“If you cannot define it or act upon it, forget it.” -Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek
Shackled
We’ve all been there. After sitting down to do a specific task, you find that your mind is racing and thinking about 1 million other things. You jump from email to social media to starting a new list of things to complete today. None of those things get you closer to completing the task.
After a long day with minimal progress you lay your head down on the pillow hoping to fall asleep quickly. Despite your exhaustion you just can’t seem to fall asleep. Instead your mind is darting through the list of things you must do tomorrow. The more you have to do, the more you want to just fall asleep to be well rested. The irony is that you cannot fall asleep because your mind is constantly recounting those future tasks and events. Your mind is churning through all the open loops.
What are Open Loops?
The human mind is designed to keep track of everything you want to accomplish that remains undone. In a calendar, you can place a task at some point in the future, and when that point arrives, the task prompt will be there waiting. The mind cannot do that. To keep track of everything it must constantly review the item to ensure it does not get lost.
This method of tracking things is called Open Loops. David Allen of GTD defines an Open Loop as “anything pulling at your attention that doesn’t belong where it is, the way it is.”
An example; you get your cell phone bill and notice it is abnormally high. You decide you’re going to call the company to figure out why there is an additional charge. At that moment, your mind creates an open loop.
As you move on throughout your day, this open loop will casually pop into your mind. Even when you are attempting to work on high-brainpower tasks the open loop will persist.
This open loop, along with many others, erodes your ability to efficiently complete higher level tasks. The more open loops there are, the more your brain must juggle working on the current task and maintaining memory of the future tasks.
Open Loops Kill Focus
There are four negative ways open loops affect you:
- Quality of sleep
- Quality of relationships
- Productivity
- Organization
While open loops are the way your mind ensures you remember the tasks that need to be accomplished, it comes at a cost. Having only a few open loops is nearly unnoticeable and unobtrusive. As they add up, your mind gets weighed down. Think of a computer with too many applications and web-browser tabs open. Eventually the machine becomes nearly unusable.
Open loops affect sleep. My grandfather often complained of not being able to fall asleep at a reasonable time. His mind constantly stepped through all the open loops he wanted to close during the next day. It happens to me as well. At the times I want to fall asleep quickly to maximize rest, I tend to continuously run through what my course of action will be when I wake up.
Relationships are severely affected by open loops. Tempers tend to flare up as we become stressed with the shackles of open loops. Even when spending dedicated quality time with those we love, we can be distracted with the open loops to the point of total absenteeism. I am guilty of this. In the same way our sleep is hijacked by the open loops, our human interactions are degraded due to the open loops. This is most likely to happen with those we love and are comfortable with.
Productivity is reduced when your mind is constantly jumping from one open loop to the next. As your mind attempts to remember all the open loops, it will become easily distracted. Any reference to a bill payment will immediately derail the current train of thought and bring to mind the cell phone bill you need to call and ask about.
Finally, open loops can affect your overall effectiveness. A disorganized mind tends to manifest a disorganized life. The more open tasks we have floating around in our minds, the less effective we can be simply because our focus is being taxed.
Clear the Inbox
With the goal of reaching clarity of mind to focus, what can be done to eradicate currently open loops and ensure that future open loops are kept at bay?
There are techniques that can be employed immediately that will give short-term relief. These allow progress and clarity over the next few days. But true steps toward progress are in the systems built to create good habits in the long-term.
Following are six ways we can deal with open loops and create ‘free space’. Each of these include the short-term fix (ST) and the long-term systemic solution (LT).
1. Deal with open loops in batch.
ST: Begin by spending 10 minutes to make a list of all the big and small things you have to do. Block off half a day and relentlessly knock them out one by one.
LT: Build flex time into your weekly schedule to “clear the inbox.” Crush the build-up of items that need to be done in one fell swoop. To me this means taking 20 minutes to go through my email inbox and address as many emails as possible. It means clearing the running todo list in my Todoist app. It means taking 15 minutes to declutter my workspace, addressing each item positively and with as much finality as possible. Clearing out the digital and physical inboxes work wonders for clearing out the mind.
2. Never allow simple tasks to be continually pushed into the future. These pesky items insidiously build up and eventually grow to the point of debilitation.
ST: Apply the 2 min rule. This was made famous in David Allen’s GTD system. As tasks pop up, evaluate whether they require more or less than two minutes. If it will take less than two minutes, immediately complete the task and close the open loop. If it requires longer than two minutes, definitively decide when you will revisit the task in the future.
LT: Make a habit of completing the simple tasks as they come up. For example, if an object is already in your hand, take the extra two seconds to put it away. Do not set it down out of place, creating clutter and future mental taxation. If it is an email, address it, and delete or archive it. Automate as much as possible; bills, renewals, etc. With the prevalence of Internet of Things, we now have the ability to automate a myriad of simple tasks. This ensures peace of mind that those things will be completed on time with no future work. Read David Bach’s The Automatic Millionaire, and Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to be Rich books for more on automating your financial life.
3. Write them down. This ties nicely with point #2.
ST: As you execute the 2 minute rule and come across a task that requires longer than two minutes, you MUST write it down. This accomplishes two things: first, you multiply the likelihood of completing the task in the future, and second, you close the open loop. Your mind is no longer required to remember the task because you have written it down, thereby creating free space.
LT: Develop a system for capturing. Attempting to file an idea or future task in your mind leads to frustration and incessant open loops. The chances of remembering your brilliant idea or future to-do is far greater if it is written down. It is of the utmost importance to develop a system for capture that works for you. It must be readily available and a discipline must be built to regularly revisit the medium. I recommend only having one or two methods of capture. My capture medium of choice is the Todoist. It can be accessed via iOS or Android app, as well as through an internet browser. You can set up recurring events and any interval. Tasks can be organized into projects allowing the storage of many types of data. Other options include a bullet journal, calendar or web tools such as Evernote. The bottom line is that the capture method must work for you. Experiment for a few days with different mediums, but choose one and stick with it long enough to build a discipline around it.
4. Create a routine. If it is in a routine it is no longer an open loop. Your mind knows the task will happen as a part of the routine.
ST: Write down a checklist to guide you through all the steps of a process that you must do on a regular basis. I have a list of the minimum items I must pack when I go on a business trip. There is a checklist of things I must to at the end of every year to ensure my financial life is secure and on track. A checklist will reduce the amount of open loops generated during critical events. This frees your mind to make higher level decisions with clarity.
LT: A system of habits built around the necessary rituals of the day will produce stunning results. From physical fitness to mental fitness, habits formed around healthy practices are fundamental to success. Keith Cunningham says, “Ordinary things, consistently done, produce extraordinary results.” Always show up and get it done. A system of habits do not require open loops in your mind, because they happen automatically and without conscious thought.
5. Give yourself permission to not address everything. This is very difficult. In a world of hyperconnection and FOMO, we are inundated with the noise of worthless time-sucking distractions. Cut through the noise to that which matters.
ST: Evaluate it as unnecessary and simply let it go.
LT: Learn to say no. Reserve your ‘yes’ for the opportunities that will make a difference. As James Clear says, “No is a decision. Yes is a responsibility.”
6. Acknowledge that it will take time to develop these systems. Just because you spend an hour on it today does not mean there will be an appreciable difference in your focus and clarity tomorrow. Nonetheless, this realization is the most important. No long-term progress will be made without development of and adherence to a system. The specifics of the system is up to you because it will only be successful if it works for you.
ST: Begin developing your system for closing open loops and preventing unnecessary new loops. Set aside 30 minutes of dedicated time to deliberately identify ways open loops are a drain on focus. Find the root cause and form a system using the above techniques to reduce persistent open loops.
LT: Keep steadily working on it. With consistently applied effort, a new lifestyle will emerge. The open loops will be controlled and your mind will be free to focus on the thinking and work that matters.
Closing those Loops Today
Consciously choose one method today and act on it. The single most beneficial option that has helped me is capture. We are realistically never going to close all loops. There needs to be a way to capture the open loops so that the mind can release them, knowing they will be revisited at the appropriate time. From there it is incredibly easy to either complete it, postpone it to a specific date, or simply let it go.
References
- Allen, David (2015). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2 ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143126560.
- https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-use-the-getting-things-done-gtd-productivity-system–cms-20552
- https://learndobecome.com/want-to-calm-your-mind-close-the-open-loops/
- https://hamberg.no/gtd/
- http://www.productivitybits.com/conquering-the-open-loops-of-productivity
- https://jamesclear.com/
