Unfinished business: how small problems hijack our brain

^{It’s Monday, I’m Nithya Sudhir. I collect words, chase patterns, and write about whatever makes me curious.}

Last month, I bought a new desk and connected everything.

A few hours in, the cables started slipping off the edge.

So, I ordered a cable organiser.

Then, I needed cable ties, naturally.

Then, little magnetic clips to “keep things clean.”

Then, a TikTok video told me about cable sleeves. So I bought that.

Somewhere between the second and third purchase, I began to wonder if I was really fixing cables.

As it turns out, I wasn’t. This urge to fix things actually has a name.

And it is quietly shaping how we shop, how DTC brands win, and why Gen Z will happily spend ten pounds to make life feel just one percent smoother.

Oh look, it’s Monday. Let’s get into it.

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In the 1920s, Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin noticed that waiters in a Vienna café could recall every unpaid order, but once the bill was settled, the memory vanished. His student Bluma Zeigarnik turned the hunch into an experiment and proved it.

So, guess what? We remember unfinished tasks far better than finished ones.

That became the Zeigarnik Effect, our brain’s need for closure.

Every half-done task hums like an open browser tab, quietly demanding attention.

A loose wire, an unlabelled jar, a cluttered desktop makes your brain keep asking, “Shouldn’t we fix this?”

And the moment we notice something still unresolved, we feel a subtle pull to complete it.

That is the Ovsiankina Effect. It was discovered soon after by psychologist Maria Ovsiankina, who found that people naturally return to interrupted work even when no one tells them to.

It is not discipline, it is discomfort. Your brain wants to tie the knot it left loose.

So buying a £6 organiser is not about tidying up. It is basically your mind clicking “close tab.”

Nerdwax is a brand built entirely on that need for closure.

Their product is a small stick of beeswax that keeps your glasses from sliding down your nose. One swipe on the nose pads, and the problem is gone. A tiny, specific fix, yet immensely satisfying.

When Don and Lydia Hejny launched the product on Kickstarter in 2014, 2,839 backers pledged over $60,000 to help them turn an everyday irritation into a business. A year later they appeared on Shark Tank. They turned down the offers and still walked away with national attention.

Today, Nerdwax sells a full range of eyewear essentials: cleaning balms, lens cloths shaped like tortillas and hot-dogs, even a “Twist & Clean” stick for smudge emergencies.

Their tone is playful but precise, their audience crystal clear.

Read the reviews on their site: people do not just talk about functionality. They talk about relief.

At ten dollars, it sits below the pain-of-paying threshold, cheap enough to buy on impulse, effective enough to feel like magic.

Nerdwax is not selling wax, it is selling closure in a tube.

Gen Z shoppers are driving this wave of small, satisfying buys.

A 2025 eMarketer study found that 72 percent of consumers made an unplanned purchase in the past month, and over half of Gen Z said they did so after seeing “a clever small product” on social media.

They do not look for big promises, they look for small wins.

1. Think beyond the first use

Most products are designed for the unboxing moment, not the tenth one. Ask: what happens after repeated use? Do cables tangle? Does residue build up?

2. Fix small frictions before they appear

If you sell cables, add a simple Velcro tie in the box. You have pre-solved a future irritation before the customer even feels it.

3. Solve something tiny, not everything

Not every product needs to fix global warming. Sometimes it just needs to stop glasses from slipping, like Nerdwax does.

4. Give users a small win fast

Gen Z shoppers love quick progress. A visible, immediate result, such as a desk clip that instantly tames cables, beats a long setup process.

5. Never mistake size for significance

Small details—the click of a lid, the way packaging closes, the free cleaning cloth—often shape how “premium” a brand feels.

People remember how complete something felt, not how complicated it was.

Because at the end of the day, all we really want is for the world to stop wobbling for a second.

And sometimes, all it takes is a drop of wax, a cable clip, and a well-designed ah, finally.

As always, hit reply if something in here hits home.

See you next week,
Nithya

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