#2 How not to procrastinate? Old Research, New Insight

In the 1920s, young Russian psychology researcher Bluma Zeigarnik observed that waiters could not recall the amount or the exact order if the bill had been settled. Curious about the reason for this she decided to do an experiment. She asked volunteers to do a series of simple experiments. Some she allowed to finish, and some she stopped before the simple task could be completed.

People were asked to list the tasks. The unfinished tasks stuck in people's minds and were easier to remember. Richard Wiseman has described it as a kind of 'psychic anxiety. For people who are not able to start tasks on time, perhaps using the Ziegarnik method and starting something and working on it every day could be an effective way of beating procrastination. Perhaps a few minutes of the paper that has to be written rather than the entire paper?

Bluma Zieganrik (1901 - 1988) a Soviet Psychologist, and Psychiatrist who was also a member of the Berlin School of Experimental Psychology made fundamental contributions to the field and was awarded the Lewin Memorial Award in 1983.