The Question Your Brain Keeps Asking
You’re at your desk, frozen. Not for lack of time, but for lack of an answer to a single question: “How much time do I have?”
Without a rough answer, the mind spirals:
How can I pick a task? And if I pick one, how can I truly commit? An emotion begins to stir, but how can I let it continue if an abrupt change could happen at any moment?
So instead, you remain untethered. You proceed half-hearted, not fully committed, waiting for the parameters (the boundaries, the frame) that can contain your focus and make it feel safe to begin.
When You Can’t Trust Your Inner Clock
For many with ADHD, the internal sense of time is an unreliable tool of measurement. Research shows that duration estimates can fluctuate substantially; twenty minutes might feel like five or fifty, depending on the task (Noreika et al., 2013). When your brain can't trust its own clock, it refuses to commit to open-ended tasks.
The result? You hover in a half-committed state.
Even a loose boundary like, "You have roughly 30 minutes," creates enough structure to engage. But an answer like, "You have some time"? That vagueness becomes the very thing that paralyzes you.
Why the Piles Grow
This is where the abstract problem of undefined time become concrete. It begins as a logical, short-term solution: a place to put things for now. But without the boundaries of time to help filter and sort, "now" becomes "later," and "later" never arrives.
There's an invisible threshold where a stack of papers becomes a problem. It starts with two folders, then five, then ten, each one a discrete item. But then you cross it. The pile is now its own entity, a wall of avoidance that is too big to sort through and too emotionally heavy to even touch.
The issue is a lack of filter. A defined block of time acts as a natural filter, telling your brain what to focus on and what can be ignored. Without that temporal boundary, nothing gets filtered out. Every item in the pile remains active and demanding, turning your desk into a cluttered room of overwhelming choices.
The pile overwhelms you not because of its size, but because it’s a physical monument to a collapsed temporal structure.
Why Timers Work
A timer is more than a productivity tool or hack. It's a scaffold for a brain that struggles with temporal regulation.
Set a timer for just 15 minutes and notice what happens:
It Creates a Boundary. Your brain can finally stop asking, "How long do I have?" and dedicate its energy to the task. The timer is holding the boundary for you.
It Shrinks Your Options. The universe of "things I could do" narrows to "things that fit in 15 minutes." The pressure to choose the "perfect" task disappears.
It Answers "Where Do I Start?" The best place to start is with whatever you can make a dent in right now. A small, contained task will often self-select.
It Makes It Safe to Commit. You can engage fully because you know there's a clear end point. The timer protects your focus from the threat of the unknown.
This is the same reason why deadlines, urgency, and high-stakes situations work so well for many with ADHD. They provide the meaningful, external time signals that compensate for inconsistent internal ones.
Micro-Starts and Momentum
Once the timer starts, movement begins. One item gets put away. Trash gets tossed. You finally open the document. This isn't about finishing the project; it's about activation.
These small completions trigger a helpful cascade: each small win reinforces progress while movement itself sharpens focus (Schultz et al., 1997; Sara & Bouret, 2012). Establishing a defined time frame reduces activation cost and facilitates early engagement. Once micro-actions initiate movement, momentum becomes self-reinforcing: an object in motion tends to stay in motion.
More Than Attention: Why Time is Central to ADHD
ADHD has long been framed around attention and hyperactivity. But a growing body of research confirms what many people live every day: time perception is a central feature of the struggle, not a peripheral symptom (Weissenberger et al., 2021).
It affects three foundational areas:
Motor Timing: Your body's internal rhythm for movement and coordination. Think of it as the brain's metronome for physical action: clapping to a beat, catching a ball, or even speaking with a smooth cadence.
Perceptual Timing: How accurately you sense the passage of time. Think of it as your internal stopwatch: knowing when five minutes is up, sensing a meeting is running long, or feeling why time speeds up when you're interested.
Temporal Foresight: How "real" the future feels, and your ability to connect with your future self. Think of it as the mental bridge between "you now" and "you later": feeling the urgency of a distant deadline or packing a bag the night before a trip.
When these systems are inconsistent, it impacts everything from planning a project to deciding what to make for dinner.
From Theory to Practice
Standard time management assumes reliable internal time signals. When those signals are inconsistent, different tools are needed.
Make time visible where it isn't felt. Use timers as anchors, visual calendars as maps, and rituals to mark beginnings and endings. Create boundaries you can see and trust.
ADHD & Time: Understanding Temporal Dysregulation
A free educational session for adults who struggle with time.
📅 Monday, October 27, 2025
🕕 6:00–7:30 PM
📍 Georgetown Public Library, Classroom 211
What We’ll Cover:
How time perception works differently in ADHD
Why standard productivity advice often backfires
Practical strategies to build external scaffolding
How we adapt to unstable time signals
This is an educational workshop, not therapy. Space is limited, and registration is required. Register below to reserve your spot.
References
Mette, C. (2023). Time perception in adult ADHD: Findings from a decade—A review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3098.
Noreika, V., Falter, C. M., & Rubia, K. (2013). Timing deficits in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Evidence from neurocognitive and neuroimaging studies. Neuropsychologia, 51(2), 235–266.
Sara, S. J., & Bouret, S. (2012). Orienting and reorienting: The locus coerleus mediates cognition through arousal. Neuron, 76(1), 130–141.
Schultz, W., Dayan, P., & Montague, P. R. (1997). A neural substrate of prediction and reward. Science, 275(5306), 1593–1599.
Weissenberger, S., Schönová, K., Büttiker, P., Fazio, R., Vňuková, M., Stefano, G. B., & Ptáček, R. (2021). Time perception is a focal symptom of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults. Medical Science Monitor, 27, e933766.