ADHD and Time (mis)Perception
“I am that friend who is always an hour late. My friends tell me we’re meeting at 6 if they want me there at 7.”
“I stayed up until 1am looking at cute ferret videos on insta again. I don’t know where the time goes.”
“I end up working until 8 at night, sometimes until midnight. I just can’t stop, then I look up and realize my whole night is gone.”
Does any of this sound familiar to you? If so, you might be experiencing one of the symptoms of ADHD called ‘Temporal Myopia’ also sometimes referred to (a bit controversially, so we aren’t going to use it here) as Time Blindness.
How Does the ADHD Brain Perceive Time?
“Those with ADHD struggle to be on time for events or to accurately estimate the time it takes to accomplish a task.”
The ADHD Brain has difficulty with accurately gauging the passage of time. Those with ADHD struggle to be on time for events or to accurately estimate the time it takes to accomplish a task. When in Hyperfocus they can also completely lose track of time with hours passing in what feels like minutes.
For the friend waiting at the cafe for thirty or more minutes, it is hard not to interpret the action personally. For the person who has ADHD and is always running late, it can be equally frustrating. It can result in the loss of a job, impact a grade for a class, or even end a relationship.
How to Address ADHD’s Time Misperception
“Much like we use maps to locate ourselves in physical space, we create structures that allow my clients to locate themselves in Time.”
It doesn’t have to be like this. I frequently work with clients who have some degree of ADHD Time Misperception. In fact, all the quotes above come from real clients sharing with me their Time frustrations. So what do we do?
We look for ways to help bring Time to the front of mind. We look for a structure that will provide them an external clock they can rely on. Much like we use maps to locate ourselves in physical space, we create structures that allow my clients to locate themselves in Time.
Creating Time Structures
What Time solution works varies by client. For some of my clients, an alarm on their phone is all they need to remind them where they are in Time, for others alarms are disruptive and ignored. For some of my clients just having a clock in every room has helped with Time Blindness, for others that feels like annoying clutter. My point here is that every one of my clients needs to find the structure that will work best for them.
What I love about my ADHD clients is their ability to utilize their creativity to come up with solutions that work for them. My favorite creative solution at the moment is my client who found a grandfather clock app. It dings on the quarter hour and does a full chime song at the top of the hour like I grew up hearing at my grandparents home. Personally, this would drive me crazy, but for my client it was just the thing she needed to keep her grounded in Time.
Another super creative example I found online at www.adhdhomestead.net, Jaclyn Paul’s website, is how she uses the rhythm of making sourdough bread (alternating between working it and then leaving it to rise in twenty minute increments) to help her gauge time during her day. While that won’t work for most of us, it is a beautiful example of looking for a natural solution that reflects your situation.
Below are a list of some structures that have worked for my clients. What works for each person varies by their personality, but perhaps you might find something here that resonates with you.
Clocks in every room - as mentioned above for some, just being able to look up and see the time, puts them back into Time Awareness
Quarter-Hour Alarm Apps - There are a few of these out there. I have one client who uses a grandfather clock app and another who has it read the time to her on the quarter hour. Different approaches, but both work for each client to remind them of where they are in Time.
The Time Timer - This has been helping individuals with ADHD for the last 25 years, a visual timer you set that visually counts down the time as you work.
Focusmate.com - This online platform pairs you up for a 25 or 50 minute co-working session. It’s a great motivator for people with ADHD as it provides accountability (someone is waiting to work with you) and it’s for a set amount of time so you don’t have to worry about tracking time while you are working.
The Pomodoro Technique - traditional Pomodoro meant working for 25 minutes then taking a 5 minute break, working for another 25, then another 5 minute break and so on. I find 25 minutes to be either too long or too short for my clients with ADHD so I encourage them to play with the time stretches, but make it the same every time so your ADHD brain knows there is a start and an end time to every work session and use a timer! (maybe try the new google chrome extension, marinara, that helps you track your pomodoro sessions.)
Alarms - some clients are able to regulate time just with the use of alarms on their phone, though sometimes they do find investing in particular sounds for their alarms really impacts their response to their alarms.
Asking for Help - Help can look like a lot of different things. Sometimes it’s asking a friend to call you at a certain time to remind you to stop working. For some of my clients it’s asking their friends to have understanding regarding their struggle with Time Blindness and letting them off the hook for being late.
Setting clocks ahead - I have a client who sets all their clocks ahead so much so that it’s the first thing they do when they get into a rental car. Again, it’s all about figuring out what works for you.
What on this list caught your attention? Go try it! Did it create a structure to eliminate or lessen Temporal Myopia? I frequently remind my clients that coaching is more like running science experiments. Try something, see what happens, learn from that. If it worked, keep it. If it helped, can you improve on it? If it didn’t work, what did you learn from the experiment? What do you want to try next?
I would love to hear your experiences with Temporal Myopia and what you have found works for you. Please share below!