First interpretation: unfinished tasks occupy short-term memory. Since we can remember maximum 7 things (to add reference), closing tasks or postponing in a meaningful way (like taking a note) frees us from cognitive load.
See also
- Daily Zettelkasten process, fleeting notes rewritten to atomic — capturing a fleeting thought into the vault is a Zeigarnik closure: the idea is no longer “open” in working memory once it has a trusted home
- L’Azione non è Solo l’Effetto della Motivazione — È Anche la Sua Causa — starting a task (even partially) keeps it active in memory and pulls you back to it; the Zeigarnik effect is the psychological mechanism behind why starting works
- Natural Batching, start a batch as soon as requests arrive, complete it when full or queue is empty — the actor’s queue is the trusted system: messages are captured and closed, freeing the sender from holding them in memory