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Time is a loaded topic when it comes to ADHD. If you're part of a family impacted by ADHD, you have surely experienced the effects of time blindness.
Time blindness can be a challenge for both adults and children, making it difficult to stay on track with daily routines. The term might sound funny, but time blindness is a legitimate issue for people with ADHD. It’s not the intentional act of disregarding time or disrespecting someone else’s time.
Time blindness isn't a clinical diagnosis, but it is helpful way to describe time management challenges that can be quite impactful in a person's life.
Some common characteristics of "time-blindness" are
- Getting stuck in “waiting mode” (i.e., being unproductive for a long time while waiting for an event that seems near when it is, in fact, hours away)
- Feeling like you’re losing your grip on time, leading to impulsive decisions
- Underestimating or overestimating the amount of time needed for a task
- Losing track of time, especially when hyperfocused on an activity
- Focusing only on the present and short-term gains
- Having trouble creating or adhering to a schedule
- Difficulty organizing tasks in the right sequence
- Procrastinating on tasks until the last minute
Some creative ideas to help you keep track of time can include
- Using music to keep track of how much time you’ve spent. For example, you can have a shower playlist of four or five songs that last around five minutes each and use that to estimate your time.
- Setting timers that go off at fixed intervals. For instance, you can have a timer go off every 30 minutes to give you a good gauge of time.
- Having multiple wall clocks in all the different rooms in your house. Alternatively, you can wear a watch wherever you go.
Take advantage of timers!
- Insert appointments and meetings into your calendar, and set a reminder to go off when you need to start preparing for an event. You can give yourself a time buffer, for example, an extra 30 minutes, to account for any delay in case you get sidetracked.
- Control the time spent on activities you hyperfocus on by setting multiple alarms to go off when the time limit is up.
Read the full post from the Attention Deficit Disorder Association and read their tips for managing time. Try a few to see what might work for you and your family!
