Time blindness is common in people with ADHD, making it hard to track time, plan, and be on time. Not everyone with ADHD has it, and some people without ADHD do. However, ADHD and time struggles often go together because of how the brain works, due in part, to the frontal cortex. Let’s delve into time blindness further and look at what it is, how it can impact you, and how you can manage it effectively.
What is ADHD Time Blindness?
In a nutshell, time blindness is the inability to perceive how much time has passed. It involves experiencing challenges in estimating how much time it will take to complete a task and often involves being late for important appointments. It’s common for an ADHD individual to underestimate how long it will take to get ready to leave the house, causing them to turn up late.
It is a legitimate issue for those with ADHD and although not an official diagnosis, it can have a profound impact on daily life, due to the wiring of the brain. For a neurotypical person, estimating the time it takes to get prepared and leave the house is much easier.
Aspects of Time Blindness.
Time management is a multidimensional skill and one which is impacted by ADHD. It controls concentration, memory, and planning and can impact time perceptions, time sequencing, and time reproduction, all of which are difficult for those with ADHD.
Time perception is the ability to estimate how much time has either passed or is needed for a task.
Time sequencing involves sequencing tasks in the right order of the time they occurred.
Time reproduction refers to the ability to repeat actions of tasks for the same amount of time as they were previously carried out.
The time horizon is another aspect of time blindness that helps us determine how quickly a task is approaching and when we should start in order to finish at a specific time which is difficult for the ADHD brain to comprehend. Due to this time horizons tend to be shorter, resulting in future time blindness and missed deadlines.
Common Signs of Time Blindness.
Some of the common signs and symptoms to look out for with time blindness are:
Becoming lost or ‘hyperfocusing’ on an activity to the point of becoming unaware of surroundings, therefore losing track of time.
Struggling with organising tasks into the right sequence, or prioritising.
Over or underestimating the amount of time needed for a task.
Only being able to focus on the present tasks or short-term goals.
Challenges perceiving how long ago an event or activity happened.
Difficulty sticking to schedules.
Making impulsive decisions due to feeling panicked about losing time.
Procrastinating and getting stuck in waiting mode, waiting for an event that is hours away.
Struggling to explain the amount of time spent on a task.
Those who struggle with time blindness can often label themselves or be labeled by others as lazy, rude, or unreliable but this is not the case. It is a genuine struggle for a lot of people with ADHD and one that needs to be worked with, developing tactics and gaining the necessary support to cope.
Why Does the ADHD Brain Struggle with Time?
ADHD affects the structure and chemistry of the brain. Those who have it may struggle to perceive the passage of time due to the activity levels of certain areas within the brain, including the pre-frontal cortex. The connection between the regions of the default mode network (DMN) is also disrupted in the ADHD brain, which can contribute to time blindness. The DMN is the area of the brain that turns on when not focused on a task and allows your brain to wander or daydream. It is also thought that the disruption in dopamine signaling in the ADHD brain contributes to time blindness, as the chemical messenger doesn’t work at the same rate as a neurotypical brain.
How Can Time Blindness Impact Daily Life?
Time blindness can have a profound impact on various aspects of daily life, including work, education, and relationships. Within your working life, it could mean that you turn up late, and have difficulty prioritising important tasks, resulting in missed deadlines, and even missed opportunities to progress. Education can be affected similarly, meaning that those struggling with time blindness can fall behind their friends, and their self-esteem is impacted by not being able to keep up and feeling lacking in areas others seem unaffected by.
Relationships can also be impacted by time blindness, causing spouses or parents to become angry while not understanding the reasons you struggle. Romantic relationships can become strained due to missing important dates, struggling to complete errands, pay bills, and keep up with household tasks.
All of these things can lead to low self-esteem as you may grow tired of letting yourself and others down, but it doesn’t have to be something you put up with, there are ways you can work with your time blindness and turn them into opportunities to learn.
Coping with ADHD Time Blindness: Top Tips from a Private ADHD Clinic in Manchester.
Here at Beyond, we help and support clients with managing time blindness so that it doesn’t have such a profound impact on daily life, meaning that your self-esteem, confidence, and attitude grow in positivity. Below are some ways we advise as a starting point for helping with time blindness.
Utilise Alarms, Alerts, and Reminders.
The simple and easy starting point for managing your time is to set alarms and reminders with actions. You can create warnings with an alarm that alerts you 10 minutes before an important meeting, when you need to leave the house, or when you need to start a task in order to finish on time. Create check-ins whereby you prompt yourself to check your email or complete certain tasks on your to-do lists and can use them to block out specific chunks of time for certain activities, controlling the amount of time you spend hyperfocusing on tasks.
Track Your Time.
A simple way to do this is by wearing a watch, placing clocks in various places around your home, and having a visual timer on your phone or laptop to keep track of the passage of time. You can use music to track how much time you’ve spent, such as creating a specific length of playlist and aiming to finish your activity by the time it runs out. Consider keeping a log of 30-minute time slots so that you have to check in and record your task at each slot.
Get Creative with Your To-Do Lists.
Instead of just writing a list, try making it eye-catching with pops of colour or even start your day with 30 minutes of journaling which includes your to-do list along with collages, to make you want to keep referring to it. Making your to-do list interesting will automatically make you want to keep looking at it and checking in, the difficulty would be to not hyperfocus on it and ensure you are completing your tasks.
Build a Fail-Safe Routine.
Routines are a cornerstone of the ADHD brain and help to keep to a schedule. Doing the same activities from morning through to evening will eventually engrain itself into your muscle memory and take the guesswork out of what comes next for part of your day. This helps by freeing up areas of your brain to focus on important tasks that need to be completed, appointments you need to keep, and bills that need to be paid.
Make Use of Apps and Trackers.
Many popular time-blocking techniques and apps can help with managing time. The Pomodoro technique can help to break down big tasks into 25-minute blocks of focused time, with 5-minute breaks in between, where you can let your brain wander wherever it likes. Tracking apps are also a great way of tracking progress and goals.
Break it Down!
One of the most important points in beating time blindness is not getting overwhelmed by large tasks and breaking them down into smaller, more manageable chunks. You can then estimate the amount of time it will take to complete each step, which is easier than figuring out the full amount of time for the entire task.
Struggling with Time Blindness? Comprehensive ADHD Assessments for Adults.
When it comes to an ADHD assessment and diagnosis, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, that’s why here at Beyond, we take a very comprehensive and personalised approach. Whatever symptoms you’re struggling with around ADHD, we can ensure that our experienced mental health specialists will conduct a thorough ADHD assessment, taking into account various factors to provide an accurate diagnosis.
Throughout your assessment process, we will need to gather information about you, your family history, and your physical health, and understand your issues and any impact of your symptoms. We may also consider any previous child or adult ADHD diagnosis or treatment approaches that you may have undertaken. By understanding you and your unique circumstances, we can start the process of ADHD assessment and if diagnosed we can develop a tailored plan designed for you and your specific needs.
Seek Professional Help with Beyond, a Private ADHD Clinic in Manchester.
Here at Beyond, we are a private ADHD clinic in Manchester with a team of professionals who walk the ADHD path. Many of our team also have ADHD, therefore fully understand the difficulties that come with the condition.
Symptoms of ADHD can impact careers and learning alongside relationship challenges. We prioritise rapid access to ADHD assessment and if applicable, treatment, whilst aiming to minimise waiting time and allow you to start your journey towards better mental well-being as soon as possible.
If you find that time blindness is affecting your life negatively then come and speak to our professionals today about an ADHD assessment and treatment approach.
