{"id":24290,"date":"2018-06-04T10:52:55","date_gmt":"2018-06-04T14:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=24290"},"modified":"2022-03-16T11:31:37","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T15:31:37","slug":"time-before-upcoming-task-or-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/time-before-upcoming-task-or-appointment\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s Why Time Shrinks Before an Upcoming Task or Appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"

An hour of free time feels much shorter when you have an upcoming task or appointment, new <\/span>research<\/span><\/a> proves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through a series of studies, researchers at The Ohio State University found that time management before a scheduled event is often less productive than it could be. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe seem to take a mental tax out of our time right before an appointment,\u201d <\/span>Selin Malkoc<\/span><\/a>, associate professor of marketing at OSU\u2019s <\/span>Fisher College of Business<\/span><\/a> and co-author of the study, said in a statement. \u201cWe figure something might come up, we might need some extra time, even when there\u2019s no need to do that. As a result, we do less with the available time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The study is published in the <\/span>Journal of Consumer Research. <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Research <\/b><\/h2>\n

In one study, Malkoc and a team of researchers conducted an online survey of 198 people. They asked some of the participants to imagine that they had a friend coming over to visit in one hour, and that they were completely ready. The other participants were told that they had no plans for the evening. <\/span><\/p>\n

The participants were then asked how many minutes they felt they could both \u201cobjectively\u201d and \u201csubjectively\u201d spend reading during that hour. <\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the researchers found that both groups said they <\/span>objectively<\/span><\/i> had around 50 minutes to read.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an amazing finding right there. Most people didn\u2019t think even objectively they had a full hour to read,\u201d Malkoc said in a statement. \u201cPeople are putting a little \u2018just-in-case\u2019 time into their schedules when there is no real reason to do that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

There was a difference though when it came to assessing how much time they felt they had to read, i.e., measuring it <\/span>subjectively<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The participants, who were told to expect a friend, felt they would have to spend 10 fewer minutes reading than those who were told they had no plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe consistently find that the time before another scheduled appointment\/activity feels shorter,\u201d said Malkoc. \u201cThere are many \u2013 and valid \u2013 reasons to why we might <\/span>objectively<\/span><\/i> need more time when transitioning to another task. An upcoming appointment might require actual preparation or we might want to take a mental break between two tasks. While these may be true, we find that people further \u2018tax\u2019 their time \u2013 it <\/span>feels <\/span><\/i>shorter even after accounting for such factors.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In a different study, researchers asked participants to provide their actual schedules for the next day. They were told to list the start time for a scheduled appointment, and how long they would need to prepare beforehand. <\/span><\/p>\n

The participants were then offered the opportunity to take part in a 30-minute study that paid $2.50, or a 45-minute study that paid $5. <\/span><\/p>\n

For some participants, the researchers scheduled the survey in the hour before a listed task, while others were scheduled surveys that weren\u2019t near their listed appointment times. <\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers found that participants who had an appointment in an hour were much more likely to chose the 30-minute study instead of the 45-minute study, even though there was a clear financial incentive and they had plenty of time. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Explanation<\/b><\/h2>\n

So, why do we feel so limited with our time? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that when a given time has a strict endpoint \u2013 like an appointment \u2013 people think about the ending of their time,\u201d said Malkoc. \u201cThis focus on the end in turn makes their time feel limited and insufficient.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, in another study involving 158 college students, a researcher told participants who arrived at the research lab that study sessions were running faster than expected and that she wanted to wait for more participants to arrive. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some participants were reminded then that they had about five minutes before the study session started. Others were simply told they had five minutes to do whatever they want. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the five-minute wait, the participants were asked to write down what they did. Those who were reminded of their limited time did an average of 1.86 small tasks, such as sending a text, checking social media, or checking email. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, those who weren\u2019t reminded of the upcoming task performed more activities — an average of 2.38 tasks. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the researchers, these findings suggest that upcoming events actually make us less productive.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople tend to think that their time management problems arise mainly because they have too much to do and not enough time to do it,\u201d said Malkoc. \u201cWe find that while that may be true at times, the fault also lies in our own perception of what we think <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> be done with the time we have.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion <\/b><\/h2>\n

Malkoc explains that this \u201cmental taxing\u201d of time can be a difficult habit to break, but there are some tricks that could help with productivity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese effects are difficult to turn off. If your goal is to create time for longer tasks, a trick would be to schedule back-to-back and leave larger chunks of unscheduled time,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have a long period, like several back-to-back hours, your unscheduled time will feel longer and more sufficient for substantial tasks \u2013 even after you \u2018tax\u2019 it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, that\u2019s not always possible. If that\u2019s the case, Malkoc suggests a simple reminder that things aren\u2019t as limited as you think. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI try to remind myself of these results and tell myself \u2018This is not as short of time as it feels. Get on with it and if you need to stop, you will.\u2019 It is not a perfect solution, but it surely helps!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An hour of free time feels much shorter when you have an upcoming task or appointment, new research proves. Through a series of studies, researchers at The Ohio State University found that time management before a scheduled event is often less productive than it could be. \u201cWe seem to take a mental tax out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":45375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[388,389,390,391,392,230,229],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ohio-state-university-lima-campus","category-ohio-state-university-main-campus","category-ohio-state-university-mansfield-campus","category-ohio-state-university-marion-campus","category-ohio-state-university-newark-campus","category-news","category-lead-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Natalie Colarossi","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/natalie-colarossi\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"An hour of free time feels much shorter when you have an upcoming task or appointment, new research proves. Through a series of studies, researchers at The Ohio State University found that time management before a scheduled event is often less productive than it could be. \u201cWe seem to take a mental tax out of…","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/time.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}