When we represent time in terms of months and days (rather than years), it helps us think and plan.
If we begin to measure time in smaller categories, important events seem closer and we are more willing, for example, to save money for a future pension, even if there are tens of thousands of days left to live before it. “We have found a new way to motivate ourselves to work towards long-term goals, and it does not depend on willpower or character,” says lead author Daphna Oyserman, a psychologist at the University of Southern California.
Oizerman and her co-author Neil Lewis Jr. of the University of Michigan set up a series of seven experiments using a variety of methods to see if there was a link between units of time and motivation.
The first two experiments involved 162 volunteers. They were given several scenarios to read, which described how they went shopping or learned the material or did something else, preparing for a future event – an exam, a wedding, a presentation, a birthday … Then they were asked to guess how much time was left until then events. It turned out that when participants measured time in smaller units, the event seemed closer to them — on average, 29,7 days closer when they changed months to days, and 8,7 months closer when they changed years to months.
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Then they began to find out whether this approach helps to motivate people to action. 1100 volunteers were recruited, who were offered one of three scenarios and indicated one of two units for measuring time. The question was: when would they start saving money, for example, for a university education or for retirement? In some scenarios, university studies were supposed to start in 18 years, or 6570 days. The retirement age came in 30 years, or 10 days.
On average, participants made the decision to start saving immediately when the time frame was measured in days rather than years. As it turned out, such a calculation helped them to feel better connection with the “future self”, and it was easier for them to give up some expenses today for the sake of the future. When time is measured in days, it doesn’t seem like such a sacrifice.
Oizerman thinks this technique could come in handy for anyone who needs to start saving for retirement or children’s education, or even just start working on a term paper, dissertation, or any other long-term task.
For more information, see N. Lewis, D. Oyserman “When Does the Future Begin? Time Metrics Matter, Connecting Present and Future Selves ». Psychological Science, online publication of April 23, 2015.