What the Zeigarnik Effect and Flow Theory can teach us about doing MORE with LESS

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”

​-Victor Frankl

Welcome to week 3 in our Work From Home series.   We are dedicating this week to applying the principle of "More with Less" in our lives.  We are constantly on the hunt for ways to do more with our time, money, and resources.  But sometimes it easy to get side tracked and miss out on opportunities to try new things, and meet our goals.  Especially when they are inherently TOUGH.  So, in that light I would like to touch on  a couple of topics about positive psychology.   Be sure to check out all of our other resources covered this week on our Health at Home page!

Zeigarnik Effect, and the power of GETTING STARTED

​Have you ever found yourself pre-occupied with intrusive thoughts about that home/work/school project,  training program, a book or series, or game, that you have started?   That preoccupation with unfinished work is the Zeigarnik Effect (ZE) on full display!   More specifically,  it is the tendency to remember incomplete or interrupted tasks more easily than tasks that have been completed.    The effect was first observed by Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik in the early 1900's,  who noticed that waiters in a café could recall the orders they had not yet delivered better than those they had.  She then went on to research this psychological effect, which is summarized in her work "On Finished and Unfinished Work".   In these experiments, she found that a group of participants recalled interrupted tasks 90% better than the tasks they completed, and a second group of participants recalled interrupted tasks twice as well as completed tasks.  Children too!

We are exploited constantly with this phenomena, with catchy news headlines, binge-worthy Netflix series,  interrelated quests in gaming, click-bate, etc.   But in what ways can we harness the ZE for our personal use, and what can we learn to avoid?

1. Overcoming procrastination.   Starting a task long before it's due date is an excellent strategy.  We can count on the cognitive tension of the ZE to pull us back in to working on it until it's done.   This operates in conjunction with:
2. Increased productivity, especially for those who struggle with multi-tasking (which has been shown not to even be a thing, but you know what I mean by it).  It helps to compartmentalize sub-tasks and set reasonable limits for each.  This helps make better use of time, and a better finished result, without the overwhelming cognitive overload and feelings of frustration!  More with Less!
3. Processing information. when learning or reviewing a lot of information,  studying should be done with many breaks, instead of one long session.  The mind can better process info this way because it tends to remember the beginning and end of a defined session.  This is especially applicable to students!
4. For mental health's sake,  be realistic with expectations for the task before getting started!  Beware of some of the negative outcomes of the ZE.  If an individual leaves important tasks incomplete, the intrusive thoughts that result can fuel stress, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and mental and emotional depletion (sourced here).   Individuals prone to this outcome should be aware of these effects. But on the other hand,  the mental well-being of these individuals (and everyone else too!) can be helped by difficult task completion by giving a sense of accomplishment, while boosting self-esteem and self-confidence.  This means we should, where possible, be careful and reasonable in deciding what to get started on,  and weigh the likelihood of not finishing, BEFORE starting!   There should be a careful balance of skill set, motivation, payoff, difficulty, and available time and resources. Unfinished business will linger on in the mind.  Make sure you use it's powers for good!

​​
The ZE, though well supported,  does not do a great job taking into account personal motivation,  or the perception of how difficult a task is.   This is a perfect opportunity to introduce the other aspect of positive psychology:
​

Flow theory, and happiness

Refer to Victor Frankl's quote at the top of this post.  It suggests that we gain happiness when we are working towards a long-term, meaningful goal, to where time seems to stand still!   That is where the psychological term known as "flow" comes in.  

Psychological Flow captures the positive mental state of being completely absorbed, focused, and involved in your activities at a certain point in time, as well as deriving enjoyment from being engaged in that activity. (sourced here) It is known, simply, as being "in the zone", doing things that are self-rewarding.   You know you have experienced this when you are performing a task, and you all of a sudden look at the clock and realize you've lost total track of time.  It is often doing something you enjoy, and that gives you happiness.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was credited with popularizing the term flow.   This is an excerpt from Wired magazine article "Go with The Flow":   "Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost".   In other words,  we should fill our lives with as much flow as possible.

Here are the key factors to triggering flow (according to Csikszentmihalyi 's studies)

1. Challenge-skill balance - see chart below
2. Action-awareness merging - 
3. Clear goals  
4. Unambiguous feedback;
5. Concentration on the task at hand;
6. A sense of control;
7. Loss of self-consciousness;
8. Transformation of time; and
9. Autotelic experience.

​Here is a chart detailing the ideal conditions for entering the flow state, from Csikszentmihalyi’s (1998) book Finding Flow 

.   Key lessons learned from Flow Theory:

• We should strive to spend as much time in the flow state as possible, because it produces HAPPINESS!
• Flow state is achieved when the perceived challenge and skill level are HIGH (that is to say, properly matched)
• MUST be goal-oriented.  But choosing the RIGHT goal is key!  See the chart above
• Have immediate feedback  
• Flow is a MUCH more effective than willpower to reach a goal.  Willpower ultimately fails, and breeds negative thoughts and attitude towards our efforts and self-esteem.  Instead of setting a goal that requires willpower (let's say,  weight loss), substitute with another goal (learn to cook 15 different delicious vegetable based meals)
• High-flow activities are work! But work that pays off.  It is the difficult nature of the task that produces happiness and satisfaction.
• Finally, feeling good about the self, excited, proud, sociable, active as well as being in the conditions for flow experience are the strongest predictors of trait happiness (long-term happiness).

​For more information on this,  I encourage you to watch Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Ted Talk Flow, the secret to happiness.  

We can employ these two areas of positive psychology to engage more meaning into our lives.  GET STARTED working FLOW into your life.   DO MORE with LESS!

Until next time!

​