The article you keep meaning to read, open, and close again is not quietly settling into memory. Leaving it open buys you nothing, and it takes something from whatever you do next.
This is a fascinating reversal of a productivity idea we’ve taken for granted for decades. The most useful insight isn’t simply that unfinished tasks fail to improve memory, but that our brains keep paying a cognitive tax on them. I especially like how small the solution is: you don’t have to finish everything—you just need to clearly record where you stopped and what comes next. Externalizing that next step may be less about remembering and more about giving your attention permission to move on.
Thanks Jim. "Giving your attention permission to move on" is a better line than anything in the piece, and it matches what the plan-making studies actually found: the plan works because it settles what happens next, not because it moves you any closer to done.
The part I keep coming back to is how little the plan has to be. In Leroy's studies it was a few seconds of writing where you stopped and what you would do on return. That is a very low price for getting the tax back.
The article you keep meaning to read, open, and close again is not quietly settling into memory. Leaving it open buys you nothing, and it takes something from whatever you do next.
Mine right now: https://cursor.com/blog/agent-swarm-model-economics. I have opened it four times this week and closed it four times, without once writing down what I was looking for.
Trying the fix from the piece today: one sentence before I close the tab.
What is yours?
This is a fascinating reversal of a productivity idea we’ve taken for granted for decades. The most useful insight isn’t simply that unfinished tasks fail to improve memory, but that our brains keep paying a cognitive tax on them. I especially like how small the solution is: you don’t have to finish everything—you just need to clearly record where you stopped and what comes next. Externalizing that next step may be less about remembering and more about giving your attention permission to move on.
Thanks Jim. "Giving your attention permission to move on" is a better line than anything in the piece, and it matches what the plan-making studies actually found: the plan works because it settles what happens next, not because it moves you any closer to done.
The part I keep coming back to is how little the plan has to be. In Leroy's studies it was a few seconds of writing where you stopped and what you would do on return. That is a very low price for getting the tax back.
What is the loop you are carrying right now?