Our brains are always thinking and processing. If each thought was a word, we would be able to generate enough content to produce a whole book every single day.
Over time, your mind becomes foggy and you find you can’t focus on anything else until you’ve actioned that idea. This phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik Effect.
The Zeigarnik Effect I fell victim to the Zeigarnik Effect numerous times before I even learned that it existed.
I would find it very hard to get to sleep if there was something I needed to remember to do the next day like book a check-up appointment with the doctor or go to the grocery store for milk. I first heard about this concept from reading How To Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens.
The way to overcome this effect is referenced in so many books and online articles from How To Take Smart Notes to the much famed Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology from David Allen. In the book Getting Things Done by David Allen, a core concept addressed here is that your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.
Allen talks about achieving a “mind like water”, a zen-like state where you can fully engage with the work around you without being bombarded by distractions. To overcome the Zeigarnik Effect, and start to achieve a mind like water, you simply need to write down your thoughts and ideas into a trusted system.
Once your mind realizes that the idea has been acknowledged and stored for use, you will be able to fully engage with whatever else you’re working on without that nagging feeling that you’re forgetting something from distracting you. This is where the concept of Inboxes has helped me to manage my thoughts and ideas.
Any time I am on my computer or near my phone and an idea comes to mind, I immediately add it to my Todoist Inbox.
Another place I track my thoughts throughout the day is in my Bullet Journal. I follow a fairly traditional Bullet Journal setup so my daily log acts as a capture system that I can review at the end of each day. If you want to learn more about the Bullet Journal, I highly recommend you read The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carrol or you can check out my book notes: The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carrol - Book Notes, Summary, Review.
Daily Review Process At the end of each day, part of my daily shutdown routine is to clear my inboxes.
For Todoist, I look through each item and determine if it’s still something I should work on, then move it to the appropriate list. For example, if I’ve gotten a book recommendation, that will go into my Books list.
If you find yourself completely taken up by things you need to remember, simply capture those things into a system you trust to review as frequently as you need. It can be pen and paper, or it can be a digital task manager, or it can even be both so long as you don’t overcomplicate things and are sure to review them frequently.