I have learned through Getting Things Done, by both reading the book and by using its techniques, that having an open thread in your mind consumes resources. In this book we learn that an unresolved thread sits in your brain where your subconscious will attempt to resolve it. David Allen describes a situation where any thought that you've not logged and haven't described an outcome and a next action can occupy an open thread in your mind.

Well, this post is about something I call Unfounded Desire. An unfounded desire is a type of thought that eludes resolution out of fuzziness either by being convoluted and containing many poorly defined concepts, or by not being based on reality or not being possible. This fuzziness prevents the subconscious process from being able to resolve the thread into a final conclusion or at least a stable outcome that can be turned into actions.

At the very least, these mental processes cloud your mind, affecting your motivation - you may find yourself drawn to ruminating on these desires over other, perhaps more pertinent tasks. Furthermore the experience of these desires cause a level of discomfort as you reject the current state of the universe.

Whilst desire in itself is a natural process, in that desires arise at their own time, the fuzziness of unfounded desires gives them a level of stickiness that makes them more problematic, and in need of work to make progress.

As of yet, I have found these ways to deal with unfounded desires.

Ignoring

Understanding that these desires are unfounded, you may choose to release them. This is the cleanest way to resolve an unfounded desire in that it requires little extra time or money, but it can also feel unsatisfying since it is not a resolution to the desire. Releasing a desire is a conscious action, but the desire is a subconscious action that you're not in direct control of.

If you have a mind that features an Interest Cycle, waiting can allow an unfounded desire to pass out of interest and settle down. This is not the same as resolution, and does not guarantee it won't return.

Following

As the rumination on the unfounded desire progresses, it occasionally manifests an attachment to a thing that promises to resolve the desire, whether that's to do a particular thing, or to have a particular thing. You can follow up on these attachments to fulfil the desire.

Since unfounded desires are fuzzy, the risk is that the attachment it manifested is not a complete representation of the desire, and following this desire will only lead to temporary resolution.

Direct Inspection

By setting aside time to illuminate this desire, you can attempt to form and answer questions the desire spawns, so that you may force the desire to reduce in scope. Gradually this causes the unfounded desire to become tangible, until you can identify its the core point and act on it.

In some cases, direct inspection of an unfounded desire can resolve it.

In other cases, inspection may result in coming to understand that the desire is truly baseless. This may cause a resolution, or it may still leave an open thread.

In some cases, the desire changes and will re-establish itself later.

Inspecting your desires is probably the most comprehensive technique for dealing with unfounded desires. It always helps to form concrete expectations for tasks. It can also lead you to greater understanding of your ego.