Research Recap with Skye: Time Perception Deficits

Summary

Hacking Your ADHD – Research Recap with Skye: Time Perception Deficits

Host: William Curb
Guest: Skye Waterson
Date: April 10, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this Research Recap episode, William Curb and guest Skye Waterson (of Unconventional Organization) dive into the complexities of time perception deficits in adults with ADHD, summarizing insights from a decade's worth of research (2012–2022) as presented in the paper "Time Perception in Adults: Findings from a Decade, a Review." Together, they break down the nuanced ways in which ADHD impacts the perception, management, and estimation of time, and discuss real-life strategies for coping and thriving despite these challenges.

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. ADHD and Universal Time Perception Struggles

[01:48]

• Skye frames the overarching finding:

  "We struggle with all of this when we have ADHD...time is not one thing."

• The literature review confirms: If you have ADHD and struggle with time, you're not alone; the research underscores that this is a widespread experience.

2. The Multifaceted Nature of Time

[03:17, 04:33]

Three Key Areas of Time Perception:

• Time Estimation: Judging how long a task took.
• Time Reproduction: Replicating a previously experienced duration.
  Notably difficult for people with ADHD:

  "Spoiler alert. We're not very good at it." — Skye [03:03]

• Time Management: Using time intentionally and executing plans.

Distinctions in Types of Timing:

• Millisecond Timing: For motor actions, speech, and music (may influence tendencies like interrupting).

  "[Millisecond timing] is important for motor processes, speech and music perception...I wondered, Will, do you think that is one of the reasons why we struggle with interrupting?" — Skye [04:13]

• Circadian Timing: Internal body clock regulating physiological cycles.
• Interval Timing: Perceiving time over seconds to minutes.

3. Challenges Illustrated: Practical Examples

[05:25 – 08:52]

• Difficulty estimating how long activities will take leads directly to lateness, missed appointments, and overwhelm when planning the day.

  "Deciding what I'm going to do next based on how much time I have seems like it should be an easy decision. And yet...making it to meetings on time or getting out the door is vastly affected by...if I can understand how long that minute is going to take..." — William [05:34]

• Visual timers (e.g., Time Timer) and auditory cues (spoken clocks, chimes, playlists) are described as helpful external aids:

  "Try and put more ways to see and visualize time into your world...Because unlike other people, we cannot do this in our heads." — Skye [07:45]

• Incorporating music as a time cue:

  "The music is giving me cues that I normally would not feel." — William [09:13]

4. Compensatory Strategies

[09:26 – 10:53]

• Many people with ADHD overcompensate, arriving very early or very late, rarely exactly on time.

  "That's why people are often like, oh, this highly anxious person who has ADHD turns up everywhere half an hour early...this is just a time estimation problem that they're overcompensating for at this point." — Skye [09:26]

• Buffering and redundant reminders are a common self-management approach.
• Skye describes her own buffer strategy from before her ADHD diagnosis:

  "I need to get here this much earlier because I have to catch this bus and this train and...I need to have lots of buffer time in between all of them." [10:26]

5. Circadian Rhythms and Biological Timing

[10:53 – 11:23]

• ADHD can entail a delayed or irregular internal clock ("circadian rhythm"), making it hard to wake/sleep in synch with societal expectations.

  "A lot of people have kind of a delayed circadian rhythm where they're not waking up or going to sleep... exactly when society would dictate that we should." — William [10:53]

6. Motor Timing, Temporal Foresight, and Impulsivity

[11:23 – 12:13]

• Timing is involved in reaction speed (e.g., driving).
• Temporal foresight: Ability to anticipate future consequences (“how long will this take, and what is the impact?”) is also affected in ADHD.

  "They also mentioned temporal foresight... the ability to anticipate the consequences of a decision. So they put this in timing. I thought that was really interesting." — Skye [11:44]

• This ties directly to impulsivity:

  "Impulsivity is often because we don't anticipate and plan for future consequences, we just do." — William [11:56]

7. Last-Minute Work, Deadlines, and Motivation

[12:13 – 14:21]

• Many with ADHD report only being able to work under last-minute pressure, which is tied to inaccurate time estimation—not just a love of adrenaline.
• Skye finds that breaking tasks into detailed steps and pre-estimating time with AI or checklists can help correct underestimation.

  "Once you've broken down the steps of that task and you've assigned it how long it's going to take, then you're in a more realistic time estimation mode..." — Skye [16:22]

• Flexible deadlines can backfire, causing more mental gymnastics and "fuzzy math," undermining productivity.

  "I've seen people do the...very, very complicated math for a fuzzy system..." — Skye [14:33]

8. The Pitfalls of Extra Time as an Accommodation

[15:28 – 16:22]

• More time doesn't always help with productivity if the real issue is time estimation, not time pressure itself.

  "It's more about understanding...that time estimation piece. I think that's the most important to go like, yeah, we are bad at doing this part..." — William [15:59]

9. Effective Solutions and Practical Recommendations

[16:22 – 18:12]

• Concrete steps for overcoming time perception challenges:
  • Break tasks into micro-steps and estimate real completion time.
  • Use visual or auditory signals for real-time feedback.
  • Create external accountability (meetings, review sessions) before the true deadline.
  • Avoid fake deadlines you can easily push; set up structures with real stakes.

  "Some deadlines are better than fake deadlines that you always push because you have a reputation..." — Skye [17:40] "If you're going to set an extra deadline, there needs to be something there...It's too easy to push." — William [18:00]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On universal time challenges:

  "We struggle with all of this when we have ADHD. Like this is. We know this." — Skye [01:48]

• On why visual aids matter:

  "Try and put more ways to see and visualize time into your world...Because unlike other people, we cannot do this in our heads." — Skye [07:45]

• On using music to measure time:

  "The music is giving me cues that I normally would not feel." — William [09:13]

• On the ADHD experience of meeting times:

  "That's why people are often like, oh, this highly anxious person who has ADHD turns up everywhere half an hour early...this is just a time estimation problem that they're overcompensating for at this point." — Skye [09:26]

• On last-minute work:

  "...We do have that dopamine rush of getting things done at the last minute. But one of the reasons is because we're not estimating time appropriately." — Skye [13:13]

• On fake vs. real deadlines:

  "Some deadlines are better than fake deadlines that you always push because you have a reputation...you won't do it unless it's something that's a bit external to you." — Skye [17:40]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:48-03:17| Skye summarizes research findings on ADHD and time perception | | 03:17-04:33| Explanation of time estimation, reproduction, and management | | 05:25-06:53| Real-life examples: interval timing, clocks, and visual aids | | 07:28-08:52| Strategies: using visual timers, making time visible | | 09:13-10:12| Overcompensating for time struggles; the “late or very early” phenomenon | | 11:23-12:13| Motor timing, temporal foresight, and their impact on impulsivity | | 12:13-14:21| The illusions of last-minute productivity and deadline fuzziness | | 16:22-18:12| Actionable strategies: breaking down tasks, real deadlines, and accountability partners |

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Practical Takeaways

• Make time visual and/or audible: Use timers, clocks, or music playlists as time cues.
• Break up large tasks: Assign estimated durations to steps.
• Seek external accountability: Create real deadlines with others, not just internal goals.
• Acknowledge limitations: Extra time alone does not solve the challenge; targeted strategies work better.

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For more on ADHD strategies, visit Skye at unconventionalorganization.com.

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This summary reflects the core content and conversational highlights of the episode, omitting advertisements and non-content material.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Katie Duke, and I've been a nurse for over 20 years. Listen, I used to think that I was my most stylish in my 20s, but honestly, style and confidence only get better with age. And that is why I love figs. These scrubs are beautiful, comfortable, and they are built to last. They're not those boxy, scratchy uniforms that we all started out in. No, no, no. These fit perfectly. They feel amazing, and the quality is just. Wow. My favorite color, burgundy. It's chic, it's timeless, and it's even the same color as my apartment because I'm kind of obsessed with it. And I love adding custom embroidery to make my scrubs as personal as my style. And since I work in telehealth, my embroidered figs even double as my ID badge. It's never too late to reinvent yourself or your scrubs. Get 15% off your first order at wearfigs.com with the code FIGSRX. That's wherefigs.com code FIGSRX for 15% off your first order.

[B]

Welcome to Hacking youg ADHD. I'm your host, William Curb, and I have ADHD. On this podcast, I dig into the tools, tactics and best practices to help you work with your ADHD brain. Today I'm joined by Sky Waterson for our Research Recap series. In this series, we take a look at a single research paper, dive into what the paper says, how it was conducted, and try and find any practical takeaways. In this episode, we're going to be discussing a paper called Time Perception in Adults. Findings from a decade, a review. In this paper, they're looking at analyzing a decade of research. That's this. And this is going to be from 2012 to 2022, investigating the specific nature of time perception deficits for adults with adhd. Because time is a little bit more complex than we often think about it is. And so let's get into how complex time is.

[C]

Yeah, this is an interesting one. I'm going to put the results at the beginning, which is to say we struggle with all of this when we have adhd. Like this is. We know this. And the study, the long literature review, over a decade of research indicates that, yes, if there is a time struggle and you have adhd, you probably struggle with it. But the interesting piece, as Will said, was time is not one thing. And we're going to get a little bit esoteric here, but I want to. I'm going to try and keep it grounded with some examples because they specifically looked at Three areas they looked at time estimation, time reproduction and time management. And so, yeah, yeah, the.

[B]

And so like, yeah, I think a lot of people kind of have the idea of what time estimation is. You know, it's just like, how long did this take? And then time reproduction being a task where a person is asked to replicate a specific duration that they were just exposed to. So it's the same as time estimation. But in you're being like, this was just a minute, show us a minute. And that gives me anxiety just thinking about doing it.

[C]

Not very good at it. Spoiler alert. We're not very good at it.

[B]

Yeah. And then time management. We know what time management is. It's just our ability to use our time how we want to be using it.

[C]

Yeah. Which is important because if you've set some goals for this year and you're currently working on them and you've found that you massively underestimated how long something would take, that is a struggle with time management. That is very normal when it comes to adhd. And I wanted to dig a little bit deeper here. One of the things they said was time struggles with time is such a big part of adhd. It's now considered the triple pathway model. We have different struggles with adhd. We have, you know, behavioral inhibition, we have cognitive inhibition, motivational factors. And then, yeah, the time perception, when we're talking about ways that time is seen, there is circadian timing, interval timing and millisecond timing. And I thought it was really interesting. The millisecond timing is important for motor processes, speech and music perception. And what they were looking at specifically was. Yeah, your ability to adjust time in milliseconds. And I wondered, Will, do you think that is one of the reasons why we struggle with interrupting? We're just not very good at milliseconds timing.

[B]

It could be, yeah, that could see that as a kind of add on effect where we're. Our, you know, kind of rhythm of timing is then thrown off and we can't get back into where we were.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, I thought that was interesting. I mean, I think there's a lot of other reasons, daydreaming, dopamine regulation, etc. But that was one of them. And then circadian timing is the internal body clock regulating bodily functions. Yeah, that's something that happens sort of without us. And then interval timing is our ability to track the passage of time in the seconds to minutes range. And again, like all of these other things, we struggle with this. So do you want to maybe we should give Some examples of how we struggled with this to get. Give people a sense of what this looks like.

[B]

Yeah, well, so for. I mean, I think one of the easiest. You want to start with the interval timing or.

[C]

Let's start with interval timing. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So, yeah, I think for that. That's just. I mean, I think that goes hand in hand with time estimation, really, where deciding what I'm going to do next based on how much time I have seems like it should be an easy decision. And yet, you know, like, making it to meetings on time or getting out the door is vastly affected by. If I can understand how long that minute is going to take, how long that five minutes is going to take.

[C]

Yeah, 100%. It's one of the reasons why we get told a lot to have timers because it will help us. And although I do think timers are helpful, they are not always as helpful as you think with time estimation. They tell you what time it is now, but you don't know when they're gonna go if you struggle with time.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, this is why I really love the time timer that has, like, the visual aspect. I use those all the time to just be like, okay. Like, I know there's one in my office, but I'm like, it's not in reach. I used to have one on the wall behind me too. So I don't.

[C]

You're losing your time.

[B]

Yeah, my kids borrow them all the time because they need. It's so helpful for them. Like, they were specifically, like, things that we got for the kids to help them be like, okay, this is how long you need to have to get ready. And I highly recommend that if you have kids. But they're also something that are, like, vital for my own time management, especially when I'm like, wanting to take a break or, you know, divide up my time in ways that. Where I don't have, like these, like, okay, now I have to go to this next thing.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

When it's, oh, I want to only do this for this amount of time and then move on to the next thing, that's when it's really helpful because otherwise I just don't have a sense.

[C]

Definitely. And I think, by the way, I think it's directly behind your head. I think I just spotted it. What those do is they allow you to like you. When you turn on the timer, you can see a big swath of red or blue or another color that then ticks down. So you're not just seeing what time the timer is going to go off. But you're also. Will is very wonderfully showing us right now. You can also see how much, visually how much time you have left. And this has always been my biggest recommendation for people when they are talking about time estimation is try and put more time, more ways to see and visualize time into your world. Or even audio. I have had clients who really struggled with this, who've had phones that said it's 1015, it's 1020, it's 1025. Like, sometimes it can be helpful in that way. Sometimes you want to have just lots of beautiful clocks around you, things that show you the time. Because unlike other people, we cannot do this in our heads. It's not a thing that is happening in our head.

[B]

Yeah. As for the music, there can be some great. This just made me think of. So my daughter was very much into K pop Demon Hunters. And so we would often listen to the soundtrack on the way to school. And so it got to the point where I'm like, we are running late because we are too far in this playlist.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And so, like, it was a great way for me to be like, oh, okay, we don't have time to do, you know, we have to, you know, go this other way to make sure that we're getting there on time. Because I. The music is giving me cues that I normally would not feel.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, that's a really, really great example of it. And. And that is a big part of. Of why we struggle so much. And so it's not. You know, one of the things that I often will find myself telling people about being late, for example, is you will either be like, about 10 minutes on time, sorry, 10 minutes late, or 10 minutes early. The chances that you turn up exactly on time is very, very low. That's why people are often like, oh, this highly anxious person who has ADHD turns up everywhere half an hour early. So they must not have ADHD because they don't struggle to, because they're not late. But this is just a time estimation problem that they're overcompensating for at this point.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. It's. And it's something that, like, overcompensation is definitely a way a lot of people manage their time estimation issues, where they're just like, I, if I don't do it, I'm going to be late.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. In fact, I remember as a student, my professor was very surprised. You know, she was like, can you come to, you know, our meeting at this time? And I was like, no, because I need to get Here this much earlier because I have to catch this bus and this train and. And I need to have lots of buffer time in between all of them. This is before I knew I had adhd. I just knew that if I didn't do those things, I would be late.

[B]

Yeah. And then some other places that people can also see. Like, it is funny to think that, yes, our circadian clock that's inside of us and that we have very little effect over consciously also has issues with being on time. A lot of people have kind of a delayed circadian rhythm where they're not waking up or going to sleep. Exactly when society would dictate that we should.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. It can make it. It can make it really, really tricky. There was also. I wanted to highlight another. They talked about motor timing. So estimating things when you're, you know, if you're driving could be an example of this, like your reaction timing, all of this kind of stuff can be affected. But they also mentioned temporal foresight, which I really wanted to dive into, which is the ability to anticipate the consequences of a decision. So they put this in timing. I thought that was really interesting.

[B]

It's interesting, especially with impulsivity as something where impulsivity is often because we don't anticipate and plan for future consequences, we just do.

[C]

Yeah. Which is one of the reasons why when people come to me and they say, oh, I always do things at the last minute and you can never change this. Sometimes my clients are slightly combative. You know, this is a thing that will never change about me and I just have to be doing it last minute. Often what I'll do is I won't. I'll say, yeah, that makes total sense. Let's sit down and let's write out to the point of previous papers that we've done on breaking things down. Let's break down everything that you need to do. Assign it a time. Usually we use AI to help us so that we can at least be like, no, AI is wrong, it's about this much. And then have a look at it. And usually at that point people will realize that this is going to take a lot longer than half a day. And they will now feel motivated to do it earlier. Because, yes, we do have that dopamine rush of getting things done at the last minute. But one of the reasons is because we're not estimating time appropriately. We're not estimating how long this will actually take. So we don't feel like it has to get done until way later than it really should be.

[B]

Yeah. And then sometimes we were so bad with that estimation, we're just like, well, now I can't do it.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Like I've given myself two hours to write a five hour paper. Whoops.

[C]

And if you think you're doing that. I've had a lot of professors, I've worked with a lot of professors who do this. And I actually think that this might be such a common thing in the academic space that it actually has become part of the system. Because I've had a lot of professors hand things in late. And then the deadline. That was a deadline that had to be done right now. Absolutely. Was actually a bit more flexible than that. So I feel like a lot of people in like more creative fields with things like writing or music, I've had artists have the same struggle. And again, those deadlines, sometimes fuzzy people are like, you've got to be here at five. And really it was seven. Because they have so many people in that community who struggle with this.

[B]

Flexible deadlines are great unless you are trained on the non flexible deadline model, in which case they become a detriment.

[C]

Yes. And actually flexible deadlines can be their own problem because I've seen people do the. Well, I know it's due on Monday, but I know that technically means it's due on Wednesday, so I should probably start it on Tuesday. And now they're just doing very, very complicated math for a fuzzy system. And actually if it was just due on Monday, then we would know and we could work backwards and be late or not.

[B]

Yeah. There's a clock in my living room and it got set five minutes fast somehow, I don't exactly know. And it's a little bit complicated to change the time. And so now I look at that clock and I go, oh, I don't think about it in terms of. That's the time I think about. Okay, what is that time? Five minutes.

[C]

Yes. Yeah. So you're just doing extra math.

[B]

Yeah. And I'm like, I'm not. The five minutes ahead does not help me. It just makes it another step to figuring out the time.

[C]

Yeah, 100%. I used to work back in the day with students who were given extra support for their adhd. And one of the things that they would get was they would get extra time on their assignments. And it didn't help because. Because of this exact problem.

[B]

Yeah, it's. And so, yeah, I think that is a something just for us to keep in mind in that more time doesn't always equal better results for us. It's more about understanding. Like, it's exactly that time estimation piece. I think that's the most important to go like, yeah, we are bad at doing this part and that's going to be Achilles heel here. It's not any of those other processes in getting something done. It is that we are bad at figuring out how long something's going to be taking. And we're relying on the motivation of that deadline to be the dopamine for finishing the project.

[C]

Exactly, exactly. And this is really is where it comes to the, the. If you're struggling, if you feel unmotivated to do a task, this is becoming very practical today. But I love it. If you feel unmotivated to do a task and you feel like the answer is you need to give yourself more time. Like, you know, clear the time that you need. The actual answer to your problem is, sit down, give yourself all the dopamine you need. Go to a coffee shop, they have a drink, whatever you need to do, you know, have a coffee and break down that task. Break down those tasks. Even if you're doing it like with the AI in front of the TV with a coffee and a sweet treat, like, whatever needs to be done. Once you've broken down the steps of that task and you've assigned it how long it's going to take, then you're in a more realistic time estimation mode and you can actually get a sense of whether you need to ask for a deadline, how long that should be, what you actually need to do.

[B]

Yeah. And perhaps set an artificial deadline where you're meeting with someone to go over your stuff before it's due. So then if the time estimation is off, you can be like, oh, I have built in extra time because, you know, I had to do this other thing with this person.

[C]

Yep. Some. Some deadlines are better than fake deadlines that you always push because you have a reputation. You know, I work with business owners and they're running giant companies and they're always, always late on their quotes, you know, and it's. It affects, you know, we don't think it does or we hope it doesn't, but it does affect your reputation over time.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I think that's one of the things. Like, if you're going to set an extra deadline, there needs to be something there. It can't just be, yeah, oh, I just want to get it done by this time because that's. It's too easy to push.

[C]

And usually that needs to be a meeting with a person. So it needs to be, you know, we're going to review the quote, we're going to go over the process, we're going to ask some final questions. You won't do it unless it's something that's a bit external to you. Hello. So you were just listening to a research recap. I'm Skye Waterson of Unconventional Organization. If you like that, there's lots more information about ADHD and support for for [e-mail] you can go ahead and check that out. Lots of free resources, lots of strategies, and if you want to join our programs, you can do that as well. And we'll see you there. Unconventional Organization.

[A]

Hi, I'm Katie Duke, and I've been a nurse for over 20 years. Listen, I used to think that I was my most stylish in my 20s, but honestly, style and confidence only get better with age. And that is why I love figs. These scrubs are beautiful, comfortable, and they are built to last. They're not those boxy, scratchy uniforms that we all started out in. No, no, no. These fit perfectly. They feel amazing, and the quality is just wow. My favorite color, burgundy. It's chic, it's timeless, and it's even the same color as my apartment because I'm kind of obsessed with it. And I love adding custom embroidery to make my scrubs as personal as my style. And since I work in telehealth, my embroidered figs even double as my ID badge. It's never too late to reinvent yourself or your scrubs. Get 15% off your first order at wearfigs.com with the code FIGSRX. That's wearfigs.com code FIGSRX for 15% off your first order.