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Why unfinished tasks overwhelm you—and how to manage them
Mario Peshev
October 29, 2024
Welcome to The Smarter Brain, a curation of thought-provoking ideas and actionable reads to help you build better habits and become more productive.
Happy reading - See you on Sunday!
Cheers, The Smarter Brain Team
Estimated Reading Time: 2 mins
3 Ideas For Better Habits
The Art of True Connection
Author and columnist, David Brooks, on the essentials of building meaningful relationships.
"The real act of, say, building a friendship or creating a community involves performing a series of small, concrete social actions well: disagreeing without poisoning the relationship; revealing vulnerability at the appropriate pace; being a good listener; knowing how to end a conversation gracefully; knowing how to ask for and offer forgiveness; knowing how to let someone down without breaking their heart; knowing how to sit with someone who is suffering; knowing how to host a gathering where everyone feels embraced; knowing how to see things from another’s point of view."
Source: How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen The Power of Small but Impactful Actions
Author and speaker, Chris J. Anderson, on the profound lessons of influence.
"Among the many lessons of Covid-19, one of the most profound is this: You don’t need to be big to be powerful. You just need to be infectious."
Source: Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading The Timeless Nature of Human Behavior
Author and financial thinker, Morgan Housel, on the enduring traits of humanity.
"Predicting what the world will look like fifty years from now is impossible. But predicting that people will still respond to greed, fear, opportunity, exploitation, risk, uncertainty, tribal affiliations, and social persuasion in the same way is a bet I’d take."
Productivity Tools and Resources
Why unfinished tasks overwhelm you—and how to manage them
The Zeigarnik Effect explains why our minds struggle to let go of unfinished tasks, leading to feelings of overwhelm. This psychological phenomenon keeps "mental tabs" open, draining focus and increasing stress. Strategies like creating a "Second Brain" to offload tasks and using a "Needle Movers List" can help to prioritize what truly matters.
Quickly capture your notes instantly in your second brain apps 🧠
Supasend is a note-to-self app for iOS to quickly capture and send your ideas, notes, or thoughts to your second brain apps seamlessly, with support for more than a dozen email clients and apps (Evernote, Notion, Reflect, etc).
What We're Reading
For The Interested is a newsletter that shows you how to get clients from your content based on how others have successfully done it.
Brain Food
Science: New research suggests a person's feelings towards a parent can be significantly changed when they are asked to evaluate them during talking therapy, even when the question isn't suggestive. (Source)
Have a productive week ahead, The Smarter Brain Team
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