The weird way you can trick yourself into achieving your long-term goals

You know how you might procrastinate getting something done because you know you have months, or even years, to complete it?

Thinking about that future event as being days away, instead, could help spur you to take action, according to new research.

The new study, published in the journal Psychological Science, shows that when people think of future goals as being days away instead of months or years away, they’re more likely to take action in the present to accomplish them.

This could apply to anything from preparing for retirement to planning a wedding.

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“This is a new way to think about reaching goals that does not require willpower and is not about having character or caring,” said study researcher Daphna Oyserman, a psychological scientist at the University of Southern California.

The study had multiple parts. In one of them, researchers had 162 people consider a number of scenarios — like preparing for a wedding or birthday party, or studying for an exam — and how long it would be until those events would take place.

Researchers found that when participants viewed the future events as being days away, instead of months away, the events seemed “sooner.” A similar effect occurred when the participants viewed the events as being months away instead of years away.

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In another part of the study, researchers had 1,100 participants undergo a series of experiments where they were asked when they would take action to prepare for a future event.

For instance, they were asked when they would start saving for college if college would take place 18 years from now or 6,570 days from now.

Similarly, they were asked when they would start saving for retirement if retirement started 30 years from now, or 10,950 days from now.

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In the scenarios, the study participants said they’d start saving four times sooner when the future event was days away, versus years away.

A possible reason for this effect: When you think of things in days, it makes you feel more connected with your “future self,” which may make you more likely to take action in the present moment.