Why You Feel Overwhelmed: The Zeigarnik Effect

You know how having too many open Chrome tabs bogs your computer down?

The same happens to your brain.

Unfinished tasks keep “running” in the background, which impairs performance.

It’s called the Zeigarnik Effect.

Here’s how it works and what to do about it:

Quick History of the Zeigarnik Effect:

The Zeigarnik Effect is named after Dr. Bluma Zeigarnik. She was inspired to study this memory phenomenon when her professor, psychologist Kurt Lewin, noticed that restaurant servers had better memory recall for unpaid orders. However, once customers paid, the servers struggled to remember the details of the orders.

But why?

Zeigarnik found that our brains are wired to remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. Like a to-do list, once we finish a task, our brain checks it off to free up mental bandwidth.

But this also means that, the more unfinished tasks we have running in the background, the more resources our brains dedicate to keeping track of them.

Examples of the Zeigarnik Effect

The Zeigarnik Effect is why storytellers use 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 and move on. Until then, we lean in with rapt attention.

The Zeigarnik Effect is why we struggle with “multi-tasking.” What most people call “multi-tasking” is actually what psychologists call “task-switching.” True multi-tasking is known as parallel processing—where you simultaneously do multiple things at the exact same time.

The reason multi-tasking isn’t true parallel processing is because we rapidly switch our attention between different tasks. For example, you can’t simultaneously check emails and do deep work—you rapidly switch between catching up on a few emails and then switching back to working on your “main” task for the day.

But when we’re in the middle of doing something and get interrupted, our brain keeps that “tab” open—draining our CPU and impairing performance.

The Zeigarnik Effect is one reason perfectionists struggle with anxiety. They obsess over details and have unrealistic expectations. This causes them to be surrounded by unfinished tasks. 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 we struggle to fall asleep. For many of us, bedtime is the one time 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.

So what can you do about the Zeigarnik Effect to stop feeling overwhelmed?

Strategies to Overcome the Zeigarnik Effect

Here are two simple strategies to help overcome the Zeigarnik Effect:

Ditch the To-Do List

To-do lists are never-ending. Like fighting a hydra, for every task you complete, two sprout in its place. Because there’s always more you could do.

Instead, try using what I call a “Needle Movers List,” which is the one to three highest-priority tasks for the day or week that, if you got nothing else done, would move the needle the furthest toward a life aligned with your values.

By prioritizing the few tasks that truly matter, they’ll be easier to remember, track, and complete.

I write mine out on a post-it note on my desk because I can’t fit much more than a few things on it. Plus, it’s satisfying to crumple it up and throw it away once I finish them.

Give Yourself Permission to Forget

Another strategy is to build what author Tiago Forte calls a “Second Brain,” which is somewhere you can save information to come back to later. A Second Brain can be a physical notebook, a program like Notion, calendar reminders, or anything else that works for you.

The more tasks and information you can offload, the fewer your brain will have to constantly monitor.

You don’t build a Second Brain to remember.

You build it so you can forget.

Final Thoughts on the Zeigarnik Effect

The Zeigarnik Effect unintentionally forces our brains to dedicate more memory and attention to unfinished tasks, which results in us feeling constantly overwhelmed.

So if you want to reduce overwhelm from the Zeigarnik Effect, minimize and offload unfinished tasks.

That way, you can stop bogging your brain down with remembering unfinished tasks and use it for what it’s best at:

Being creative, solving problems, and understanding complex ideas.

A version of this article also appears on coreywilkspsyd.com