When we represent time in terms of months and days rather than years, we plan much better. 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 Daphne Oizerman, 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 various methods to see if there was a connection 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 before events.
It turned out that when the participants measured time in smaller units, the event seemed closer to them — an average of 29,7 days closer when they replaced months with days, and 8,7 months closer when they replaced years with months.
Then the scientists began to find out if this approach helps to motivate people to take action.
They recruited 1100 volunteers who were given one of three scenarios and 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.
N. Lewis, D. Oyserman «When Does the Future Begin? Time Metrics Matter, Connecting Present and Future Selves». Psychological Science, April 2015.