Changing how you think about time could help you accomplish year-end goals: Q&A

The way time is described can shape everything from our motivation to our decision-making, according to new research from behavioral scientist Dr. Deepak Sirwani, an assistant professor at the UBC Sauder School of Business. The study is published in the Journal of Marketing Research.

For example, if you hear you have only three months left to accomplish your 2026 New Year’s resolutions, you might spring into action right away. But if you hear you still have two months and 17 days, you probably won’t feel as much urgency—even though the time is actually less.

Sirwani speaks about how people perceive time depending on how it is framed.

What has your research revealed about how we perceive time?

We found that people perceive a duration as longer when it’s described using a larger unit plus a smaller unit, such as “2 hours and 55 minutes,” rather than the larger unit alone, such as “3 hours,” even though the latter is longer. We saw this across 10 studies, including data from more than 10,000 online course listings and nine experiments with over 6,000 participants.

People mentally represent the time using the units they’re given. When you hear “3 hours,” you think in hours. When you hear “2 hours and 55 minutes,” the minutes come into focus, making the duration feel like many small units rather than a few large ones. A duration can feel longer, even when the amount of time is the same or slightly shorter.

How should we think about time if we want to achieve more?

It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

If your goal is to get started or avoid procrastination, it can help to frame the time commitment in a way that feels more manageable.

If you’re setting a deadline, you may want to think about how far away it feels. For example, “Dec. 15 at 8 p.m.” can feel farther away than simply “Dec. 15” because adding the time makes people think in hours rather than days.

In one study, people were less willing to wait a few days for a larger payment when the payment date included a time of day, because the wait felt longer. We did not test procrastination directly, but when a deadline feels farther away, people may be more likely to put things off.

The same idea applies to goals. In another study, people set lower weekly exercise goals when they were displayed in hours and minutes, such as “1 hour and 55 minutes” rather than round hours such as “2 hours,” because the same amount of time felt like more.

What’s an example that people have probably experienced without realizing it?

A good example is expiration dates of food and medicine.

A product with an expiration date labeled “Sept. 30, 2026” can feel like it expired longer ago than one labeled simply “September 2026,” even though both expire on the same day. Our study found people judged recently expired products as less effective when the label listed a specific date, because the expiration dates felt farther in the past. This could be helpful when labeling medicines, where consuming expired medicine can be risky.

Delivery windows are another example. A parcel that arrives “by 4 p.m. on Oct. 17” can feel farther away than one that arrives “by Oct. 17,” even though the first is likely sooner.

What should people be aware of when we see time perceived differently in different settings?

People’s perception of time is highly subjective. The same duration can feel very different depending on how it’s described, even when the amount of time stays the same.

The important thing is that neither format is universally better. Sometimes you want a duration to feel shorter because it makes a goal feel achievable. Other times, as with the online courses we studied, you want it to feel longer because it signals value or effort.

It’s important to choose the framing that best serves your objective.

Who’s behind this story?

Sadie Harley

BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries.

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Alexander Pol

PhD nano-engineering from Delft University. Published researcher and journal reviewer. Brings scientific insight to content standards.

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