Over the course of our lives, we have been conditioned to change our behavior when a countdown is introduced. Sports, game shows, rocket launches, video games and sales promotions often use a countdown to mark the end or beginning of something important. The countdown pushes people to act, or as Amazon tells us, if we order in less than 1 hour and 28 minutes, we can receive the item tomorrow by 10:00 AM.
Anybody else already do this kind of thing regularly? I've done it... counting down the last 1/4 mile of my runs regularly.