Podcaster Discusses Sensitivity to Incompleteness

Podcaster Rob Dial recently presented a topic very worthy of my consideration, and timely in today's world of media manipulation. People are instinctively sensitive to things in their life that are incomplete, with the lacking element(s) tending to gnaw at their consciousness until closure is attained.  That's why they give sly little teasers on the network news shows just before commercial breaks, hinting at some major revelation that usually fizzles...the same thing applies to Internet news feeds, the lead-in statement usually sensationalizing the often-trite "deeper" story, once you commit and click on it.  With our personal lives, loose ends of unfinished business similarly gnaw at us, robbing our ability to be at peace and concentrate our attention on specific tasks. Dial suggests we make a list (he's a big advocate of sitting down with pen and paper) of the things we want to accomplish in a given day and then prioritize them as to the most important.  Then further break those down to more "bite-size" time-consuming units that allow a sense of completion. He also recommends the Pomodoro Technique of cycled, complete focus for 25 minutes, followed by a break for 5 minutes...then resume.  At day's end, review the list, noting what's been completed (celebrate this) and then put what's left over, in order of priority, on the next day's list.  This helps to clear the mind of those creeping feelings of failure that incompleteness can instill. I know that for me there are several ongoing projects I'm working on, and a few that I want to start.  Conceptualizing them by blocks of time spent working on them...and recording my progress on paper...helps me to feel...for the given day...that sense of completion that helps me meet the next morning with a more positive outlook.  Of course, if you're Bill Murray's alter ego Phil Connors on this calendar date you can just relive the same day over and over and over again, taking your sweet little time getting better...