Closing Your Loops
Why unfinished tasks drain our energy, and how to restore clarity and momentum
I onboarded a new coaching client last month who is building an innovative product in the postpartum space. She has a bold vision and the drive to bring it to life while walking directly into a category that requires FDA approval and close collaboration with scientists and engineers. At the same time, she is the mother of an almost one-year-old, the wife of another successful entrepreneur, and lives in Manhattan with meaningful help and support around her.
On paper, the lights are all green.
And yet, when we began working together, she described feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and scattered. Her executive function is low, and she carried the persistent sense that she was constantly working, but somehow never moving anything forward. As she put it, she had thirty tabs open in her mind at all times.
Recognize this feeling?
When we began to unpack what was happening, the pattern became clear: she had far too many “open loops”.
A loop is any task, decision, or interaction that you begin, but never quite finish. It might be a text message you read and forgot to respond to. A “to do” list item that turned out to be more complicated than expected so you put it off. A new idea that suddenly feels more exciting than the project you were about to complete. Sometimes the loops are practical, and sometimes they are more emotional: the apology you owe, the therapist you need to break up with, the decision you know needs to happen but continue to avoid.
Individually, none of these things seem like that big of deal. But collectively, they begin to buzz in the background of the mind all day long, drawing down your energy in huge ways.
Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as the Zeigarnik Effect, which describes the brain’s tendency to remember incomplete tasks more vividly than completed ones. Plainly, the mind has a hard time letting go of the unfinished business. Every open loop continues to occupy a small amount of mental and energetic space, much like leaving dozens of browser tabs open on a computer.
Over time, this results in cognitive clutter. You may be working constantly, but your attention is fragmented, and progress feels slower and heavier than it could.
I always use the example of when you are about to go on vacation, and all of a sudden you can get so much done to complete work, all inboxes are at zero, and you have checked off all of your personal tasks. This is because you have set an intention and are not allowing the loops to remain open.
Closing loops is simply the practice of restoring some order to your mental landscape so your attention can return to the work that actually matters.
But, HOW?
