Time Blindness – Why Time Feels So Weird and What to Do About It
Welcome to part six of my ADHD 101 series. Each article looks at a different piece of what it means to work, love, and live with ADHD. I’m a psychotherapist and someone with ADHD myself, and one of the things that still catches me off guard, even after years of managing it, is time blindness.
ADHD time blindness isn’t just about being late or procrastinating. It’s a full-body, emotional experience. It affects how we plan, how we feel, how we use our energy, and how we recover when we inevitably miss something.
So let’s talk about what it actually is, and what we can do about it.
What Is Time Blindness?
Time blindness is the inability to feel the passage of time accurately. Most people intuitively sense how long 10 minutes is. ADHDers? Not so much. Our internal clock is off. Minutes feel like hours, or hours vanish in what feels like seconds.
This often plays out in two big (and totally opposite) ways:
When we’re hyperfocused on something interesting, we completely lose track of time. We look up and the day is gone.
When we’re avoiding something boring or unpleasant, time drags. Five minutes feels like fifty ( like when you’re on a treadmill or elliptical machine).
Neither of these states is neutral. They come with real emotional impacts: panic, guilt, anxiety, shame, frustration. And over time, these feelings can chip away at your self-trust.
Why This Matters Emotionally
Time blindness isn't just a scheduling issue, it’s an energy drain. Here’s why:
You’re constantly either rushing or waiting, both of which take mental effort.
You blame yourself for being late or underestimating how long something takes.
You waste energy beating yourself up for “losing time” instead of learning how your brain actually works.
Here’s a common example: you’ve got an appointment in three hours. That’s too long to just sit and wait but if you start anything that might pull you into hyperfocus, you’ll lose track of time and probably end up late. So you hover. You stall. You burn all this mental energy trying to manage the in between, the stretch of time before you need to leave, but too soon to relax into something else. That hovering state can drain more energy than the actual appointment.
And when energy runs low, a lot of us fall back on one familiar trick: guilt. We reach for the emotional equivalent of jumper cables, mentally replaying past times we were late, let someone down, or disappointed someone we care about. We scare ourselves into action. Not because it’s effective long term but because it does release just enough dopamine to push us into motion.
But using shame and fear as fuel comes at a cost. It’s exhausting. It’s unsustainable. And over time, it erodes self-trust.
How Time Blindness Shows Up
You might be dealing with time blindness if:
You’re always either early or late, never just on time
You can’t estimate how long things take (e.g. loading the dishwasher feels like 20 minutes but only takes 2)
You miss planning the next thing because it sneaks up on you (e.g. it’s “still spring,” but suddenly the first long weekend of summer is next week)
You say “I have time” and then somehow… don’t
You struggle to switch between tasks because one chunk of time bleeds into the next
What Helps: Practical Tools for Time Management
Here are tools I use with clients (and myself) that support better energy and emotional management around time:
1. Use an Analog Clock
Digital clocks show numbers. Analog clocks show movement. Watching time pass visually helps reinforce how much is left. This is especially helpful for transitions and visual learners.
2. Set Alarms, But Not Too Many
Alarms can help, but overuse leads to alarm fatigue. Pick meaningful cues. One to begin a task, one 5–10 minutes before you need to stop. Keep it simple.
3. Use Timers for Boring Tasks
Set a timer for two minutes and clean something. You’ll often realize it takes way less time than you expected. The timer keeps you from spiraling into avoidance.
4. Think in Chunks of Time
Divide your day into parts: morning, midday, evening. Plan for transitions between them. The brain struggles when one thing ends and the next begins without a buffer. Use visual planners or time-blocking if that helps you “see” the day.
Be Gentle with the Gaps
One of the hardest parts of managing time blindness is dealing with how it makes us feel about ourselves, our reliability, and our relationships. If you’re constantly overwhelmed by how late things feel or how fast time is moving, you’re not alone. This isn’t a moral failing. It’s how your brain processes time.
But it doesn’t mean you’re powerless. You can’t make your brain function like a neurotypical clock, but you can build supports that work with the way your mind moves.
In the next article, I’ll dive deeper into how to structure your time without burning out your executive function in the process. But for now, remember: if time feels weird, that’s not just you. That’s ADHD.
Alicia
PS - Have you read the other five articles in this series? If not, here they are!
