In Simple Words
Setting goals the night before is like preparing your workout clothes before going to sleep when temptation is inactive. Even though you face uncertainty about tomorrow's weather or commute, deciding early locks in your high intentions before morning tiredness can convince you to set easier goals.
Data-entry workers in Mysore
- Status-quo piece rate
- Group used for comparison
- Option to set evening targets
- Average earnings 3% higher
Offering workers the option to set targets the evening before work increased average earnings by 3% compared with the status-quo piece-rate contract. This does not establish an evening-versus-morning effect or prove a temporal-distance mechanism. Other contract arms are omitted.
See source →Earnings comparator — Self-Control at Work (2015) ↗Research question
Making commitment decisions immediately before work exposes individuals to present-biased temptation, whereas setting commitments further in advance locks in productive intentions despite higher uncertainty.
Participants
N = 102 data entry workers in Mysore, India.
Study Design
Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) comparing morning target selection (chosen upon arrival) against evening target selection (chosen the day prior under higher production uncertainty).
Results
Choosing production targets the evening prior under higher environmental uncertainty successfully increased worker net earnings by 3%, proving that greater temporal distance strengthens self-control commitment relative to baseline.
Takeaway
Require workers to select and lock in their daily production targets at the end of the preceding workday rather than at the beginning of the morning shift.
Source and citation
See source →Read alongside the research
Plain-English glossary
Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.
- Randomized controlled trial
A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.
ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.
GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →