When the aspiring writer Arnold Samuelson hitch-hiked his way to meet Ernest Hemingway in 1934, he received more than just a moment with his literary hero. Samuelson stayed with Hemingway for a year, learning about writing and life from the famed author. Among the many insights Hemingway shared was a simple yet powerful strategy for finishing work and getting the words right, now known as the Hemingway effect.
The main thing is to know when to stop. […] When you’re still going good and you come to an interesting place and you know what’s going to happen next, that’s the time to stop. (Ernest Hemingway)
While this advice may seem counterintuitive in today’s productivity-obsessed world, research has shown that Hemingway’s technique taps into underappreciated aspects of human psychology that can help us work more efficiently and produce better outcomes.
The science behind unfinished tasks
In the 1920s, psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik noticed that waiters had exceptional memories for orders until the diners left, at which point the information seemed to evaporate. Her experiments revealed that unfinished tasks create psychological tension, causing us to remember associated information more vividly. This phenomenon became known as the Zeigarnik effect.
Zeigarnik’s colleague Maria Ovsiankina discovered another facet of this psychology. Unfinished tasks intrude on our thoughts, urging us to complete them, and this urge is stronger for unfinished tasks than for tasks we haven’t started. The Ovsiankina effect suggests that even if you can’t complete something all at once, making a start can increase your dedication to finishing it.
Harnessing the Hemingway effect
Hemingway’s advice incorporates these psychological phenomena into a productivity tool. Stopping work at an exciting moment when you know what happens next makes it easier to return to the task. It’s like a self-made cliffhanger that maintains your desire to see things through.
Research supports the Hemingway effect, suggesting that it spurs motivation when you can gauge what more needs to be done to complete an unfinished task. This may increase your expectation that your work will lead to success.
Applying the strategy effectively
To use the Hemingway effect effectively:
Remember, work is never truly finished. There will always be another project or task. Do the work, but never at the expense of your wellness or ability to live life fully.
Stopping at the right moment can harness the power of the Hemingway effect to boost productivity, overcome procrastination, and finish what you start while still making time for a fulfilling life outside of work. As Hemingway showed, sometimes the key to moving forward is knowing when to pause.