Time blindness and time optimism

I heard about an interesting concept last year from a friend who - as an adult - was diagnosed with ADHD; that of time blindness. Time blindness was defined by Barkley (2008, as cited by Bennett, 2018) where we have "deficits in [ou]r abilities to conceptualize time" (Bennett, 2018, p. ii). Those with ADHD appear to "experience a form of temporal myopia when it comes to planning behaviors for future events or goals. Individuals with ADHD are more likely to be controlled by perceptions of what is happening in the moment rather than past or future events" (p. 10), which I assume means that those with ADHD are less able to recall their past experiences with lateness and project that into the future. 'Temporal myopia': that is very evocative! I wonder if that means those with ADHD live in the 'now'?

However, while those with ADHD have true limitation, there are those of us who experience some of these characteristics without having this condition. In the book "Late! A Timebender’s Guide to Why We Are Late and How We Can Change" (Pacie, 2020), it is suggested that one of the personality characteristic continua proposed by Jung - those of sensates and intuitives - may approach time differently: that sensates may be "'timekeepers' who work [...] stead[ily], are organised and naturally finish early"; while intuitives may be 'timebenders', who [leave] things right up to the last minute" (Pacie, 2020).

Our tendencies on this personality continuum may translate into us being optimistic - or pessimistic  -about how long things will take us. "Michaela Thomas, a Swedish clinical psychologist, says [an intuitive person] may be what is known as a 'time optimist' [...], “a person who underestimates" task timing while "overestimat[ing] how much time they have at their disposal". These people “will often be late for appointments, or rush things at the last minute, and this can create stress for themselves and others" (Chaudhuri, 2023).

So if - on a good day - a time optimist took 20 minutes to get to an appointment, they seem to allow 20 minutes in total forevermore. A time pessimist might allow 50 minutes, because that is the longest it once took; plus ten minutes to find a car park; then 5 minutes walking to the appointment. They will leave an hour and five minutes before the appointment time. Time pessimists will often be embarrassingly early. But time optimists will largely be annoyingly late, because they left only twenty minutes before, not even allowing time to find a park and to walk to the appointment.

If we have ADHD, we will have far more challenges when attempting to moderate our behaviours than if we are a time optimist (as the image accompanying this post indicates). However, we can all work on changing if our time management can do with going to the gym.

So, how do we change our habits if we are working with ADHD, or are overly optimistic? Building in buffers is a great start. We can have lots of reminders on our smart phones, such as "GET READY NOW" alarms, "LEAVE NOW" alarms; auto-turn-offs on PCs so no more work can be done; booking an earlier train than we need; getting to conferences the day before the start; travelling with someone who is picking us up; making a competition as to who gets to a place first; rewarding ourselves for being early; using the time before appointments for exercise as a buffer.

I am sure you all have ideas too: let me know!

Sam

References:

Bennett Jr, A. L. (2018). The Relationship between Self-Regulation and the Impact of Timing Control on Academic Fluency in College Students with and without Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). [Doctoral thesis, Fielding Graduate University]. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2138380751/fulltextPDF/CBCB60F1A0494E05PQ/1?accountid=40261

Chaudhuri, A. (2023, October 11). Are you a time optimist? Why some people are perennially late – and how to be more punctual. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/12/are-you-a-time-optimist-why-some-people-are-perennially-late-and-how-to-be-more-punctual

Pacie, G. G. (2020). Late!: A Timebender’s Guide to Why We Are Late and How We Can Change (illus. K. Tweed). Punchline Publications.

The ADHD Homestead. (n.d.). Time-blindness is dangerous [image]. https://adhdhomestead.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/time-blindness-IG-1024x1024.jpg