By Manny Roman, CRES
I was struggling to discover a topic to write about that I would find interesting to write about. Since I have led such a sheltered life, there exists an excessive amount of stuff I know nothing about. This fact provides me with a wonderful sense of ignorance that allows for a meandering quest for useless knowledge. I then can pick something with which to bore you.
First let me explain my meaning when I say “useless knowledge.” Since I have been in the field of technical training most of my life, my definition of learning may differ from yours. Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior. Having knowledge neatly tucked in your head is useless. The application of that knowledge is where the value lies.
Somehow I came across the “Hemingway effect” in my wanderings and was intrigued, until I saw what it really means. I thought I was going to be captivated and motivated by the man’s daiquiri drinking prowess; the record apparently was 16 doubles without sugar. I was looking forward to reading about his KGB spy days and his sleeping with a bear.
Apparently, the effect is about the useful interruption. When asked by an aspiring writer how much should be written in a day, he said that the secret is to stop writing at a point where you are going good and know what will happen next. That is the secret to many things and has been the subject of confirming research. The point is that interrupting your work when you are doing well at it and know what to do next provides for high motivation to complete that work when you return to it. I will now interrupt this work and go drink a daiquiri.
I’m back and realized that I missed a very important point. I was to know what came next before the interruption. One, maybe two more daiquiris. Be back soon.
Well, I am not doing this correctly. According to research, if you have the additional benefit of structure and are somewhat closer to the finish, then this is highly motivating to complete the task when you return after the interruption. So, failing to complete a task can have a positive effect on the motivation to complete that task.
This seems counter to everything that I was always lectured about. Don’t stop until you finish what you started. Keep your nose to the grindstone even when it’s bleeding. You are way too lazy. You must give 110% at all times, blah, blah. Get the job done, then you can drink all the daiquiris you want.
The premise of the research was that not finishing a task can be motivational. Students were given a task and then interrupted. Those who were close to completing the task were significantly more motivated to go back and complete the task than those who had further to go to completion. The researches believe that optimism increases when we are close to completing something because we all need to believe in ourselves.
In a study, researchers interrupted some students and allowed others to complete a task and then asked all of them to conduct some online shopping for specific items. They were given a choice of items that may or may not have been the correct choices. They found that those who were interrupted were significantly more likely to buy rather than continue looking for more correct choices.
This is why all those interruptions in your daily life have a negative effect.
So, why not continue on to the completion? Why the interruption?
For the Hemingway effect to produce the desired effect it cannot randomly occur by external forces. It must be intentional, from within, with the correct timing and applied to a task that has been split into logical components. In other words, you decide when to stop at a point when you are doing well and know what to do when you come back. You will be excited to get back and elated when done. In my opinion, this will have two effects. First, you will be motivated and excited to get back to the work. Second, you will not have the small disappointing feeling that often accompanies the satisfaction of a task newly completed. Whatever task comes next is at its beginning point. You will not be even close to the interruption point we talked about so you will not be as motivated.
I know that now is the correct timing to interrupt because I’m running out of space and I know what is coming next. I will now attempt to break Hemingway’s daiquiri record.