How you explain skipping the gym or the language app matters for whether you go back. Across nine experiments, people who said they “didn’t make time” for a goal, rather than that they “didn’t have time”, felt more in control of their time and were more motivated to try again.
The study is by Luis Abreu, Jordan Etkin and Holly S. Howe. It was published in the Journal of Marketing Research on March 4, 2026.
A small change of verb
The authors start from a familiar problem. People buy products, subscribe to services and download apps to support goals they care about, then use them far less than they intended. That goal failure is costly for consumers and for the companies selling the tools.
In nine experiments, the researchers compared the two common ways of describing a lapse. Saying “didn’t make time” increased later motivation to reengage with the goal compared with saying “didn’t have time”. The reason, they found, was perceived control: the make-time phrasing led people to feel more in charge of their own time, and that sense of control drove the boost in motivation.
Firms can nudge the framing
The effect reached beyond motivation. The framing also shaped how consumers evaluated goal-related products and services.
It could be prompted directly, by asking people to use one phrasing or the other, and also through company promotion, such as featuring make-time language in social media posts.
The authors argue the framing may be most useful right after a failure, the moment when people are least likely to adopt the make-time view on their own and most likely to blame a lack of hours. They see it as a lever for how companies handle customers who have fallen off their goals.
Study Details:
- Title: Didn’t Have Time or Didn’t Make Time? How Language Shapes Perceived Control over Time and Motivation
- Authors: Luis Abreu, Jordan Etkin, Holly S. Howe
- Journal: Journal of Marketing Research
- Publication Date: March 4, 2026
- DOI: 10.1177/00222437251394122