Motivational Quotes Loose Ends

Motivational Quotes: “Set Yourself Free, Tie Loose Ends.”

Recently, I volunteered to work concessions at a baseball game. I experienced a fascinating mental difficulty that got me thinking about loose ends.

Here’s what happened: I was working the cash register and calling out the orders. When I entered the order, I could quickly call them out no matter how many items were in it. However, when I entered and completed the payment for the order, it was difficult to remember all the items ordered.

At first, I thought my recall was weak. But then I thought that couldn’t be the issue because my recall was intact when the sale was incomplete.

Somehow, this made me think about incomplete things in life and how those things sapped my attention. My mind seems to wander back to loose ends over and over again. Is there a correlation between the hyper-focus on the baseball concession incomplete orders and the hyper-focus on incomplete things in my life?

It turns out there is. It’s been labeled the “Zeigarnik effect.” This is when people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.

Dr Kumar, a founding partner of Emotionally, explains this effect: “Many short-term memories are forgotten fairly quickly, but when a task isn’t completed, our brains constantly rehearse it to keep the information active. That is what creates the underlying cognitive tension. Once we complete the task, the information is easily forgotten.”

Simplified: unfinished projects, intentions, and tasks receive unending attention until we close the loop. Closing the loop happens when we either complete or end them. Until that happens, our brain retains an open loop that will recur indefinitely. This requires brain energy and attention. This is good for anything we want to complete. This is not good for anything that is not a priority and should be forgotten.

There’s a bible verse that backs this up: I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

We must end open loops that are not priorities to optimize brain focus and energy on our priorities. Otherwise, your brain will continue to revisit that goal repeatedly to bring it to completion, whether you think it’s essential or not.

Here are examples of loose ends that should be tied up and filed away;

• Old projects that should be closed.
• Intentions that are not important enough to continue.
• Goals that you’re not serious enough about.
• Relationships that are not healthy.
• Unrealistic goals.
• Endeavors that are not profitable.

Make a list of loose ends to tie up and bring to completion. This will help clear up your mind to focus on what is really important to you.