recovering economist
Ok, first of all, I always remember emails that have not been answered.
I remember them like a scorned elephant remembers a decade old off-handed comment from his ex-wife.
I, on the other hand, have NEVER not returned an email.
At least that I remember.
You remember emails you sent that were not answered better than emails that you did not answer.
-Nassim Taleb, The Bed Of Procrustes
What in the world is the Zeigarnik Effect?
It simply says that people remember things in progress better than they remember things completed.
Kinda wierd, uh?
It’s anecdotal, of course, but on reflection I find this true most of the time.
Items I touch at work and finished with weeks ago I cannot remember even doing.
Tasks on my to-do list are, however, always on my mind.
From trying to read up on this, it looks like later studies did not always duplicate these results, so who knows?
I think. that this is another aspect of focus.
By delaying the task of fleshing out and firming up the speech, King allowed Jones to benefit from the Zeigarnik effect. In 1927, Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik demonstrated that people have a better memory for incomplete than complete tasks. Once a task is finished, we stop thinking about it. But when it is interrupted and left undone, it stays active in our minds.
-Adam Grant, Originals