I'd say this effect is a perfectly rational part of being a functioning actor in a complex environment. Partly completed tasks need to stay relatively high on the stack when interrupted to make it possible to continue the task when the interruption has been dealt with. Completed tasks quickly sink down the stack to be garbage collected since there is no need to keep that baggage around. A task is only complete when there are no more benefits to be had from pushing it up to the top of the stack, e.g. he who just graduated and is now looking for a job will keep his education and graduation near the top of the stack as it gets pushed up at every interview. Once he lands a secure job (or so he thinks) they'll gradually sink down to become part of history. If he were to change jobs those historical achievements might get pulled up again but this is not a given since their value has diminished compared to his more recent professional experience.
Sure, this is disputed, but I do wonder if it explains why my unfinished projects make me hate myself so much while my finished ones don't give me any real sense of pride.
Do you ever use or play with your finished projects? I find just finishing something doesn't do much for me, but seeing it being used (even if it's just me using it myself) is eternally rewarding.
I wonder how this plays into context switching in the workplace specifically with software development or related jobs? I find myself struggling to keep context on the stack while handling an interruption. It makes me wonder how many tasks I actually do remember.
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