How many of these statements apply to you in the last two weeks?

• I have felt overwhelmed at the sheer volume of my work
• I missed (or nearly missed) an important deadline
• I completely forgot to fill in the blank
• Many potentially important emails sit in my Inbox, unread
• I cancelled a meeting, last minute, to free up time on my calendar
• I work several 12-hour days each week
• I work at least six hours most weekends

I won’t say, “If you selected at least three from the list above then you are scientifically considered a mess.” You’re not a mess. I will say, however, that if one or more of these comments apply, then you will benefit (no, greatly benefit) from the practice of list making. Yes…the age-old practice of a to-do list.

It’s hard to fight an enemy we don’t see.

So, who is the enemy when we don’t get things done? We are! I’m talking about a psychological phenomenon known as the Zeigarnik Effect.

Bluma Zeigarnik was a Soviet psychologist who conducted a now-landmark experiment in 1927. She tested the ability of participants to remember tasks. The outcomes revealed something curious about how our brains are wired to mark things off a list.

We are said to be experiencing the Zeigarnik Effect when we experience intrusive thoughts about something that we once pursued but left incomplete. And we all do this. I mean, every one of us experiences a nagging feeling, an intrusive thought, when we aren’t getting everything done that we want to get done.

Do you ever get ready to leave the house and have a sense that you are forgetting something?

That sense is the Zeigarnik Effect. Have you ever gone to the grocery store without first making a list and try to walk the isles hoping to scan the shelves effectively so that you don’t forget an item? That low-level worry you might forget something is also the Zeigarnik Effect.

We have an automatic signal floating around inside our brains when something is only partially finished, even though we now focus on a new, critical task. These thoughts trigger a dissonance until we complete the unfinished work. At some point, we may even experience stress when higher level tasks are incomplete. Yet this can happen just below our awareness, in our subconscious.

This is where a To Do List is invaluable to our own success.

By getting the unfinished work out of our brain and onto a paper (or electronic tool in our phone or laptop or tablet), we are removing the disharmony, the static, the intrusive thought.

Making lists is sometimes so effortless, like a grocery list, that it’s almost inconceivable we don’t use this same technique for our career action items. Those who do use lists have a big advantage over others.

Not the list-making type? That’s okay. In the next segment I will share creative ways to make it a career changing habit.

Shawn Sommerkamp is a motivational speaker and Executive Coach with 20+ years of Fortune 100 leadership experience. He founded Motivationeer™ to coach Christian professionals how to use their career to glorify God and support local church growth.