It sounds strange to consider 'living in the moment' problematic, especially when being more 'present' is what most people are striving to achieve nowadays. 'Living in the moment' could very well describe the spontaneous, quick witted and emergency responses of a person with a diagnosis or a suspicion of ADHD.
Still, 'getting lost in the moment' can create a new set of setbacks including missing important deadlines, appointments, keeping people waiting, to name but a few. The morning suffers from the evening and the evening suffers from the now. And most people with ADHD suffer because they can be self critical for not having done what they set out to do and for not being efficient at the organisational level most people are.
There are two times in the world of the people who are not time conscious: 'Now and Not Now'. It is true that we live in an impatient world and that time is the new currency as our lives depend on how much time we have left. Despite the fact that it is mesmerising to get lost in a good book and to lose sense of time following our creative pursuits every so often, we still need to live according to the real world's clock and become more time efficient.
Some people with ADHD are better with time awareness and management but some have what is called: 'Time Blindness'. This means they might not have a sense of how long things take. Most people with ADHD will procrastinate until the very last minute. 'I won't engage with anything boring because there is always later', 'I won't apply any organisational strategies because I am not considering 'later' when I will need the reminder or prompting', 'I will engage with only fun activities as there is always later for boring' are typical thoughts of someone with ADHD traits.
Here are some tips in order to improve time awareness and management.
Summarising the day can help forgetful people keep track of how they felt, what happened and how long ago it happened. A daily written record or log will not only help you remembering what you did throughout the day but it will also increase your self awareness and metacognition.
Finding ways to make time concrete, external and tangible is helpful. Sometimes people with ADHD forget time exists. Visual checklists and schedules, looking at an analogue clock and a nudge alarm are effective strategies to become more in tune with a sense of time.
Using ONE organisational application of your choice that can be synchronised with your smart watch is the place to start. You can turn off all notifications from your watch and mobile phone apart from calendar reminders, alerts and alarms. Your smart watch notifications will nudge you with a district vibration on the wrist in order to let you know for your next calendar event ahead of time.
Executive function challenges including those on the organisational level such as planning, prioritisation, organisation, time management, task initiation and goal directed persistence are common with people who are not time aware. But you can always improve your relationship with time ver time.
You can book a complimentary call with me here to explain how:
https://calendly.com/annadaphna/30min-complimentary-call
