Alex,

One of my professors in my previouis department department, a highly accomplished researcher, used this technique all the time, and tried to teach her students and mentees (myself among them) to do the same.

You might be further interested in looking into something called the Zeigarnick effect. It's an extension of a psychological principle by Kurt Lewin - basically the idea is that when we start an action our brain begins building momentum and agitation towards completing the action. Interrupting the action in the middle produces frustration and fixation, and this frustration remains until the task is closed. Thus, leaving things incomplete is a great way to motivate yourself. You've already stated something exactly like this in your piece - I figured you would appreciate knowing that there is a parallel to your thinking in the psychological literature that you might look into for further support.

The actual research evidence supporting this is less conclusive than I like, but modern psychologists seem to generally agree that something like it happens.

J