We often procrastinate or delay doing tasks due to time-blindness. There is no ‘burning platform’ or desperate urgency to start.
First, we must accept that we have difficulty in this area. We need to work on understanding what is getting in the way. Time-blindness can make it hard to start tasks that require sustained attention.
One notable difference is that we are motivated by interest more than by priority. So we often wait until the last minute before starting a task that does not grab us immediately. After all, you don’t have to look far to find something more enticing than revision for exams that aren’t happening for another six weeks.
Time-blindness is odd to observe: we can focus intensely on less urgent details while the main task goes overlooked.
People see us deprioritize the big thing and wonder why.
Drawing on personal examples, here are examples of my leaving things to the last minute.
- Waiting until the deadline day on any number of projects despite having had weeks to do it thus causing mild panic!
- Making a note of the time of a commitment on my phone calendar and then later forgetting about it completely and missing it or being late
- Misremembering the time of an appointment convinced that it was a different time to the real one
- Cramming in stops on the way to meeting somebody in the car and leaving insufficient time to make the meetup
- Distraction of trying to squeeze in a phone call and not enforcing boundaries to end the call in time for the meeting you’re due to attend
- Packing too much in and struggling with a deadline and then messaging the other party and telling them that I’ll regrettably be late
- Indecision over whether to go to e.g. concert, comedy gig, football match etc and hoping for ‘the cosmos’ to make the decision for me. When it doesn’t I might either drag myself to it but late for the start of not go because my dithering has made it pointless to go late
We often underestimate how long a task will take or overestimate our ability in the time available, then we fall behind and feel embarrassed.
We may become overwhelmed by time-blindness, and worry that others will get fed up with us.
We are evolved from pack animals and worry about being cast out, an ancient survival instinct. Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) can take hold without warning.
The scientific basis for time-blindness lies in ADHD and differences in the prefrontal cortex. Dopamine flow is also affected, making it hard to estimate the time needed to finish tasks.
When the outcome is not immediate, the future seems abstract. As a result, we cram for exams at the last minute. This time-blindness can make us hyperfocus and lose track of time.