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I didn’t have time. I was too busy. My schedule became too hectic. We have all made these excuses when we didn’t achieve our goals. Of course, these explanations included more than a bit of truth. Competing priorities and packed schedules do, in part, become an obstacle to achieving our goals. However, new research suggests that how we talk about time might really matter when it comes to getting back on track and meeting our original objectives. Luis Abreu and his colleagues have co-authored a new paper titled “Didn’t Have Time or Didn’t Make Time? How Language Shapes Perceived Control over Time and Motivation.” The authors explain what they found through a series of experiments:
Consumers often purchase products, subscribe to services, and download apps in support of valued goals, yet fail to use these tools as much as intended. But might the language consumers use to describe such goal failures affect how they subsequently pursue those goals? Nine experiments demonstrate that, compared with saying “didn’t have time,” saying “didn’t make time” increases subsequent motivation. This is driven by perceived control over time. Specifically, saying “didn’t make” (vs. “didn’t have”) time makes consumers feel more in control of their time, which increases their subsequent motivation to reengage with the goal.
