Managing your to do list just got easier thanks to Neuroscience. The Zeigarnik Effect shows us how we can plan our lives to feel less busy simply by thinking about the task list differently.

1. The One Thing
…you can do to end “busy-mind”

2. Your daily
tasks and
goals
are like applications in a
computer.

3. What happens when you
open a lot of
applications?

4. Way too many windows open!!!!

5. Your computer gets slow

6. Brains have RAM too
• Computers use temporary
memory, RAM, to store work in
progress.
• Your brain does too.
• Unfortunately, RAM limited.
• Too much work in progress
causes a stall in activity.

7. This is called the
Zeigarnik Effect.
Unfinished tasks are easier to recall,
therefore they live in a special kind of
working memory.

8. Feeling busy
• is inefficient.
• takes time, because you keep switching
between tasks, forgetting to do things, and
making mistakes.
• doesn’t feel like winning, because it’s not.

9. Can you empty your
brain’s RAM?

10. Each project you do is a circle.
When you complete the tasks the circle closes.
Send an email
Open
email
Write
body
of
email
Subject line
Address
Review
text
Hit send

11. What happens if you
don’t hit “Send?”
hint: there’s two problems

12. • Problem 1: The email isn’t sent.
• Problem 2: Your mind keeps the
task open.

13. How to manage brain RAM
1. Write out all the completable projects you wish to accomplish. Include things
that have an end point like “Get a master’s degree.”
2. Write out things that don’t have an end point like “be a good parent,” and see
if you can translate those things into project with end points like “spend 1 on 1
time with the kids each week.”
3. Consider each project to be a separate circle. This might be your list -
Master’s degree, spend time with my kid this week, close new client at work,
sign up for cooking class, call two friends this week.
4. Determine how many circles you can have open before you start feeling
“busy.”
5. When you feel busy, close a circle for instant relief! Seriously, calling your
friend, signing up for a class, and hanging with your kid for an hour will actually
make you feel less busy because you got those things out of your brain’s RAM.

14. –Nicole Gravagna, Author of MindSET Your Manners
Close circles. Do more.
@NicoleGravagna