Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Zeignarick Effect

The Zeigarnick Effect states that once you've truly made a decision on something, your active memory on the issue shuts down and all creative thinking regarding the matter stops. Therefore, you need to be balanced in your decision making. If you decide too soon, you will not have allowed enough time for creativity. If you wait too long to decide, you will never get anything done.

This highlights another reason that work is more like walking a tightrope than digging a ditch. You need to be balanced in setting the timetable for making decisions. Executive types tend to force decisions as soon as possible. Analytical types tend to put off decisions for as long as possible. You need to strike a balance.

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