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How do *you* see time? (Patreon)

Published:
2022-03-14 16:44:56
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Hello brains & hearts! 

Time for another book question! If you can, please try to remember to let us know if we can quote you, and how you'd like to be quoted (such as by a specific name, or as "anonymous".)*Drumroll* How do you see time? Let us know everything you've got to say about this in the comments below! 😄

Comments

Jason H

I perceive time like the Doppler Effect. The farther away a vehicle is when approaching you, the slower it appears. You barely notice it. It's only once it gets really close to you, that you perceive the real speed it is traveling. If you work at 2pm, it feels like you have plenty of time when it's only 8am. But when you look at the clock to see it reading 145pm, it feels like mere seconds left. I think when we explain time as "now or not now", it really is this Doppler Effect influence on our perceptions of time.

Jay Beale

If I'm talking to other people, time flies by. Unfortunately, it's not just the hours that fly by, but even the seconds and minutes, so I don't realize how much time is going by. I've been late so many times because I lose track of time in conversation. Time either crawls like a tortoise or speeds by like a cheetah. There's no in between. If I'm bored, it seems to take forever for 5 minutes to go by. If I'm engaged, there's never enough time. (You can cite me by full name.)

BooksTeaGhosts

I see time is an inevitable hindrance as well as a useful tool. Setting tasks to be done at a certain time can be helpful in navigatiining everyday tasks. Hard starts for goals are easier to do than the deadlines to those goals. I know my brain well enough to schedule in wiggle room for when (not if) I get distracted. The more likely I am to begin inconveniencing others is when I'm most likely to get goals done quicker. Since I was a kid I've always used time intervals as goal marks. I just need to wait 15 minutes before I can do this thing, or I just have to survive 4 more hours of this task before I can rest or do a different task. I usually have hard start times for things but soft finishing times for tasks due to my poor sense of how long it should/will take me to complete said task. Ex, I will start getting ready for work at 4:30 and would like to be out of the door by 5:30. I will purposefully watch the clock to wait for the numbers to hit 4:30 and only then can I start the task. Then, it's a toss up on what gets done between that time and the time I leave the house. Did I get distracted by the cat? How long will it take me to find a clean pair of pants and shirt?

Blake Chambers

I'm in the middle of a Performance Improvement Plan—second job, second PIP. I have come to hate the engineering platitude, "fail fast"! Usually that is the feedback I get when I ask, "How long do you think this should take?" The criticism I usually get is, "I expected this to take less time because it seemed straight forward". *sigh*

Gregory Dale

Time is something I am terrible with I struggle not to underestimate how long things take. I constantly over plan over commit and then underachieve or achieve nothing

Andrew Davies

I feel like every event almost has it's own separate timeline. When's my appointment? 3 pm tomorrow. When's the movie I agreed to see with my friend? 3 pm tomorrow. I know both of these things. When do I first realise these two things are actually simulataneous? 2.55 pm tomorrow!! (Or ... 3.30 pm tomorrow when I realise I've accidentally missed them both!) Drives me and everyone else crazy! I can only really function as an adult in society because I can put every event on my phone calendar. Otherwise I'd be sunk.

Selphis

I'm not too good at noticing the passage of time in my head. The only way is by looking at a clock. If I don't have a clock nearby, I would struggle to imagine if 10 minutes had passed, or 2 hours. That being said, I also have Autism and have a thing for always making sure I have a watch on or my phone with me so that I can tell the time. If I have to be somewhere, I'm always calculating how long it's going to take to get ready and get there so that I get there on time. Not early, not late, but on time. So for me, I would be lost without a clock, there's just no time-tracking functionality there, but my brain always tells me to have a clock with me. So in the end, it usually works out fine. (Quote with name is fine)

Heather

I really struggle to visualise time, but also need to know how much time has elapsed. My car has a display that shows how long I've been driving for. I am also autistic, and I have poor interoception, so I am not good at understanding bodily cues like hunger, thirst, need to go to the toilet, etc. That means that I eat at set times, or in response to feelings, rather than when I am hungry. I am aphantasic; I have no mind's eye at all and cannot visualise things, so I think that doesn't help with my perception of time. I am always using my time timer, and reminders/timers on alexa/my watch to get things done. Without them I would be utterly lost. This is very rambly. If you can find a quotable bit, I am happy to be quoted with my name! ~Heather

veroism

Daily time to me is very anxiety inducing. It's like wandering through a forest in the night knowing that eventually I'll come out the other side but bumping into things (time sensitive tasks) that I didn't see and having to deal with them as a reaction. Sometimes I have a flashlight in the form of alarms or timers or other aids, but that only gives me a little more notice of something coming up. With long term time (like remembering things that happened in the past), I really only have big life events as milestones. Like I remember X event was before my daughter was born and after I started university therefore sometime between 2009 and 2012. Most events are completely forgotten. My friends remind me of fun times that we have had and I am happy to hear the stories because they are completely gone for me. Long term future is terrifying. I start to notice big future events (like kids birthdays) a few months in advance and get anxious about preparing for them because I know that they'll sneak up on me. Also I have a short term work contract of a few years and am constantly nervous about what is next, but it is too early to do anything about it, so I am in a sort of waiting mode career-wise thinking of things that I will do to prepare for job hunting in a couple of years. All in all, because I don't feel time passing at all or remember events that weren't major life changes, I get a lot of stress from anything time dependent.

David Stewart

Hi, you can quote and use my name. I mostly feel like I never have enough time. Either my brain is thinking about 'shiny' things with grand ideas (basically writing cheques my body can't cash) or I overplan (building lots of contingencies in) so often I arrive for things super early. It's usually the former 🤣

Khairy Farhan

Before I was trained under my mentor, I was always late for everything in my 20s. I would be panicking and rushing to leave my house for appointments. I would be overly optimistic about traffic and completely trusted navigation apps. As a public school teacher, I was even late to class. One crazy time, I even cycled a huge distance to work, thinking it would be fine. It rained that day and I had never practised the route. In my first two years as a learning facilitation apprentice, I was conditioned to "feel" time. I was able to deliver workshops but always ran over the time for certain segments because I would overexplain. I had to do more: I had to identify what was important and ensured that a clock was within my line of sight. I had to "feel" what 5, 15, and 30 minutes felt like. I had to set up an alarm for every period of time to develop my sensitivity. I would often feel the anxiety creep up and quickly check my watch to see how much time had passed. Now, five years later, I still depend on this "feeling". It has become a habit for me to check the clock ever so often. Within my social circle, I'm known as the "buffer guy". I would add 50% to travel times and 100% if the weather was bad. I'm fairly punctual, huge progress from where I was. But I still struggle in estimating how much time tasks would require: I would still underestimate. Last year, I tried taking on a full-time job. I underestimated the amount of time the work required. I had this resolve that I was to be as reliable as I could to prove my worth. When the project reached crunch time, my decisions sacrificed nutrition, sleep, self-care, and time with my wife. I eventually fell into an emotional breakdown. I went into mega-hyperfocus and crashed. After that, I made a promise to myself to always prioritise my well-being. When I reflected on why I had, and still do, underestimated the time needed, it seems that when I look at tasks, they seem so straightforward in my head. I know the things need to be done but I don't take into account the considerations which I have been told before. Much of the time taken for these tasks is the process of gathering as much information about the considerations, not wanting the exasperation of others ("Didn't I tell you this before?"). Then there's the lack of foresight about the potential limitations: technical, my energy level, distractions, other commitments that demand attention. Reflecting on this has made me realise that I can actually apply my extreme buffering (or is this what normal people do?). (Then, there's the huge challenge of saying "No".) These days, I try as much as possible to work on my planner (it's been 2.5 months since I last used it). I also use Google Calendar and set up alerts. I know I ought to use it more, that it needs to be a part of me. So I guess, that's my relationship with time.

Sam Campeau

I’m a list guy. Problem is, my lists are far grander than what my ADDled mind (or probably, most humans) can produce. For example I’ll set a long list of home improvement tasks for a rainy Sunday, thinking the whole time, “this is achievable!” I think that even as I take an hour to write the list in bed, another hour to watch YouTube videos on replacing a baseboard, and then shower and OMG I promised my wife to make brunch so that’s another two hours and then a half hour drive to the mile-long aisles of Home Depot and now it’s suddenly 3pm but that’s okay I can still do this!! Flash forward another hour or so, the bathroom is littered with dusty drywall and wet plaster and boxes of tools I meant to organize last weekend. I’m in a very unhappy, stressed out state of mind because I didn’t get one thing done on my list and now I can’t use this bathroom and I’ve disappointed everyone in my life. (Reality: my wife understands my various malfunctions and privately knew waaay before me that I was not going to finish the bathroom and that’s okay.) My name is Sam and you can quote me on that (1st name only please).

Koenraad Jacobs

Hi Jessica (and team ofcourse!!) I'm more than happy to be quoted as always. My name can be used in full (Koenraad Jacobs). I love to be very open about it, as it can only help others, and I'm happy to connect with others. So *TIME*. Wow. What is time. I've always liked the saying that time passes by quickly when you're having fun, but have always had the feeling it doesn't cover the load. Time waiting on something is extremely annoying and feels long. Way too long. Even stuff I don't like, please just get it over with. Time while something is happening has a few different aspects. Whenever something is not exciting, very dreadful, time takes ages (I know that sounds weird). But hours feel like days, days feel like years, ... HOWEVER, when I'm having fun, or when I'm fully invested in something because it grabbed my attention or will to get it done, time goes by like a jet you can't even see. And I say OR when I'm fully invested, because that doesn't necessarily mean I'm having fun. I'm just really invested. Last but not least - the imagination of time is horrendous. I've learnt to determine how long a drive takes by practice. I know how I always underestimate distance and red lights and whatnot so I know my first guess is completely wrong and I need to add on to that. Time estimation as to how long a task will take are super annoying. Whenever I think it's fun and exciting I estimate it to be over very quickly (because it feels like it), although it may take way longer. When I dread something, I think it will take very long. Generally speaking - ask me how long something takes, I'll give you the wrong number. Unless I know this specific question has been asked and I've been wrong 1000 times. I'll give you my adjusted idea, based on those past experiences. Oh - and underestimation happens more often than overestimation of duration. Like deadlines, when I see I have more time than "I need it in 5 mins", I'll postpone, because WOW SO MUCH TIME.

Katalin Tímea Borsos

For me time is a constant element of surprise, not surprisingly. I can sit down and think, research, talk etc. about something that grabbed my attention in the middle of hurrying to leave my home, and I feel time doesn't move at all (like now, actually 😅). Some minutes later I just got surprised and anxious, that I lost a lot of precious time, and someone is waiting for me. When I have an appointment, ticket to somewhere, reservation, I can be nervous about it for hours and days, especially of this is in the morning. And still cutting it very close, if making it on time. It doesn't flow at the same speed. Either stands still, or goes by very quickly.

Skyler Wolf

Lol, I personify Time. Time is also a regular at the bar I frequent. She's in the same room, and sometimes when no one else is there, we will idly chat, we can make small talk in short bursts - but we aren't friends because we don't really understand each other. Sometimes, when the right subject comes up, we can get excited and surprise ourselves, losing the awkwardness in a shared interest. I mean, we did choose the same bar after all, but mostly, we just coexist within our misunderstandings. Skyler Wolf

Ginger Laird

I live in the now. The ever-changing constant. The only reason I use clocks is because I have to if I'm going to function in society. You can quote me on that, if you want.

Daniella Rebouças Ju

I feel like I am always fighting Time. Yikes! For me Time is an unfair arbiter-- why is it that the most fun activities just fly by while spending 4h of my day... and the WORST activities, such as balancing finances, take me 1h but feels like 4h of work? Wish I could have 4 perceived-hours of fun in just the 1 real-hour... because that would mean much more time for fun things :D To be honest, I used to think I was really good at telling time, only to realize that in reality I was just really tense and anxious about time passing by without me noticing (and me ending up late for stuff, for example). When I am happy and relaxed, or doing something fun, half an hour will pass by and it feels like 5 min. :) Feel free to quote me -Daniella Ju

Robert Ferney

I joke with my family: I know two times, Now and Past. I am present in the Now. The Past happened previously. That's really all my brain likes to distinguish. I have no way to observe the future, so it doesn't exist. I'm bad enough with time, that I've called the doctor to confirm a follow-up appointment a year late. Quotable as 'Rob'

Zooblie

For me time is either "so a few days ago..... Wait, no, that happened [some number of months or years ago]" or "eventually". I'm 31 but I have to think about it because in my head I'm maybe 22 and just graduated college. I have to think through time lines of various things to place memories of other events (ok, so my sister graduated high school in 2015 because I'd been married for almost a year and it was my first visit since getting married). I don't plan for the future until it becomes either "now" or "almost now". My MIL keeps asking me if I've submitted a time off request for a family thing at the end of May. Nope. I'll probably do it some time closer to the actual date, when 60+ days from now doesn't feel the same as 60+ months from now. I don't have a 5 year plan or whatever, there are too many things that can change so there's not much use to planning out my life in advance. I'm not planning on any big changes like changing jobs or moving or having kids in general, whether that's 1 or 5 or 25 years from now. If something comes up, I'll figure it out then. ~Julie

Allikin

I don't know if this is an ADHD thing, but I read you question very literally. So how I see time is as follows: Days: Basically like an analogue clock Weeks: Pretty linear, from right to left(!) and tilted slightly downwards and directed towards my north-east-east Months: Depends on which month I am in, see year Year: My year is much like an analogue clock, but it's stretched sideways, egg-shaped, with the pointy end towards right (3 o'clock). New years is on top (12 o'clock). January, February and March is taking up most of the 1st quarter of the year, but April starts before we get to "3 o'clock" (which is circa mid-April). 6 o'clock is 1st of July, 9 o'clock is middle of October. Decades: Same as I see numbers in general, so I start on the right and go upwards and left until I reach 20, and then it's sort of zig-zag-y towards 100, so 100 is to the right of 20, even though 21 to 30 goes in a steep line towards left, same with 31-40 etc. It's not quite logical "on paper". :D Also, the days, months and numbers have colors, but it's pretty subconscious, so it's hard to pinpoint the color when I think about it consciously. October and November are definitely black. So, this was a different take on answering your question from me. Love your content, thank you (and your crew) so, so much for all your hard work! I don't mind getting named or quoted. :)

Rich Powell

I do a lot of planning for work and have years of experience managing projects and products, which requires really solid visualization of time and how things related to each other on the time dimension... That said, my actual experience of time boils down to NOW or NOT NOW (and a lot of "oh shoot, that's now?? I thought that was later!" As much as I try to see it differently, that's just how everything ends up working for me.

Cassandra Humenuk

I perceive time inconsistently. Depending on how focused or not I am time seems to move differently. During intense focus it tends to move slower, but not in a way that distorts background sounds - youtube sounds like youtube - not sped up) It's like my system clock adjusts the number of ticks I experience at a given time based on attention. Overclock when focused, underclock when flustered or overly stressed/anxious/thought-locked. Longer term time perception is more like guess work. If you had a ruler and 1" was sometimes 1cm and sometimes 1 foot, it makes giving distance estimate/measurement wonky. Taking the same measurement twice (estimating time) giving inconsistent results because while the number line is ordinal, the intervals are uneven and sometimes random. Can quote/in part quote as "Cassandra"

Nora Gainey

Time is a dimension I don't live in. I can be early or late but never on time. So I have about 5 minutes to do this so I am not late It's been harder lately so perhaps age is a problem? I can lose track of time on anything. I use multiple alarms etc and still, things fall off my radar so it is a constant shame & guilt thing for me. I still show up the next time because we have had to be reliant in the face of this 'natural disaster'

Kathleen Cady

Looking at time forwards or backwards sometimes confuses my brain so much that I just move on to a different focus. I struggle right now because making goals for myself in the future feels impossible. Looking backwards, I feel like I need to find time through a series of life connections that I have made. I rely on connections and “deja vu” moments a lot to strike memories that feel impossible to pull from until I’ve had that linking experience. However, the places that my brain finds connections to things can be very minute. I am persistently 3-5 minutes late for work. Like, barely even considered late in my brain. Can you reaaaaally get mad at someone for being 5 minutes late? But even if I do get there early, I will sit in my car until 1 minute before I work, and then when I go to walk i realize I still have to grab my phone, my server apron, my purse, my water bottle. Getting out of the car is almost always a juggling act. Most of my water bottles have dents in them from carrying to much while I try locking my door. I’m not sure if any of that made sense or was relevant. But feel free to use it if you’d like -Kathleen

Eileen Greenbaum

In Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity it is proposed that the speed which time passes is relative to the observer’s frame of reference. I cannot think of better evidence to prove that Einstein had some form of ADHD. When I view time, it is extremely relative to the mental state I am in and what I am currently doing. If I am listless, uninterested, or unmotivated, time passes slower than molasses in January! If I am exited, hyper focused, or engaged, time passes in the blink of an eye. I think most people can relate to this, however I have additional issues that crop up because of my deficit in regulating my emotions and focus. When I dislike a task that seems to take “forever”, it is very hard to convince my brain that it actually only takes 15 min. I feel like the attention or concentration I would have to spend in order to complete the task is a herculean effort because of my lack of ability to regulate such resources. I take so much time(1hr, 2hrs, DAYS) to gather the motivation/energy and focus to complete the task that my perception of “forever” then feels justified. This also impacts my view of the resource of time, making me feel like I can never have enough to do what I need to do. On the other hand, when I am engaged or hyper focused on something, I never seem to have enough time. I lose track of everything but what I am doing because my ADHD causes me to fixate my task. Some people view this as an advantage and, when utilized properly, it is. However, personally, I also lose track of when I need to eat, drink water, do my daily ablutions, etc., which causes my health to suffer. My day passes in an instant, yet I still have so much to do because my “tunnel vision” caused me to forget about all the other tasks I had. Combined, these two perceptions make me feel that I never have enough time. This misconception of how long I take to complete a task causes a ripple effect. I constantly underestimate the amount of time I will need to do things when scheduling my days, resulting in chronic tardiness and procrastination. In turn, I am labeled lazy, unreliable, unorganized, etc. As these labels are repeated, I start to view myself in this way. When I internalize it, I subconsciously blame my mismanagement of time as a personal failing. It then increases my depression and motivation, which results in me taking even more time to complete tasks. This happens in a continuous cycle that is very difficult to break and It affects every aspect of my life. All because of the relative perception of time from the view of my ADHD brain. I consent to this being used for reference under my first name and last initial of Eileen G.

dakota johnson

I can tell the time and know what the time is - but other than that it just doesn't exist for me. I know if something is in the future or past but the concept of how long is difficult to understand- I am always surprised by when something is it always jumps out at me Dakota 😊

Edward Idema

For me time is a feeling. Like: "It feels early in the morning", "it feels like lunchtime", "it doesn't feel like time to go to sleep yet". Sometimes the feeling is a little off, other times it is completely off. Most of the time, I can adjust my feeling of time to the time indicated by a clock, sometimes I can't. Estimating how much time something will take or has taken, is a little different. I have categories, like "essentially no time at all", "almost no time/a few minutes", "an hour or so", "hours", "the whole day", "I'll never get it done today". The problem is that I get surprised/irritated/shocked regularly when I look at a clock. "How can it be two o clock? It doesn't feel like afternoon. It still feels like morning. Since half past nine, I only did a few things that should have taken almost no time or a few minute, so it should be ten o clock at the most." Sometimes I almost feel like someone is messing with me by changing the clock when I'm not looking. I learned not to be surprised or mad, but it can still feel so unfair when I feel like I have done a lot and still have a lot of time, only to find out some mysterious timethief stole a few hours again.

Ryan Snead

Time is a dimension similar to the Cartesian dimensions of Space and part of the coordinate system of Space-Time. When a person says I am in a place, the "I am in" part is referring to Time. If you try to locate the same person in that Space at a later coordinate of Time, you won't meet the person who was that said they were in that Space, but you might see a version of that person who remembers having said it. Similarly, if you had the ability to perceive that Space in Time which happened before the person said "I am in a place", a person you expect might not be there. This isn't so hard, maybe you perceived that place before the person you expect was in the place, and so you can recall them not being there. See, I can solve Time Travel to the past for a limited set of parameters quite easily, and so can most people who can read this! For all we know, every creature who as experienced Time over the last three and a half billion years or so can at least converge on some "perception" of Now. Some of us multicellular eukaryotic life forms have a evolved the perception of Not Now. The form of Not Now that is in the parts of Time we know as Past is particularly useful to the continuation of a life form in Now. I'll note here that Now can be thought to encompass a range of moments that are immediate enough to form an experience including what is about to happen. Thus, organisms with faces can avert the tragedy of a pie in the face by ducking away from it, and we can agree upon a shared experience of that happening Now even if some momenta of that experience are strictly speaking in the past, present, or future. To the best of our knowledge, only a few forms of life practice the art of anticipating the kind of Not Now which lies beyond our immediate perceptions or capability to have a shared experience, that which we call the Future. The kind of thinking required to anticipate Future is conceptual instead of being perceptual. Because thinking in concepts instead of perceptions (percepts?) is abstract, the manner in which we think about them is way more diverse than the way it can be perceived. We only arrive at a shared understanding of a concept, albeit imperfectly, because we have languages and culture to describe them. World cultures are largely converging on a common understanding of Future because the Globalization which took off starting with the first Industrial Revolution seems to require it. Prior to the first Industrial Revolution, the necessity for minutes and seconds to matter was the exception. As the world places more importance on fixed schedules, it makes fewer allowances for people who grok Time less fixedly. Not all world cultures have fully integrated a precise understanding of Not Now. I hosted an Au Pair from South Africa who was Zulu to care for my children when they were younger. At some point, I realized she had difficulty abstractly thinking and understanding in time increments less than a quarter hour. While it was no problem for her to see and experience the difference between 11:13 and 11:20 in Now, it wasn't a difference that conceptually mattered in the majority of her life experience to that point. Either time was simply a Quarter past Eleven. Her life in Durban had all the modern amenities one might expect in the early 2000s (except perhaps that the internet connections were more terrible than today), but the most precise measure of time that mattered in her life at home was still a quarter hour. In contrast, the company where I worked measured timesheets to the tenth of an hour (six minutes), and five minutes late to a meeting requires an apology to the client for wasting their time. I have learned that it is a requirement for me to see Time in Now and Time in Not Now with the aid of assistive technology which is widely used and available in the developed world. Unlike those who more naturally grok time fixedly, I lean on the technology much more heavily. It's far to easy to get stuck in a Now that will exceed the conceived plan for it (like with writing this essay to answer Jessica's question). I am always setting reminders to limit myself so that I can successfully keep a schedule or leaving physical artifacts to prevent myself from skipping past important tasks. I have learned to see this extra work and tools as essential and as the glasses I wear to read text comfortably. I require more technology to grok Not Now in a meaningful way. Both Past Me and Future Me are fuzzy and lost in the noise of my brain reacting to Now. This is what requires me to place perceptual reminders for Future Me that something either within or outside of Now is important. My ability to work with abstract Time strategically (the where will you be in five years sort of planning) has always been maddeningly more difficult for me than I think is typical. I have not come across assistive tools or techniques yet that help me grok long term desires or plans effectively and as more than just aspirations. You can use my name along with any part of this you find useful.

Aelynn_Graywind

Time is a very ambiguous thing for me. On a weekend morning, I feel like I have plenty of it, but then suddenly it's 8 pm, and I haven't done anything I planned... which always makes me feel like I've wasted the day. Also, whatever I do, if I don't plan it properly or (and this is a really huge issue for me) get carried away with side quests in the process, it takes me twice or thrice longer than I expected, and I always feel like I wasted this time and could do so much more if I hadn't stuck with this single task for so long. But on the other hand, when I start recounting what I did in the past day / week / month / year, it turns out to be a huge list of useful and cool things. Unplanned things... but still cool and useful :D

Jeimie Parrilla

How do you see time? I see time based on the repetitive schedule or routine set for the day. This means that it changes based on what day/part of the week it is. For example, Monday through Friday, my son is in elementary school. Therefore, my schedule means I wake up at 6 am, drop him off by 7:30 am, and then I'm free until 1:30 pm (time to pick him up). If I take my ADHD medicine, then I'm able to focus and accomplish something within that timeframe. I try to give myself 1 goal. My thought process is to make it small and attainable resulting in the possibility of completing additional tasks (momentum). Then between that time and 7 pm (when my husband gets home) I try to relax and use that time to spend with myself or doing something with my son. I don't look at the clock throughout the day which makes it harder to realize how time is passing until it's gone. On the weekends, time feels like it's just there/passing at all and not important at all. I only truly realize the time when it's dark outside, my son falls asleep (around 9-10 pm) and that's my mental cue that it's late. Tools I use that help are: setting an alarm on a loudspeaker (for me its Alexa,) and opening my windows to be aware of the brightness of the day. You have permission to quote me including my name.

Connie

Time is something I have difficulty getting a grasp of, both in the moment and in memory. My friends used to be concerned because they'd mention something that happened two weekends ago, and I'd act super surprised because to me, it's a memory unanchored to any time frame, so it feels as distant as a memory from years ago. I feel like part of it is that I tend to do a lot and experience a lot emotionally, so a week to me may be packed with more things than someone else. My friends have noted that I probably have memories tied to emotions more than other factors. That definitely tracks with how I view my life events - I have things on a relative timeline by category. Relationships, school/career/location. Events are generally free floating. School/career/location is probably the thing I have best tied to any time, so to tie specific events to a date, I have to think of them in relation to a bigger thing I have a date tied to. I'm not sure how much of that is ADHD inherently, but I have long standing struggle with keeping a consistent and long enough sleep schedule and taking time to reflect on the day or week's events. That definitely contributes to my poor long term memory of events. For in the moment, my experience is much as others have described. Time will fly by because I'm hyper focused on sorting the decomposing cilantro from the fresh or crawl because I'm constantly checking the watch waiting for transportation to arrive. That's great if I realized I'm about to get caught on something and need to detangle myself while falling, doing something long that I enjoy/once I started, but it's terrible for a lot of other things. I've been slowly trying to find the right type of job for me, though it's still an uphill battle. Jobs that require you to be on time, consistently on, and do many tasks fast aren't for me (strict shift work, queue-based work). - can quote me as Connie

Rachel Cronin

As a teacher for 29 years (so far), I see time as very measured and structured. When I was finally diagnosed at 50, suddenly my productivity, goal planning and time management during the school year made sense - as did my absolute disaster of a summer, year after unstructured, no routine summer. Then when I had kids, the summers truly fell apart until I had to color code calendars and schedule daily events and camps and walks and play dates and even meals. Outside of my classroom and the school year, time is so flimsy. Sometimes it dragged so unbearably that I thought I would lose it. Other times, hours would pass because I was lost in a closet “decluttering” and kids were begging to go to the pool - or have lunch. Without the very particular passage of class periods, I really have very little sense of time and productivity. Now I get it and suddenly my life makes more sense! I’m not a worthless sloth during my summers; I just have to create my own schedule, complete with “bells” and alarms! ❤️ Whew. Thanks for letting me vent. I haven’t really talked about my diagnosis, but this is a great safe space! (You can quote me by name ). Rachel C.

London Bisexuals Meetup

I recently had a go at improving my time estimates by trying to see if there was a factor I could apply to my estimates, but I discovered they weren't really consistent enough. Sometimes 3x as much time has passed as I thought, sometimes lots more than that, sometimes 2x. Hyperfocusing or future-tripping/other deep-in-thought periods about something makes it easy for quantities of time to just disappear that don't seem connected to the time I expected it to be for. I've honestly wondered if I had an unconscious moment when 45mins have gone by when I thought it was 10, and that was even after I added on pad time to allow for zoning out. I never allow enough time to get ready, and I think I can do everything in much less time than it takes - at work and eg. when preparing to go somewhere out the house (besides the occasional having-to-come-back-when-I'm-30seconds-down-the-road-because-I-forgot-something-important). With recognition that things take longer, I've been able to get a bit better at it, and with intentional and mindful thought about whats actually involved Im better at not forgetting the little bits that actually take some time when trying to work out the whole task (the limit on working memory also doesn't help when listing all the parts that a task needs and trying not to forget what I've counted up already). I can even help my wife with her estimates when my experience tells me she's out by some way after she's said she'll be back from something in whatever no. of hours. I know that if I'm actually trying to count seconds and provide myself a regular tick, tick, tick, inside my head without a clock there to check on it, I can do a fairly decent job; the time goes screwy when I'm not thinking about it and something else has my entire focus without distractions, and when its just my subconscious. Quotable, as John G. please.

Jeffery Blair

I can be quoted by name. I have an inconsistent awareness of time. I’m only made aware of it’s passing by something external, like an alarm. When I’m hyperfocused, time flows around me, but I don’t notice it. The opposite is true when I’m stuck in that ADHD state of total mental and emotional fatigue. Time runs so slowly that every minute feels like an hour. I have no connection to time that’s measured with a calendar. My brain understands that days and months pass, but it doesn’t feel the passing as something tangible. Time only passes in the background and isn’t relevant unless a milestone, like a birthday or a holiday, is brought to my attention. I’m only connected to the event or activity that’s happening right now, but that connection severs once my focus moves elsewhere. Time doesn’t to pass for me, only events and activities do. I measure time as “now” and “not now”. However, “now” can feel like a second or an eternity, depending on my mental state and my awareness of time in that moment.

How to ADHD

Thank you to everyone who has shared thus far! It's been really fascinating to read all these different answers, but to also see how many answers reference a lot of the same struggles many of us face. 😊 And it's been cool seeing how your different brains handle time both as a concept and as something that we have to try and stick to in society. 🧡 - Harley Community Manager

Denise Strickland Tillman

I chronically under estimate time by about 15 minutes. I seem to slow down if I have extra time. I am always racing against the clock, and become disgusted with myself often...why, why, why is time the enemy so often.?

Shona Coverdale

I've spent my whole life beinf chastised for procrastination in regard to my chronic lateness. I took a time management seminar once, and that's the first time I learned that I don't procrastinate at all, but instead have an unrealistic relationship with time. I'd decide that it takes a specific amount of time to get somewhere, say 15 minutes, but I didn't account for the time to get out of the house, into the car, on the road, traffic, get out of the car, inside, and then clock in or whatever. And on top of that, I always think I have time to do everything before leaving, but don't have a realistic expectation of how much time each thing takes. Within the last few years, I realized that I'm either early or late, I'm never just right on time. So now I strive really hard for early. So much so, that it's nit uncommon for me to be 30-45 minute's early, just to make sure. Even so, in the back of my mind, I'm still irritated that it matters so much to everyone else.

Nelka

Anonymous, please. I can - after a lot of practice - see the week. Anything major and important to me - I'll remember it is this week. If it goes beyond a week - it is "not now". Out of year/month/date/day of the week - I'll only remember one. Maybe two. The rest I infer logically. The time of the day is divided into morning/afternoon/night. And the planning is affected since I cannot plan for exact time to do something - I have to plan by how I'll feel, by emotional readiness and whether that time fits what I want to do. I can plan maybe one major time-locked something (appointment, etc), but I'd be exhausted by it, by the planning for exact time. I always overplan. Meaning that I plan too much. My list of what I want to do in a day - even when I try to plan little - is long, and I just do not see the done things, even when I mark them done on my list. I only see what else I can fit into the day. Besides, I do not write quite a few things which take up time. So as a result - always not enough time, or, more often, tired from doing a lot. Beyond a week's time - I have to plan the appointments immediately on my calendar (the reminder will pop up), and remember to check the calendar when planning other appointments. To plan anything else - I do it with a coach, since I cannot see time that far. Not for planning. Honestly, I see time as something weird that is always rushing me. That, in short, is how I see it.

Brian Kahrs

Interesting question! Time has been one of my biggest struggles as I'm working to optimize after being diagnosed in my late 30s. Here's my fast take, happy to be quoted (and in perpetuity)... I see time literally, with my Time Timer! Seriously, though, time has always been this existential truth that doesn't interface natively with my brain. It's a second language, maybe like Spanish. If I'm speaking Spanish, I'm focusing so much effort on getting the sentence structures, words, and conjugations right, and there isn't capacity left to plan the next part of my story (a joke? hah!). Side note: This is a really interesting metaphor to me, because our brains think mostly in our native tongues. The actual magic of our brains is their ability to build tools/constructs (like a language, math, or time) to achieve some goal, and then layer these concepts and ideas in ways that build exponentially. The language we are taught after birth and how we are interacted with sets a foundation for everything we will learn and do. Two people that natively speak two very different languages (e.g. English and Chinese) have some structurally different ways of thinking based on the mechanisms and tools they use to comprehend the world. Back to the point... time isn't one of those languages. If I'm focused on something that maintains my interest, time will fly, because I'm not actively aware of its existence. If I have nothing to do, then time has become the first thing I wonder about when I'm sitting in my body and paying attention to the world around me. I always know where I am, who I am, what I am doing, what I want to be doing, and I can instantaneously process all of those things (in English!)... but I don't know what time it is.

Lizzie Lane

I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd. There's an hourglass in the 6th movie in Professor Slughorn's office - it's only in the movie, not in the book. It was absolutely fascinating to me, though. It's a representation of time based on the feelings of the owner of the hourglass. If someone is enjoying themselves or the conversation, the sand in the hourglass slows down. If someone does not enjoy what they're doing, or is uncomfortable, or experiencing some kind of negative emotion, the sand in the hourglass speeds up, passing time more quickly. The idea being that time moves faster to get them out of the situation more quickly. I view time in a similar way, I guess? When I'm uncomfortable it's like a thought maelstrom in my mind, and everything speeds up. My brain is moving faster than Usain Bolt and I can't keep up with what's going on around me, or focus. But when I'm having fun, or I'm happy, everything slows down, and I feel more comfortable. I'm able to keep track of my thoughts, and I don't feel rushed or hurried, or buffeted by stimuli in a way that I would if I were doing or experiencing something unpleasant. You're welcome to use this for your book if you like. "Lizzie Lane".

Kira Lesser

Ohh I love this question! It is so interesting. You can quote me. (Kira, 37) I quite literally "see" time in a vague form of time-space synesthesia. However, I cannot feel time passing. The hours in the day for me form something like a sine wave, with midnight on the bottom, noon on the top, moving through the week. Recently I've realized I don't need to keep this solely in my head. If I draw my week as my sine wave and draw / write my schedule on it, it is much easier for me to estimate how much I can do and when, compared to if I try to lay it out top to bottom in a more traditional way. My brain associates the point in the sine wave with my typical energy levels at that time, because any time I look at the clock, my brain translates it into a point on the wave. For this reason, I want to find a 24-hour clock with noon on top to have in my house, because it's the closest thing to what I see naturally! Meanwhile, the calendar runs counterclockwise, and my perspective changes through the year like I'm riding along it, but for the most part, January is the bottom and summer months are across the top. Years run on a line going mostly up and at an angle, but I couldn't tell you what direction the angle is because it's in a three dimensional space that I can look at in different ways. But if you say "July 1963," I see my calendar a ways below me, with an area marked in the top of it (where July is), and the whole calendar is on the spot in my year line where the 1960s are (usually down and to the left from now when facing it - but I can also mind travel to hover near it ... I swear I'm not high). For all of this detailed imagery, it does not help me stick to plans or be on time, because I do not *feel* time passing. When I hyperfocus, my brain thinks time stops. And I can tell you, I quite literally think I'm in the same place on my sine wave until I check the clock again! And if I try to maintain a sense of time, I can't focus on anything else. Additionally, I can't remember how long ago things happened, even if I once saw it on my mind calendar, because of working memory issues. So while I have an elaborate concept of time and it can help me remember future appointments if I take a moment to visualize them, it is very abstract and I can't connect it to me, here, now. For that I need timers and calendar alerts. One new thing I'm trying now, that seems to be slightly helping with the sense of time, is to run a pomodoro timer even when I'm not doing something that takes a lot of focus. Basically, on the 25 minute "focus" session, I make sure to be intentional about what I'm doing, even if some would consider it a break (e.g. eating lunch). Then the 5 minute breaks are brain breaks, in which I stop trying to rein it in, or dictate what the break can be - I simply let it go free. My body is slowly learning A) what I can do in 25 minutes (and what it feels like doing different types of things) and B) what 2 hours feels like (4 tomatoes!). And bonus... letting my brain do what it wants to do for 5 minutes seems to give me a tiny dopamine boost! Maybe one day I'll connect the pomodoros with my brain pictures of time, which will be golden - but I'm not holding my breath!

Jennifer Levenbook

Good question! I just explained this to my partner. I break time down into 5 categories on a continuum. They are... AGO (Not Now but the historic kind) ... BEFORE (Not Now but like within the past week probably) ... NOW ... SOON (Not Now but within the next week aspirationally) ... NOT NOW (for a long time in the future or maybe never) I tell him that when it comes to productive action there is only NOW and NOT NOW. If I don't do it NOW, I might never do it even if I can ballpark what kind of NOT NOW I'm aspiring to do the thing at. When it comes to memories, I can more pinpoint what kind of NOT NOW there is. I've made my peace with having to be a productive creature of the NOW. I clear things off my plate and delegated, asked someone else to be responsible for following up with me instead of me checking back in with them, or responded and closed them out with a dazzling speed that leaves others I've worked with agog. (Apparently neurotypicals do things like "sit on it" or "let it simmer" or "think about it". I know not why they do these things.) Professionally, it's been really cool. In my home, the amount of NOT NOW organizing has led to my house looking cluttered but I just don't have people over and thus problem solved. Hope that helps. Feel free to quote me. (Jen, 39)

Jasmine Ofaolain

So since a really young age, i have always pictured age (so time in a way) as a staircase that goes up and up and up, and each year i take a step up. But in retrospect i think i always saw my parents above me on the stairs, but not up as many stairs as there were years to be accurate. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sara Star

I am Sara, you can use my name. I am consistently late. I have to aim for 30 minutes early, to be on time. I constantly have to monitor the time and keep track of it. Because if I get distracted or decide to do something else, I assume will take only 5 minutes..

Brandi Harvey

I’ve learned over the years to manage lateness (more often, still not always) by planning to be somewhere ahead of time. For things like work and performances (I’m a singer), I just always shoot for an hour or two ahead of time. That helps me be closer to on time. For things like tasks or meal prep or getting myself ready for a date, etc…,I still have a bad case of magical thinking around time. I am working now on allowing myself time for things to take longer. And I’m working with the folks around me to have grace when I’m running late. (You can use my info, if it’s helpful)

Laura MacAlpine

You can use my info…… I have started setting alarms every 30 mins, I am late for everything. At least a blaring alarm makes me check my calendar every 30 mins so that I don’t miss my Teams meetings. Time is something I find very hard to keep track of! It escapes me all the time.

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'Time is the enemy I need to keep closer.' (Annie A.) Go ahead - quote me.

Natasha Karek

I am totally time blind. I set an alarm 10 min before I have to leave the house or call someone otherwise I could forget. I have drove home after working a night shift and forgot to stop to pick my my daughter up. She had requested for me to run her to school, so she could see me quick. My mother called after I was already in bed… needless to say I “forgot” and need to set alarms. It doesn’t matter if it was 5 minutes ago, I forget if I am focused on something else. ( Tasha )

Jason Gibson

Bing bango, done. Commonly joked about theory on how my estimated time to get work done is. I almost always assume a job will be quicker, but try to push myself to expect the unexpected that could happen and expand the allowed time to complete tasks. Adding in this buffer of time lets me get closer to an actual time of getting something done, in my brain anything I know how to do can be done quickly, except the dishes, and anything else I'm putting off, because that's completely impossible to do without doing more. This makes running my own business difficult, but I rely on those I have that work with me, to balance out my terrible concept of time things take, or at least understand I had good intentions and that I understand once things get going it may just take more time.