Willpower

complete them. The fragments were artfully constructed so that they could be completed with words relevant to studying—but also with alternative, irrelevant words. For instance, the item re_ _ could be completed as read but also be made into real, rest, reap, and reek . Likewise, ex_ _ could be completed as exam but also as exit . If thoughts of the unfulfilled task of studying for the exam were on the person’s mind, he or she would be expected to generate more exam-related words due to the Zeigarnik effect. And indeed, Masicampo found that these words popped more often into the minds of some people: the ones who had been reminded of the exam but hadn’t made plans to study for it. But no such effect was observed among the students who’d made a study plan. Even though they, too, had been reminded of the exam, their minds had apparently been cleared by the act of writing down a plan.
    In another experiment, participants were asked to reflect on important projects in their lives. Some were told to write about some tasks they had recently completed. Others were told to write about tasks that were unfulfilled and needed to be done soon. A third group was also told to write about unfulfilled tasks, but also to make specific plans for how they would get these done. Then everyone went on to what they were told was a separate and unrelated experiment. They were assigned to read the first ten pages of a novel. As they read, they were checked periodically to ascertain whether their minds were wandering from the novel. Afterward, they were asked how well they had focused and where, if anywhere, their minds had wandered. They also were tested on how well they understood what they’d read.
    Once again, making a plan made a difference. Those who’d written about unfulfilled tasks had more trouble keeping their minds focused on the novel—unless they’d made a specific plan to complete the task, in which case they reported relatively little mind wandering and scored quite well on the reading comprehension test. Even though they hadn’t finished the task or made any palpable progress, the simple act of making a plan had cleared their minds and eliminated the Zeigarnik effect. But the Zeigarnik effect remained for the students without a plan. Their thoughts wandered from the novel to their undone tasks, and afterward they scored worse on the comprehension test.
    So it turns out that the Zeigarnik effect is not, as was assumed for decades, a reminder that continues unabated until the task gets done. The persistence of distracting thoughts is not an indication that the unconscious is working to finish the task. Nor is it the unconscious nagging the conscious mind to finish the task right away. Instead, the unconscious is asking the conscious mind to make a plan. The unconscious mind apparently can’t do this on its own, so it nags the conscious mind to make a plan with specifics like time, place, and opportunity. Once the plan is formed, the unconscious can stop nagging the conscious mind with reminders.
    That’s how Allen’s system deals with the problem that he calls monkey mind. If, like his typical client, you’ve got at least 150 items on your to-do list, the Zeigarnik effect could leave you leaping from task to task, and it won’t be sedated by vague good intentions. If you’ve got a memo that has to be read before a meeting Thursday morning, the unconscious wants to know exactly what needs to be done next, and under what circumstances. But once you make that plan—once you put the meeting memo in the tickler file for Wednesday, once you specify the very next action to be taken on the project—you can relax. You don’t have to finish the job right away. You’ve still got 150 things on the to-do list, but for the moment the monkey is still, and the water is calm.

Zero Euphoria
    Upon arriving at Drew Carey’s office, David Allen began where he always begins: the collection of stuff . This is a broadly encompassing term. Stuff, as defined in Getting Things Done, is “anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn’t belong where it is, but for which you haven’t yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step.” Or, as Carey defined it, all the crap in his office.
    Then came the second phase of the GTD system, the processing of the stuff, when Carey had to decide whether to do it, delegate it, defer it, or drop it. If something didn’t require action, it could