The Open Loops That Rule Your Life

A big mess of open loops are running your life and they’re probably sopping up time you could be spending on your startup like a sponge. Let’s get into it.

Your Backpack

I visualize everything currently taking up space in your life as sitting in a giant, virtual backpack - projects at work, personal relationships, long-term goals (like training for a marathon or eating healthy or meditating every morning), mortgage/rent payments, kid(s) stuff if you’ve got a kid(s), Slow Horses (🐐).

These might seem like “responsibilities,” but that’s the wrong word. Responsibility implies that you have to do a thing. A much better descriptor are Loops. Your backpack is filled with Loops.

Our Brains Work On Open Loops

When you text someone happy birthday, you’ve opened a loop.

This might be a great thing. If it’s a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, this is an additive loop. But it’s still a loop. Because once they respond to you, you’ve got to answer the inevitable follow-up:

The second you write Happy Birthday, you’ve entered into a binding contract where you’ll respond some number of times until someone says “great catching up, talk soon!” and that loop is closed.

Ongoing loops, like a group chat or a social media account, are trickier. Since they never end, the loop never closes. Your brain is passively monitoring those conversations like an internal Siri, waiting for something relevant to pop up… indefinitely.

Indefinite loops are extremely taxing on your subconscious, because not only are you always listening for your name, you’ve also signaled to your subconscious that this loop is top priority. If it’s open, it needs attention until it’s closed. If it never closes…

You start to see life through the lens of social media or group chats or whatever open loops you’ve got, because your subconscious thinks it’s important. No bueno.

You’ve probably got a bunch of hidden open loops, too.

Every time you say “Ah! I’ve got to” or “I should really,” that’s your brain working on an open loop. Plants to water, a new nice sweater that requires dry cleaning, air filters that need to get changed every six months, a humidifier that needs to be cleaned every two, a LinkedIn account that you think you should post on twice a week, a friend you get dinner with every two months, a news story you think you should stay up on.

All open loops. And open loops create anxiety.

Loop Awareness

Since your brain is wired to work on open loops until they’re closed, it’s probably good to at least know how many loops you’ve got open.

This can be painful, but you can’t fix what you don’t know.

Start with your phone. See what group chats and social media are “running in the background.”

Then, move out in concentric circles - texts, emails, side projects, podcasts, books, journals, etc.

Hit on work stuff (projects, bosses that need attention, etc.) and personal relationships.

The best way to uncover loops is to spend a week journaling all the stuff you spend time on, noting if the loop stays open or closes.

Without an audit, the next step is like creating a monthly budget without knowing your expenses.

”Knowing what I know now…”

If you want to start a business, or do anything that’ll take serious mental and physical space, you’ve got to clear out the unwanted loops.

Which brings us to the hard part. Removal.

It’s very possible that at some point the group chats or social accounts or whatever served you. Which is where maybe the single most important questions to ask yourself comes in:

Knowing what I know now, would I start doing this again today?

Knowing what you know about LinkedIn, or a group chat, or any loop you’ve lived with for a while - would you do it over again, starting today?

Some deeper, follow-on questions can help:

What am I hiring this loop to do?

• If you’re hiring the LinkedIn loop for business opportunities, are there better ways to achieve that goal?

• If you’re hiring the group chat to stay in touch with your friends, are there better ways to do that?

• Does posting on LinkedIn actually get you business opportunities? Which ones have you gotten?

• Does a group chat actually keep you in touch with your friends? How close do you feel to each member because of it?

• Does following this news story help me in any way? Have I done anything because of it?

When you’re adding something to your life, what loops will it create? Are they worth it?

How to close down loops

It’s very hard to actually leave a group chat or delete social media. So, position it as a month-long trial. Delete the group chat and LinkedIn for a month and try a different solution for the problems of keeping in touch and building business opportunities. Then, in a month, decide if you’d like to add it back in.

Lighten up

Your backpack is filled with open loops that are causing you anxiety and soaking up time you could be working on something interesting.

Lighten it up.