For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with time. I’ll briefly check my email, and somehow, 45 minutes goes by. I’ll schedule an appointment thinking I have ample time between meetings, only to find myself sprinting with not a second to spare. My inability to feel time passing or to properly assess how much time I need to do something has been a hard thing to understand. And in a world dominated by hustle culture and ableist conceptions of efficiency, it’s easy to feel stigmatized or ashamed for being someone that often runs late.
However, as I continue to learn about my brain, I’ve learned that struggling with time isn’t me being lazy, sloppy or careless. In fact, “time blindness,” or the inability to feel the passing of time or to properly gauge how much time a given task takes, is a studied phenomenon that’s common among folks with ADHD and/or other neurodivergence.
“Put simply, time blindness is a way of describing how some of us struggle to feel time,” Liz Lewis, an ADHD coach and founder of Healthy ADHD told HuffPost. “We don’t always feel it passing, we don’t estimate how long things will take very well, and we also have trouble picturing the future.”
In the ADHD research community, “time blindness” can be cited as both a neurological issue and a social/emotional reaction, Lewis said. Some experts say neurodivergent brains don’t experience time as a linear process. Others think the constant pressure to conform to neurotypical school and workspaces creates extra anxiety and exhaustion, making neurodivergent folks more likely to struggle with time.
Anna Granta, a coach for neurodivergent adults, said that neurodivergent people are often connected thinkers, rather than linear thinkers. While a neurotypical person may look at numbers on a clock and immediately know how much time they have until their next task, a neurodivergent person may get totally consumed in a given task, then struggle to wind down that task in time to start the next one.
“I think people with ADHD or other neurodivergent conditions struggle to understand the passage of time because it’s relentlessly linear,” Granta told HuffPost. “Time passes at a consistent rate, whether we want it to or not, independently of how we understand it. And I think that mismatch is really difficult for [neurodivergent people] to conceptualize.”
Because the passage of time can be so elusive, Granta and Lewis recommend using visual aids, instead of simply relying on digital clocks. Whether you or someone in your family has ADHD or just struggles to stay on top of time, Granta, Lewis and other experts shared the most effective tools for time management.
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"The Time Timer allows you to see time passing in vivid red," Lewis said. "You're more likely to start and then persist when you have a very obvious time constraint."
The Time Timer is a 60-minute visual timer that can either be silent or beep when time is up.
This sand timer comes in four time lengths and nine colors.
"Digital time is just numbers," Kinzer said. "When you see an analog clock, you can see the hands moving. I recommend to all of my clients to have many analog clocks around them."
This is a 10-inch wall clock with large numbers that can be seen from across a room.
This is a customizable routine clock from Betty & Freddy on Zazzle. You can change all the labels to make the tasks relevant to you and your family, as well as the time of the activities. If you're looking for a routine clock with pictures, OneChickBoutique on Etsy has a huge selection.
"Noticing your relationship to time is the first step," Lewis said. "When you leave home, start a timer to see how long it takes you to get places. Time yourself when you shower. If you're late, ask yourself how many minutes? Am I always 20 mins late?"
This stopwatch is water-resistant and has a large font.
This is a four-pack of audible timers.