ADHD Time Blindness

How to not be late

I don’t normally do this, but here’s next week’s podcast episode. I usually only post my episodes early in the ADHD Big Brother community But I’m about to leave for my brother’s wedding and I just want as little do to when I get back, so the transition is easier on me. ADHD, ya know.

Are you somebody that is always late? Do you scramble to get into work on time and are frazzled and apologetic as you burst through the door? Do your friends know you as “The one who is always late”. That sucks. Let’s change that!

I find that one of the best places to start is the mornings. Because in mornings we wake up, we have stuff happening, then we leave for work. It’s a nice little package of time to work with. If you find yourself scrambling out the door, try this:

Collect data points on who you currently are. From the moment you wake up, to the time you leave for work, what do you do? List every stupid, inconsequential thing:

Wake up
Drink water
Let dog out to pee
Stretch
Brew coffee
Drink coffee
Take dog for a Walk
Feed dog
Make breakfast
Eat breakfast
Take shower
Dry off
Brush teeth
Get dressed
Comb hair
Make up if you are a make up wearing human
Put together lunch
Get keys and wallet/purse
Lock door
Get in car
Leave driveway

That’s a shitload of things on a typical morning that we would normally just say “I wake up, I take the dog out, get ready for work and then I leave.” Each one of those items takes time to complete.

For some reason we tend to think “real quick” has to time attached to it. I just gotta brush my teeth real quick, get my keys real quick, get dressed real quick. It all takes time.

If you are perpetually late, consider trying this exercise. List out every single thing you do, and then guesstimate how long it takes. Stretching…hmmm, ok…probably takes 3 minutes. Great, put down 6. For every activity, double it. We are historically shitty at guessing lengths of time, so let’s err on the side of “that’s way more than enough time!” You can always come back and fix it later. And that’s the point. We are kissing “late” goodbye. Let’s deal with early and iterate from there.

When you add up the time it all takes, you might be surprised at how much time it takes you to get ready, and it might explain why you are running late every day.

Then you get to ask yourself who you want to be. Do you want to maintain the pace and tasks in your morning? Then perhaps you need to set your alarm to wake up earlier. Do you want to continue waking up when you normally do? Then perhaps you put some of the morning ritual on the chopping block.

This is not the only way to get on the other end of this aspect of time blindness, but it’s A way. And I’ve seen and experienced it being effective. So I’m confident in appealing to you to give it a shot.

Give it a try! And let me know how it went.

Are you and ADHD someone that knows how to be on time/early? What’s the method you use to ensure you are on time? Leave it in the comments so we can all learn and grow together!