People tend work harder when they know that a difficult and demanding task is awaiting them in near future, a new study claimed calling it a 'get ready mindset'.

According to a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the more difficult a future task was expected to be, the harder people worked on a current task because of "get ready mindset".

"It seems reasonable to expect that when people know that they will have to work hard on a future task, they will devote less effort to the current task, in order to save energy for the upcoming demanding task. This is not what we found," said lead author Hans Baumgartner from Pennsylvania State University.

In a series of five studies, the authors observed that the more difficult a future task was expected to be, the harder people worked on a current task.

"For example, an individual consulted more information on a web page when he was asked to evaluate a new soft drink when he expected that he would later on have to work on a difficult and demanding task," write the author.

Other participants were better able to come up with weight loss ideas when they believed they would have to work hard on a future job. The authors titled the phenomenon the "get ready mindset."

"People seem to prepare themselves mentally for upcoming tasks, but in doing so, the resources that are freed up for the future task carry over to current tasks," the researcher said, adding "We found consistent evidence that if the mind gets ready to perform later, it is set to go now."