Researchers found that manipulating the metric by which the future is measured—in years, months, or days—can change how people prepare for that future. In several different tests, participants perceived the future as much more imminent if they were primed to think of a deadline in days, rather than months. ⁠ ⁠ In one trial, 162 people were asked to imagine preparing for some future event, like a wedding or a work presentation. Those who were asked to think of the time until the event in days perceived it as happening 296 days sooner than those who were asked to think of the time in months or years. In another test, 1100 participants were primed to think about college or retirement. They were told retirement, for instance, would start in 30 years or in 10,950 days. Participants planned to start saving four times sooner if they thought of retirement as 10,950 days away. ⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ The researchers, from the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California, argue that whe...