Tips for closing out the year with grace and skill.
How often do you say, “By the end of the end, I’ll…” We often set the deadline for accomplishing our goals and have specific expectations of how things should be by the end of the year. If we haven’t done everything we intended, we may feel a sense of urgency, panic, even despair, as mid-December rolls around. Here are some tips, backed by research, to put things into perspective and help you close out the year with grace and skill — and find peace.
1. Beware of The Zeigarnik effect. We tend to remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones, called the Zeigarnik effect by Gestalt psychologists. At the end of the year, it’s easy to shine a spotlight on what’s left undone and to forget all that we’ve accomplished. You can counteract this effect by making a list of all the important tasks you’ve accomplished this year.
2. Balance out the negativity bias. We have a cognitive bias to focus on what’s wrong rather than what’s right. Looking for threats in the environment gave us an evolutionary advantage by staying alert to possible dangers and problems. But this way of thinking can negatively distort our view of how things are going in our life. When you find yourself focusing on the negative, try making a list of good things in…
