I did some consultancy recently…

It was for a small business looking for help with their marketing.

Nothing unusual there.

I occasionally work with entrepreneurs, businesses, and marketing departments, sharing some of the strategies I’ve developed over the years.

But here was the odd thing….

On the day after I got paid for the work, I spotted something on their website that I thought needed improvement.

Even though, technically, I was no longer responsible… and they hadn’t asked for any follow-up reviews…

I couldn’t resist firing off a long (hopefully helpful) email.

Yes, perhaps it’s because I really do care about what happens to the businesses I help…

But I think it was also because of something known as the ‘Ovsiankina effect’.

This is a weirdly compelling psychological force that makes us continue with a project, even when we’re not asked to, or don’t have to.

You might have experienced it in everyday life…

For example, you might say that you’re going to ‘wash up a few plates’, but then you end up cleaning the entire kitchen, top to bottom.

Somehow, you get into a zone where you cannot quite let the job remain partially done.

Now imagine this happening with a home business project!

Instead of forcing yourself to schedule time to ‘work’ on it… you could feel irresistibly compelled to get stuck into it until it’s done – and then go back again and again to make it even better, without requiring any external push.

That could come in handy, right?
What better driving force could you need to get your first profitable online business launched?!

So let’s look at how you might trigger this phenomenon.

A Sequel to the Zeigarnik effect

Last month, I wrote to you about ‘the Zeigarnik effect’.

It describes how our brains can’t deal very well with unfinished business – half-begun tasks nag away at our subconsciousness, never quite allowing us to forget them.

This creates a feeling at the back of our mind that there’s something we really need to get back to.

It can cause a lot of low-level stress and anxiety…

But I also explained that you could also harness that guilt as a motivating force that pushes you to complete a project.

I got a huge response to that email. So, clearly, this is something a lot of readers experience.

And I’m not surprised…

In the world of online business, there are so many tempting new ideas thrown your way every day…. via multiple channels…. that you inevitably dip your toe into a lot of things that you don’t complete.

That’s fine, of course.

Not EVERYTHING will suit you, which is why I recommend trying things out for trial periods.

Sometimes, though, a potentially profitable project goes by the wayside because you cannot quite stay motivated to keep on-track…

Which is a shame…

Because that could have been ‘the one’ if you’d only followed it through!

So today I want to share with you a psychological trick that comes from the very same school of thought as the Zeigarnik effect.

Introducing ‘The Ovsiankina Effect’

Like Bluma Zeigarnik, psychologist Maria Ovsiankina was also a student of Kurt Lewin, one of the modern pioneers in applied psychology.

In response to Zeigarnik’s research, Maria Ovsiankina’s PhD in 1928 focused on how people act after being interrupted during a task.

Whereas Zeigarnik looked at the way unfinished business lingers in the memory, this was all about how unfinished business affects BEHAVIOUR.

She found that when participants were interrupted during a puzzle they often returned to it of their own accord, even when they weren’t instructed to.

Her finding became known as the Ovsiankina Effect.

It describes the way that a project can draw you into its vortex without having ANY obligation to work on it.

Just like when I offered unpaid advice to my client.

For example, a first-time author might spend a year writing a book in their spare time – even with no contract, payment or deadline.

Once they get into it, they feel an overriding need to complete it.

Well, you could activate the same inner drive when it comes to your home income plans…

How to Stimulate the Urge to Complete Tasks

When you start a task, it creates what is known as a ‘quasi-need’.

This is not an essential need, like food, water, or shelter.

And it’s not a deep emotional need like love, recognition, or respect.

It’s a situational need that comes out of circumstance.

Basically, you’ve decided to start something that you haven’t yet finished.

It could be:

• A course you bought…
• A business plan you half-sketched out…
• A product idea you researched…

If you harness the Ovsiankina Effect, you can generate a NEED to complete this, even though there’s nobody forcing you to do it.

For the right p

No contract. No payment. No deadline. No gun to your head.

Instead, this becomes a self-imposed obligation.

Which means you can use this effect to drive you forward without relying on willpower.

Practical Tips for Self-Obligation

Obviously, the key is to start something in the first place – which requires an initial action from you.

But I’m sure you’ve done this in the past and ended up with barely-begun projects littering your computer hard drive.

So rather than choose any old task, I recommend that you consider carefully what the most potentially compelling project might be for you.

What is most likely to trigger that sense of ‘quasi-need’?

If you recall, I recently wrote about how a successful home business needs to start with YOU.

So think first about your personality, experience, skills and life goals.
What project on the table right now most aligns with them?

Or look at the half-finished or once-exciting ideas you’ve dabbled with in the past. Which ones still make you think, “That could’ve been great…”? or “I still reckon this could work for me.”

Don’t worry about what’s trendy or getting all the buzz on YouTube or Instagram.

Think instead about what’s most likely to fire you up, and stimulate that need to keep going on, even when you hit obstacles or get distracted.

Once you settle on something, start small.

Give yourself 30 minutes to work on it with 100% focus…

That could mean brainstorming an idea, doing some market research or writing a basic outline.

When your 30 minutes comes to an end, write yourself a short “to do next” list.

Think of it like the “coming up on the next episode” teasers you get at the end of Netflix TV shows, which leave viewers eager to keep watching.

It’s a way of ‘opening the loop’.

Now walk away and let the psychological tension of the Ovsiankina Effect do its job.

You should feel a nagging pressure to continue – or that the next task on your to-do list keeps cropping up in your thoughts.

That’s great, because your inner sense of obligation is kicking in.

So schedule your next session and let yourself become pulled back in for another 30 minutes.

Don’t forget to keep ‘the loop’ open and leave the task unfinished with another ‘coming up next’ list.

Keep going like this, and you’ll build on that quasi-need to complete the project.

I hope this helps!

But before I go…

Don’t forget I am opening the doors to something very special this Thursday.

For the right people, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to step inside my business (Canonbury Publishing), see how it really works AND get the keys to an exact replica that you can plug in and start profiting from.

Kind of like getting the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory! 😉

Trust me, this is unlike anything you’ve seen before.

If you’re curious, the first step is to join the free discovery list on Thursday. Only those who join will learn what’s involved and even get a chance to apply.

More details soon…