The theory emphasizes time as a critical and motivational factor.
[1] According to Schmidt, Dolis, and Tolli, Temporal Motivation Theory "may help further the understanding of the impact of time, and particularly deadlines, on dynamic attention allocation.
"[2] The Temporal Motivation Theory formula can be applied to human behaviour, procrastination[3][4] and to goal setting.
According to Lord, Diefendorff, Schmidt, and Hall, the theory "models the motivating power of approaching deadlines, arguing that the perceived utility of a given activity increases exponentially as the deadline nears.
These and similar ideas have been applied to the pervasive phenomenon of procrastination".
[5] The theory states an individual's motivation for a task can be derived with the following formula (in its simplest form): where
are in the denominator (Bottom of the Fraction) of the formula hence any increase in those two values would result in a decrease of motivation and vice versa.
To see how temporal motivation theory can be applied in an example, consider a student given one month to study for a final exam.