ADHD & Time Relativity

Did you know that a person with ADHD can perceive time differently? A person with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, can experience difficulty keeping time because their brain processes information differently. An ADHD brain is wired differently, which might lead to different ways of thinking and processing information. Their ability to keep track of time is one of the examples of those differences.

Struggling with time is another common symptom of ADHD, and it can be challenging to adjust. People with ADHD have difficulty keeping track of time, and you may even notice that they're always late or sometimes too early.

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Time Blindness

The difficulty to be aware when it comes to time can be called Time Blindness. This is a situation wherein a particular individual cannot correctly identify the passage of time. Time Blindness is usually considered as one of the effects of ADHD. This happens because our ADHD brain processes information differently than other people, leading us to think and process information differently.

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Struggling with Time Management

Setting meetings or important dates can sometimes be tricky with a person with ADHD.  For an ADHD person, it is difficult to set a specific time when a particular activity should be done. They may have difficulty estimating how long a specific journey may take or how much time they need to allot to arrive in time.

Planning for activities, whether related to work or personal matters, might be complicated for a person with ADHD. They sometimes have difficulty estimating how much time they will spend on specific activities or the time left to finish their activities or finish something and move on to the next.

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Meeting Deadlines

As someone with ADHD, you might struggle with time management without even knowing it. You might also struggle to keep yourself organized regarding deadlines and appointments. This can make you feel like your life is out of control most often because it feels like you are always late for meetings and deadlines or that you do not meet your goals on time.

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Time Passes By

When you are hyperfocused on a certain task, time seems to pass by slowly. This means that you may feel like an activity you're doing now took a long time, even if it didn't take that much. The opposite can also be true – sometimes, when we're not engaged with something, the time seems to pass quickly. When you are too absorbed in something that interests you, you may not realize that you have spent several hours on that activity.

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Overcoming Time Blindness

There are still ways to overcome the time situation that you may be experiencing. Many suggestions and solutions are available to help you overcome these struggles. My personal recommendation to people like me who have time blindness is to use Visual Planning Methods.

One key factor in helping you manage your time is to visualize your schedule.  Visual planners allow you to plan your time clearly and set a track for yourself. Time Map is a popular method for visualizing your time, which provides you with a clear vision to follow your schedule. But if it is still hard for you, you can do Reverse Scheduling. Plotting first your desired outcome or the end result and planning each step before you arrive at your initial actions.