We study the possibility of varying the measured lifetime of a decaying particle based on the technique of weak value amplification in which an additional filtering process called postselection is performed. Our analysis made in a direct measurement scheme presented here shows that, for simple two-level systems, the lifetime may be prolonged more than three times compared to the original one, while it can also be shortened arbitrarily by a proper choice of postselection. This result is consistent with our previous analysis on the possible prolongation of the lifetime of B mesons that may be observed in laboratories, and suggests room for novel applications of weak value amplification beyond precision measurement conventionally considered.