Zeigarnik Effect
What it is:
You remember tasks you have not completed better than tasks you have completed. Moreover, if you do not complete a task, you will have a desire to finish it to achieve cognitive closure.
Example:
The classic example of the Zeigarnik Effect was a waiter at a local beer garden in Berlin with impressive memory for drink and food orders. Even for large parties, he would not have to write down what drink or food was ordered, and he would deliver it correctly to each person.
However, when Bluma Zeignarik tested the waiter’s recall of what each person had ordered just a few minutes after delivery, the waiter could not remember what drinks and food had been ordered for each person. This was because the task was complete. The waiter had closure and no more reason to recall it.
Application
If you want to forget about a task, then you must have cognitive closure.
Conversely, if you want to stay focused on a task, do not complete it. This works especially well for writers. If a writer does not complete a paragraph, page, or chapter, and stops before cognitive closure, then the writer will be able to easily pick up and write the next day, because of the desire for closure.
Source: Keynote Speaker Robert Cialdini, Pre-Suasion.
Kyle Crocco is a Content Consultant in Santa Barbara for BigSpeak Speakers Bureau and Airtime Watertime®.