Releasing the Guilt of Incomplete Tasks.
We stress about the things undone. Even when we have accomplished many things in a day, even when those things left undone have been moved forward at an acceptable place, we can often retain the stresses of the unfinished task to the point of losing sleep. The folks in the white coats have labeled this “the Zeigarnik effect”, where we tend to remember uncompleted tasks more than completed ones creating an Open Loop. This adds to our high stress markers, including higher heart rate & cortisol over time.
There is, however, a shift we can effect that can help us reclaim our down time:
We externalize the Open Loop. Take it out of our brain. We often simply make a black & white list of things that need done, so, until the task is finished it remains an Open Loop. If, however, we were to list the next step to complete the unfinished item, we could then leave it where it is instead of worrying over its unfinished status. Now it has a status & a step, so nothing to keep in mind.
Give it time. If we pre commit to a “closure window” during the day, say at the end of work, we can give 10-15 minutes to review what’s pending then choose what we will or won’t do tomorrow. This gives our Open Loop a home so it isn’t following us around everywhere.
Micro finishing vs. Completed tasks. Resolving one subpart of a task allows us to close a loop & identify a next step, therefore removing the need to stress over an item.
Mindset Calibration. This is simply moving to a place of putting less stress on ourselves in a must finish now mindset. We acknowledge that some tasks will simply remain open, especially long term ones, so feeling guilty & stressing over them only makes things harder.
By enacting these shifts we create Soft Fences instead of Rigid Rules for task completion, giving ourselves room to work & grow.
-contributed by Renshi James Edward Smith, LMT