
Zeigarnik Effect - cateye
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeigarnik_effect
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Yetanfou
I'd say this effect is a perfectly rational part of being a functioning actor
in a complex environment. Partly completed tasks need to stay relatively high
on the stack when interrupted to make it possible to continue the task when
the interruption has been dealt with. Completed tasks quickly sink down the
stack to be garbage collected since there is no need to keep that baggage
around. A task is only complete when there are no more benefits to be had from
pushing it up to the top of the stack, e.g. he who just graduated and is now
looking for a job will keep his education and graduation near the top of the
stack as it gets pushed up at every interview. Once he lands a secure job (or
so he thinks) they'll gradually sink down to become part of history. If he
were to change jobs those historical achievements might get pulled up again
but this is not a given since their value has diminished compared to his more
recent professional experience.

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spedru
Sure, this is disputed, but I do wonder if it explains why my unfinished
projects make me hate myself so much while my finished ones don't give me any
real sense of pride.

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taneq
Do you ever use or play with your finished projects? I find just finishing
something doesn't do much for me, but seeing it being used (even if it's just
me using it myself) is eternally rewarding.

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broth
I wonder how this plays into context switching in the workplace specifically
with software development or related jobs? I find myself struggling to keep
context on the stack while handling an interruption. It makes me wonder how
many tasks I actually do remember.

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contingencies
Added to
[https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup](https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup)

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rr-geil-j
This is probably similar to that nagging feeling when you forget something but
just can't remember which exactly.

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ohduran
Wasn't this effect mentioned in Cal Newport's "Deep Work" under a different
name?

