#time blind

From someone who has ADHD time blindness

Acknowledge that it’s an issue and that it’s not your fault but that you still need to work on it. Don’t try to kid yourself that you're one of those people who can just show up on time magically without any prep. We’d all love to be those people, but we can’t. It’s okay. You're not alone.

Overestimate how long things will take. Especially if there’s factors involved that you can’t control, like buses or traffic. If Google maps says it takes half an hour to get there, give yourself an hour. If it says ten minutes, give yourself thirty. Don’t cut ANYTHING fine.

Aim to be early and have a plan for what to do if you are early. Sometimes I aim to be early and then I decide it’s not worth being early so I don’t leave at my ‘early’ slot and I end up being late. Bring a book. Plan a place to sit when you get there.

We all set alarms, but have a clear idea what each alarm is for. For me, having an alarm for when I have to be out the door is unrealistic, so I factor in more time so that when my alarm goes off, I have time to take a piss, get my bag and put my shoes on.

Know what’s important that you're on time for and what isn’t. Know what you need to put all of your focus and strategies and stress into getting there on time, and what’s not that serious. Try not to stress yourself out about everything.

On that note, give yourself grace. Know that you’ll screw up sometimes and be late and that it’s okay. Tell the people around you that you struggle to be on time, and surround yourself with people who are understanding.

This one I only do for situations where it’s SUPER important that I be on time, and it might not work for everyone. Gaslight yourself into thinking the event is an hour earlier than it is. Put the time in your diary as an hour sooner, set your alarms an hour sooner, that way if/when you're late, you’ll actually be early or on time. I did this for a trip to London, where I had to meet them at the station and take the 11 o’clock train. So if I missed our slot, I’d miss the train and have to find them in London. So I told myself that the train was leaving at 10 o’clock. I got there at 10:20. Which was late to my made-up deadline, but gave me plenty of time to get the 11 o’clock train.

On a more general note, having a routine and a good sleep schedule really helps me be on time, so if you're at a weird place in your life right now, maybe you're in between jobs or you're struggling with insomnia or other sleep issues, just know that this won’t last forever and it will get better.

I got a cute poster board thats bright along with stickies that pop so that I can visually see what I can do with my free time (also generally good for object permanence and executive dysfunction).

Time blindness has seriously affected the way I spend my days. It's hard enough for school work and regular work, but it's also hard for choosing what to do in my free time. Sometimes if I have 30 minutes of free time, I'll start drawing, only to hypercocus on that and not listen during class. However, if I have 4 hours of free time, I won't know what to do with my time so I mostly end up endlessly scrolling on social media and feel like I'm wasting my time, leading to self deprecation.

So, I decided to make this Board:

The board is split into 4 sections, based on how much time an activity takes. Each section has stickies that are color-coded.

Pink stickies are things that I would like to prioritize. Green stickies are self care things and hobbies I would like to do more often.

Yellow stickies are things I commonly do that I would like to prioritize the least, but still enjoy doing.

When I finish a task during my free time, I draw a heart on a sticky. Although, if you want to make it more fun, use stickers to check off a task.

Finally, the check marks or stickers are meant for you to visually see what tasks you haven't done that often so it makes it easier to decide on what to do and to generally see how you spend your free time.

So yeah! Quick and easy to make, and cheap for supplies. So the next time you're not sure about how you want to spend your free time and don't want to regret about how you spend it, use this board!