Unless you are an astrophysicist, I think we can agree that time is a constant and represents an objective reality. But it certainly doesn’t feel that way when you are living inside an ADHD brain. We experience time as very… squishy. I promise you that whomever originally said, “time flies when you are having fun,” was an ADHD person. Similarly, I think it had to have been an ADHD person who first noticed that, “a watched pot never boils,” as they left the kitchen and gave up on ever having a hot cup of tea again. Of course, these sayings are indicative of the human condition as a whole. But they are a good example of how ADHD is a pathological extremity of the human condition.
The up side is that you CAN get better at time. I am living proof. Here are a couple tips on how to do it, some deceptively obvious, some more subtle. First, have a clock in EVERY ROOM. Clocks are great. They are a measure of that good old objective reality that is time. But they only help if you have ready access to one. By the way, EVERY ROOM includes the bathroom… where you can see it from the shower.
Of course the clock only works if you look at it. At least while you are getting used to being mindful of time, I suggest using an interval timer. More on that next week.
When thinking about clocks, consider what might work best for you (or your kids,) digital or analogue. Choose a clock that is big enough to see and ready from everywhere in the room. And, consider picking analogue clocks that have all the numbers. Blank faces or those with only lines can lead to mistakes.
Especially for kids, consider alternative/visual formats. Time timers can be helpful when learning about the passage of time. And I’m somewhat intrigued by Linear clocks… though I don’t know what happens between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m…. except that that is when you aren’t supposed to feed the Mogwai.
I never had a clock in the dining room, until my kids started to have be on top of eating breakfast in order to get to school on time. Picked up this smaller clock for them on Wayfair. More on time in the next two posts.
