Where did the time go? Ways to overcome time blindness

Time blindness is a very real phenomenon that’s thought to be linked to brain differences that affect executive functioning. It makes it difficult for some people to keep track of time, which often leads to chronic lateness. It’s especially relevant for people with neurodevelopmental conditions like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Most people have internal clocks that can help them measure time. They may not be able to be specific, but they generally can tell if five minutes or an hour has passed or if something happened a few days ago or a few months ago. For people with time blindness, this is much more challenging.

If you live with time blindness, it can cause significant problems in your life. Other people may become frustrated or misinterpret your difficulty with being on time or tracking the passage of time. But time blindness doesn’t mean that you’re lazy or self centered. It’s not your fault, and there are strategies you can practice to minimize its impact on your life.

What does time blindness feel like?

Time blindness is a nonclinical term that describes when a person can’t accurately perceive time passing. 

Almost everyone has experienced some challenges with perceiving time accurately. For example, you may have felt like the hours drag on during a boring day at work. There’s also the common phrase, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” which refers to how time seems to pass more quickly sometimes. 

But, despite these occasional shifts in time perception, most people grow to naturally understand how much time has passed during any given interval. For example, someone might turn on a pot of water to boil and understand, approximately, around when it might be ready. Or they’d be able to say whether an event happened a few weeks ago or a few months ago.

If you live with time blindness, estimating time may be more challenging for you. Your awareness of time may be divided into “now” and “not now” — and anything that’s “not now” may be difficult to conceive of or measure.

You may live with time blindness if you: 

• Often lose track of time completely and don’t realize how much has passed
• Find it difficult to estimate how long tasks will take
• Often find yourself running late, even when you try to plan ahead
• Get absorbed in certain tasks and don’t notice when hours have passed
• Frequently miss deadlines 
• Rely heavily on alarms, timers, or other external reminders
• Mix up when past events happened or struggle to place memories in the right order
• Often burn food or overcook meals
• Get frustrated when others seem to instinctively know when to wrap up an activity, while you need constant reminders

When left unaddressed, time blindness can significantly affect your daily life. For example, many people who experience time blindness are chronically late because they can’t accurately measure the time it takes to prepare for or travel to an event. They may also consistently forget appointments. This can seriously affect their professional and social lives.

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Can time blindness be a sign of something more?

Anyone can experience time blindness to a degree. But research shows that it’s more common in people with certain neurodevelopmental conditions, like ADHD and autism. 

Although it isn’t a recognized symptom of ADHD, researchers have found that both children and adults with ADHD have a harder time with time perception. Similar results have been found for autistic people. 

The brain differences that people with these neurodevelopmental conditions experience — specifically, the differences in dopamine levels and difficulties with executive functioning — may negatively impact their time perception. People with ADHD and autism are also affected by hyperfocus, which means they could lose track of time while intensely focusing on a single task.

Research has shown that people with conditions like ADHD may have a difficult time with certain time-related cognitive tasks, including:

• Time management: This is the ability to plan and organize how much time you spend on different tasks and activities. Since this skill relies on focus, memory, and planning, people with ADHD — who often experience impacts on these skills — may have a hard time managing their time effectively.
• Time perception: This is the ability to gauge how much time has passed, both generally and during a specific task. If you have ADHD, you might underestimate or overestimate time. This can make it harder to stick to a schedule.
• Time sequencing: This is the ability to put events or tasks in the correct order based on when they happened. Issues with time sequencing can make it difficult to follow step-by-step processes or keep track of past and upcoming responsibilities. You might also get confused and disoriented while telling a story.
• Time reproduction: This is the ability to repeat an action or task for the same duration as before. For example, you might have taken only five minutes to complete a task yesterday, but today, you find that it takes you much longer.

Time blindness is so closely associated with ADHD that some experts argue that it should be considered a core symptom of the condition. Although it’s not currently an official symptom of ADHD or autism, time blindness could be a sign of a neurodevelopmental condition.

Five tips for improving time awareness

There are many self-help strategies that you can implement to help you get a handle on time blindness. You may still have a hard time internally telling time, but these strategies can help lessen the impact that time blindness has on your life.

1. Use reminders and alarms

Use as many visual clocks, reminders, and alarms as you need. Whether it’s to remind yourself of an event weeks in the future or to turn off the stove in a few minutes’ time, setting alarms can help you rely less on your internal clock. It also helps provide you with a backup system to ensure that you don’t miss important things. 

Any time you’ll need to remember to do something in the future, set an alarm — even if you believe you’ll be able to remember.

2. Track your time visually

Time blindness can prevent you from understanding exactly how much time different tasks require. For example, you might think you need an hour to get ready in the morning. But, in reality, you might only be taking 15 minutes. Or the opposite could be true, which tends to cause more problems. For example, you might estimate that it’ll take you only a few hours to complete a project, when it actually takes you several days. 

It can be helpful to visually track the amount of time it takes you to complete common tasks in your life. Analog clocks can be helpful to make things more visual. You can also use a stopwatch.

3. Make a step-by-step schedule

Instead of simply listing your tasks for the day, try setting a chronological schedule. For example, once you’ve prepared and finished your coffee, your next step is to brush your teeth. Or once you’ve studied two chapters of your book, you can take a lunch break. 

Although this strategy doesn’t address time blindness directly, it can help you stay on track for the day and ensure that you get through your tasks without getting sidetracked.

4. Be mindful of hyperfocus

Many people who live with the neurodevelopmental conditions that can lead to time blindness — like ADHD and autism — experience hyperfocus, which is when you become so intensely absorbed in a task that you nearly forget about everything else. Hyperfocus can be a strength because it allows you to concentrate deeply on the things that interest you. But it can also allow time to go by without you realizing it.

Although it’s not always possible to prevent time blindness, try to be mindful of it. There may be certain tasks and projects that you know will take up all your attention once you get started. Before you start on these tasks, be mindful of other things you need to do. It can be helpful to set a reminder or alarm for yourself for when you need to stop engaging in your hyperfocus task.

5. Address time blindness in therapy

If you live with time blindness, therapy can help you develop new strategies to overcome its effects on your life. While you may still experience difficulties with accurately perceiving time, a therapist can help you learn and practice coping skills to minimize the negative impacts of time blindness. A therapist can also help you address any judgment or criticism — whether from yourself or others — that you may have faced due to time blindness.

In addition, if you live with a neurodevelopmental condition that’s causing time blindness, therapy is a proven technique to reduce any symptoms that may be bothering you. Therapy is often part of a comprehensive treatment plan that can also include behavioral interventions and medication.

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Time blindness can be difficult to live with. It may cause you to be chronically late or miss appointments and deadlines, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Time blindness is a very real phenomenon that results from brain differences, and there are strategies that can help you manage it.

At Rula, we’re committed to delivering a comprehensive behavioral health experience that helps people feel seen and understood so they can get back to feeling their best. 

Rula makes it easier to find a licensed therapist or psychiatric provider who accepts your insurance so you don’t have to choose between affordable care and excellent care. With a diverse network of more than 15,000 providers, 24/7 crisis support, and appointments available as soon as tomorrow, we’re here to help you make progress — wherever you are on your mental health journey.

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