Life’s Purpose, Just Say No, and the Ziegarnik Effect

 

Purpose

The end of the year can be a great time to re-evaluate our lives. A lot has happened through the year and when we look back, it can cause us to question if we are spending our time wisely.

One question that often arises around this time is “what is my life’s purpose?” but rarely does anyone get a decent answer from this question?

Why? Not because life doesn’t have a purpose, rather that it isn’t singular. It evolves as we go through life, and rather than looking like a straight line, it resembles one of those dot-to-dot puzzles we used to do as kids.

Part of my next book, Unstuck, is about figuring out what we should be doing and in there I’ve created a list of 7 questions to help you figure out your life’s purpose.

If you are interested in getting some more clarity around your purpose, these questions will get you more clarity than just simply asking “what is my life’s purpose?” and rather than making you wait for the new book, I’ve put them in a preview article here – 7 life purpose questions.

Energy

The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another.

Given that we only have a finite amount of energy to play with, one simple way to have more energy for the things you want to do is to reduce the number of things stealing your energy elsewhere.

However, the word “No” has some stigma, and we probably don’t say it enough. Why?

  • We don’t like rejection, so don’t want to reject others 
  • Our default is often to say yes when people as for help

So a great question to ask is “How can we say no without feeling bad and without making others feel rejected?”.

One of my favourite authors, Tim Ferriss, has a great section in his book, Tribe of Mentors, that talks about How To Say No. Rather than re-writing the best bits here, click the link to the article (which is also podcast #282 if your prefer audio) and see how you smile when you hear some of the ways people have been able to phrase a rejection.

Now your turn. What can you say no to today that will allow you to save energy and say a bigger yes to something you are more passionate about?

Productivity

The Ziegarnik Effect postulates that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.

Have you ever been busy at work and then something has popped into your head? It is often something that you haven’t gotten around to finishing yet, and as a result, the Ziegarnik Effect will bring it back to your attention.

Now this can be useful if you are a waiter remembering what people ordered at the tables that still haven’t paid their bills. But if you are trying to get some deep work done in your focus time, little interruptions like this can really knock you out of flow and impact your productivity.

So, know you know about the Ziegarnik Effect, think about how you can complete more tasks so they don’t take up mental space, and try and avoid leaving things unfinished in the future.

I hope these idea have given you something to think about and reminded you of what is most important to focus on for the rest of the week.

Until next time…