Interstitial Journaling
Anne-Laure Le Cunff · 2020
"Logging a few sentences at the exact transition point between tasks — what you just did, how you feel, what's next — reduces cognitive load and counters procrastination more effectively than either rigid daily planning or end-of-day review, because it intervenes precisely at the moment attention is most likely to drift."
Interstitial journaling, a technique Le Cunff adapted from Tony Stubblebine, replaces both the rigid forward-looking to-do list and the exhausting end-of-day review with something simpler: writing a timestamped note, a sentence or two, every time you finish one task and move to the next, capturing what you just did, any lingering thought or anxiety, and what you're about to start.
The mechanism works on two levels. First, it targets procrastination at its actual source — Le Cunff argues procrastination is usually an emotional-regulation problem, not a discipline problem, and naming a feeling, 'feeling anxious about this call,' in the moment lets the brain process it instead of escaping into a distraction. Second, it neutralizes the Zeigarnik effect, the tendency for unfinished tasks to keep nagging at working memory — dumping the loose thread into the journal before switching tasks frees up attention that would otherwise keep circling back to what's unfinished, making the next task easier to actually focus on.
What does interstitial journaling specifically ask you to do, according to Le Cunff?
Read more about the topic
The explanation above is written with AI assistance. These are the originals — go to them to check it.
- Interstitial journaling: combining notes, to-do and time trackingNess Labs
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