Many years ago a Russian psychologist named Bluma Zeigarnik noticed that waiters seemed only to remember orders that were still open and had forgotton orders that had been completed.
Her theory which later became known as The Ziegarnik Effect (1927) is that tasks that remain unfinished stay in our short-term memory and finished tasks disolve from it.
These tasks (in our short-term memory) create a kind of nagging pulse which we then want to finish to move on.
The implications of her work for procrastication is this:
Simply start.
The act of starting creates more of a need to finish a project.
Procrastination often occurs when we don’t know when or where to start or the project seems to big that we avoid starting all together.
This is where our new Ideas Blitz tool can help you.
Blitz has 5 steps and the first one is start.
Everyone working by themselves starts by trying to create 9 ideas/thoughts/solutions in 2 minutes.
Then you try and enhance these initial ideas with a partner if you are working in a group (i.e. the second step).
The most important thing of course is that you have started.
It does not matter where you start but you are now off and running and according to the Zeigarnik Effect you are now much more likely to finish.
So Ideas Blitz can help you start your homework, assignements, projects, essays or presentations.
Remember there is no good or bad place to start.
The important point is to stop procrastinating and just make a start.