Every new year, people add more goals to their already overloaded lives, then they wonder why nothing changes.
The problem is not ambition, discipline, or motivation.
It’s cognitive overload.
More specifically: open loops.
An open loop is not just an unfinished task. It’s an unresolved decision. Something you know requires action, clarity, or closure, but hasn’t received it.
It’s a conversation you keep postponing, a commitment you never fully accepted, or a direction you never chose but never abandoned either.
Each open loop consumes energy because the brain keeps revisiting it. Not consciously, but in the background.
The mind is constantly running an evaluation: should I act on this now, or not?
That ongoing ambiguity is expensive.
This is why people feel tired even when they aren’t doing much. The fatigue doesn’t come from effort. It comes from unresolved prioritisation.
What makes this worse is how people approach goal-setting.
When a new year starts, most don’t close existing loops, they create new ones. New goals, new standards, and new promises to themselves.
It feels productive, it creates a sense of momentum, but it’s mostly symbolic.
They stack future obligations on top of unresolved past decisions, using the same limited attention and energy. Eventually the system breaks. Focus becomes fragmented, motivation drops, and self-trust erodes.
There’s a reason opening loops feels good. It provides dopamine without consequence. Starting is safe, planning is safe, and talking about change is safe.
Closing loops is different. Closure requires finality.
It forces you to choose one path and discard others. It removes optionality and exposes you to outcomes you can no longer avoid.
Most people avoid closure because it creates consequence, and consequence creates accountability.
This is why highly intelligent, creative people often struggle the most.
They generate ideas easily, but delay decisions. High optionality with low decision finality leads to chronic mental noise.
High performers operate differently. They’re more decisive, they close loops quickly. They say no without over-explaining, and they accept the downstream effects.
They trade optionality for clarity, and that restores energy.
A useful rule: don’t open a new loop unless one of three conditions is met:
It has a clear closing date
It replaces an existing loop
It is fully within your control
Anything else is mental debt.
If you want to apply this practically, start simple.
Write down everything you keep “meaning to get to.” Conversations, decisions, loose commitments, or ideas you’ve half-adopted. Then identify which ones drain energy when they cross your mind. Those are the dominant loops.
For each, force one outcome. Decide, schedule closure, or consciously abandon it. No “I’ll think about it”, no vague timelines, no maybes.
What most people miss is this: energy doesn’t primarily come from rest.
Rest helps, but it doesn’t solve cognitive overload.
Energy comes from resolution.
When you stop carrying unanswered questions, attention returns, confidence rebuilds, and momentum becomes easier to sustain.
If you want this year to feel different, don’t start by setting bigger goals.
Start by closing the loops that no longer serve you.
If you enjoyed this, share it with a friend.
Until next time, keep creating!
Omara
