. She keeps it in her mind until the order is placed and served to the guests. After that, she would tend to forget what they ordered because the task is complete. There is no longer any need to keep that clutter in her mind.

This makes sense in one-off scenarios like this, but in today’s culture we are holding an inordinate amount of tasks and ideas. If we think of our brain as an internet browser, it’s as though we are living with a hundred tabs open at any given time.

Here are just a few:

• reply to that email

• make a doctor's appointment

• finish that proposal

• clean the garage

• buy a birthday gift

• remember to exercise

• schedule the oil change

• think about retirement

• decide where to vacation

• follow up with that friend

• start reading that book

What an exhausting list! And I bet there are more tasks you could add.

The Zeigarnik effect suggests that each unfinished commitment continues consuming a little bit of mental bandwidth. No one task may be overwhelming by itself, but together they create a constant background hum of pressure.

Our souls are not designed to carry that many ongoing burdens.

WHAT DO I DO WITH MY TABS?

Maybe you’re thinking there’s an obvious solution to all this: Close your tabs!

That may be good advice. But it comes with its own set of problems, not the least of which is: How can I do that for a hundred tabs?

I would like to pose a question that shifts the conversation from time management to spiritual formation: Why do we have so many open tabs in the first place?

Many of those tabs aren’t open because they have to be. They come from internal pressure.

• I should be better.

• I have to volunteer.

• I need to answer immediately.

• I must keep everyone happy.

• I have to maximize every opportunity.

• I need to fix this.

• I must prove myself.

Multiple felt pressures result in multiple open tabs. And some markers of pressure are phrases such as “I should,” “I have to,” “I need to,” and “I must.” Start noticing these cues in your everyday vocabulary.

I’ve begun practicing with these phrases instead: “It would be good to,” “I want to,” “I desire to,” or “I feel invited to.” These have a much different feel.

When we learn to live from a posture of love, we might be able to notice the pressure and pivot to our more chosen soulful way.

PRESSURE VS. LOVE

Consider the following comparison between pressure and love:

Pressure

• Creates more engagements/commitments

• Opens more unfinished tabs

• Increases mental load (Zeigarnik effect)

• Develops constant internal tension

• Results in feeling overwhelmed

• Ends up with less capacity to discern what actually matters

Notice how that contrasts with love:

Love

• Discerns what is mine to attend to

• Creates healthy discerned choices and boundaries

• Opens fewer tabs

• Receives greater internal spaciousness

• Enjoys more presence with God and others

A PLAN IS AS GOOD AS BEING FINISHED

Researchers have found that the tension of an unfinished task can be reduced not just by finishing it but by making a trusted plan for completing it. That's why writing something on tomorrow's calendar or into a reliable task management system can bring relief.

I recently discovered the reality of this when I stopped preparing too far in advance for speaking invitations. Often, I would open a tab in my brain for an engagement that was months away. This led to months of periodic anxiety about that future commitment.

To end that pattern and begin a new way, I decided I would not do any preparation until one month prior to an engagement. That is plenty of time to get ready. Now, when I have a speaking commitment that is months away, I will open my calendar to four weeks prior to it and schedule in three blocks of time to prepare.

Once I began doing this, I instantly felt relief from the constant sense of pressure. I was no longer carrying the future the way I had before. It was not because the commitment was fulfilled; rather, I made a viable plan to prepare, and my brain was now able to let go.

Isn’t God good?! The more I learn about our brains, souls, and bodies, the more I am amazed at how fearfully and wonderfully we are made.

Researchers found that making a plan quiets the mind because the brain believes the task has been safely entrusted to a future action.

So perhaps one way to begin easing the pressure of all those open tabs is surprisingly simple: Notice what you are carrying, discern what is actually yours to do, and give what remains unfinished a trusted place to land.

But that leaves us with another question: What about the tabs we can’t simply put on a calendar?

Some unfinished things need more than a plan. They involve relationships, grief, unanswered questions, inner work, and circumstances we may never be able to resolve ourselves.

In two weeks, we will explore what spiritual formation and prayer offer us when an open tab can’t simply be completed or scheduled. Perhaps some things don’t need a better plan.

Perhaps they need to be entrusted…

For Reflection:

Since this is the first of a two-part post, let’s think about those unfinished tasks that can be addressed with a task list or calendar. We’ll talk about the deeper, longer term items next time.

• What unfinished tasks are taking up space in your mind right now? Take a moment to name or write down the “open tabs” you’ve been carrying.
• As you look at your list, where do you notice the language of pressure: “I should,” “I have to,” “I need to,” “I must”? What might change if you approached those tasks from a posture of love and discernment instead?
• Which unfinished tasks could you give a trusted place to land? What could you schedule, make a plan for, or intentionally decide not to carry right now?

Gem Fadling is a founding partner of Unhurried Living, Inc., a non-profit that trains people to rest deeper, live fuller and lead better. She is a trained Spiritual Director and a Certified Life Coach who trains people at the intersection of spiritual leadership and soul care. She co-leads PACE, a two-year leadership formation journey that helps leaders live and lead from spiritual depth rather than depletion. Gem is the co-host of the Unhurried Living Podcast as well as the author of Hold That Thought and co-author of What Does Your Soul Love? Her work has appeared in Propel Women and Our Daily Bread. To connect with Gem and find resources for soul care and leadership, visit unhurriedliving.com or find her on Instagram and LinkedIn.