Time Management for ADHD Minds

Kaitlyn Boudreault
Mar 28
7 min read

Updated: Jun 7

Do you often find yourself having a difficult time controlling how you spend your time? Are you working on an important task one moment and drifting into daydreams the next?

In today's fast-paced world, effective time management, the ability to plan and control how you spend each hour, is a critical skill.

However, for people with ADHD, “time” itself feels different. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition that can hinder organization, planning, and punctuality.

Woman engaged in time management for ADHD

You may have an inability to anticipate future rewards or consequences, procrastinate, or become overwhelmed and distracted with all the outside noise. These challenges can cause a headache when it comes to trying to get things done.

If this sounds familiar, an ADHD coach or neurodiversity-affirming therapist can help.

Below we unpack how ADHD affects time, and share some strategies, apps, and tools to reclaim your schedule.

What is ADHD?

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental difference and neurodivergence that presents in three subtypes—inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined.

Traits different among the subtypes and include:

Inattention (forgetfulness, task-planning challenges, organization difficulties)
Hyperactivity (fidgeting, nonstop talking)
Impulsivity (interrupting, risk-taking)

ADHD by the Numbers

Experienced by approximately 366.33 million people globally, ADHD is recognized as one of the most common neurodevelopmental differences.

According to the Centre for ADHD Awareness, approximately 1.8 million Canadians are ADHDers.

The prevalence of ADHD varies by age and gender. It is often diagnosed more frequently in cis boys than in other genders.

How ADHD Disrupts Time Management

Research has shown that individuals with ADHD may experience "time blindness (a.k.a. time agnosia)," which makes it hard to track time.

As a result of this phenomenon, ADHDers often:

Under- or over-estimate how long tasks take
Lose hours to hyperfocus
Miss deadlines and appointments
Experience “waiting mode” paralysis

Left unchecked, these time management challenges may impact your productivity and may make work, school, or home life difficult. These patterns can fuel burnout, missed promotions, and imposter-syndrome feelings.

Common Signs You Need Better Time Management Skills

Time management challenges are not an official diagnosis. But they commonly occur in ADHDers, and they can significantly affect your daily life. The signs and symptoms of time management challenges include:

Stuck in waiting mode: If you have an appointment coming up in a few hours, you may sit there stuck without carrying out any other responsibilities until after.
Losing track of time: Hyperfocus or becoming stuck on one activity can cause you to lose track of everything else. You may arrive late to an event or forget to pay bills.
Underestimating or overestimating the time needed for tasks (time agnosia): Think tasks will take minutes, but they take hours. which results in missed deadlines.
Schedule avoidance: Do you have a ton of plans in your schedule but have a difficult time adhering to these structured plans or routines? You may ignore calendars because they never “stick.”
Procrastinating: As a result of a lack the motivation for task initiation, you may engage in ADHD doom scrolling.

Why Time Feels Slippery With ADHD

There is no clear-cut reason as to why you may be experiencing challenges with time management. But there are several factors that may contribute to difficulty with time management in ADHDers including:

Changes in Chemical Balance in the Brain: Changes to the dopamine levels in the brain of ADHDers affect time perception and estimation abilities. This can make it harder to gauge the duration of tasks.
Rejection-Sensitive Dysphoria: If you anticipate rejection, you may avoid a task altogether to reduce the risk of RSD.
Poor Executive Function: Executive functioning involves the mental processes needed to organize, plan, and focus on a task so that you are able to achieve your goals. ADHDers may experience executive dysfunction, resulting in difficulties with organization, planning, and focus. This may make time management and adherence to schedules difficult.
Hyperfocus: Continued focus on a specific task or interest can lead to losing track of time and may impact your ability to complete other responsibilities.
ADHD Paralysis: Feeling physically, emotionally, or mentally overwhelmed with the tasks can make it difficult to complete the task.
Working Memory Deficits: Holding information in your mind for a short period of time and being able to perform tasks using the information are difficult, which makes gauging how much time has passed on a task a challenge.
Emotional Dysregulation: You may lose track of time due to emotional responses without realizing it.

Real-Life Time-Blindness Scenarios

Here are some examples of how time management challenges may show up for you:

Misjudged deadlines: You have a project due tomorrow at school. You might feel as if you have more time to complete a task than you actually do. As a result, you work at a slower pace than what is needed and you fail to meet the deadline for the project.
Waiting-mode anxiety: You have a medical appointment at the end of the day. The thought of the appointment and the waiting period causes intense anxiety. As a result, you feel unable to do anything productive while waiting for this appointment.
Making Impulsive Decisions: You make a run to the grocery store to pick up some fruits. This trip to the grocery store extends to an hour long trip because you make an impulsive decision to shop for other items.

Recognizing these challenges is the first step to understanding how you can support yourself using time management tools and strategies.

ADHD-Friendly Time Management Strategies

Experts have identified various strategies to help improve time management skills for individuals with ADHD, including:

Break Tasks into Chunks

Let’s face it: if you are sitting here looking at a massive task that you have to complete, the urge to procrastinate may set in. You may procrastinate due to feeling overwhelmed or a lack of motivation.

Take this large task and break it into smaller, more manageable chunks. For instance, if you're faced with a large project like writing a blog on ADHD, consider breaking it down into specific sections:

ADHD Defined
Types of ADHD
Traits of ADHD
Strategies for ADHD

This approach allows you to concentrate fully on one component at a time. You can also foster a sense of accomplishment as you complete each part. This method also enhances focus, preserves your attention span, and creates momentum to keep moving forward.

Make a Plan

Notice how long you are able to maintain attention on a task. If you notice that you can maintain focus for around 20 minutes at a time, structure your tasks accordingly.

For example, you could set a timer for 20 minutes to work on a task, followed by a 5-minute break to refresh your mind. This method of working and then taking breaks is known as the Pomodoro Technique.

Try Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT was originally designed for borderline personality disorder, but it is recognized for its applicability in a variety of contexts, including with ADHD.

The focus on improving time management would be on building emotional regulation skills and enhancing mindfulness so that you are able to manage sensory sensitivities as you work on important tasks.

Create Habits and Routines

Establishing a routine may make it easier to keep track of your responsibilities, which can lead to better time management and productivity.

Some of these routine behaviors could include:

Scheduling appointments in the morning so that you don’t have to be stuck in waiting mode.
Using a prioritization matrix, so that you get the most urgent and important tasks completed first.
Maintaining reminder apps on your phone to keep track of deadlines.

You may also wish to create morning and evening routines that can help anchor your day.

By engaging in consistent routines, this may support memory retention, minimize forgetfulness, and program your mind to expect specific actions at particular times.

Have a Place for Everything

Staying physically organized is essential for effective time management. You could implement systems in your home or workspace to ensure that items are stored in designated areas.

For instance, if you consistently place your keys in a bowl near the front door, make it a habit to return them to that bowl after each use.

Modify Your Work Environment

The ADHD mind is one that often gets distracted. Even the smallest of noises can cause you to lose focus.

To manage these distractions, you could create an optimal work environment to enhance your focus and productivity.

Ask yourself where you are most effective, and adjust your surroundings to minimize distractions. Silence your phone notifications or decluttering your workspace.

Use the Past

Get yourself through a current situation by reflecting on how you did so in the past.

Based on past situations, how did you get yourself out of a pickle when you were in one? What actions did you take to overcome the challenges you were facing?

Now, use the answers to these questions as your guide to getting your current responsibilities completed.

Use the STOP Technique

Continuing to try to complete a task when you are feeling overwhelmed is likely not a good idea. Instead, the STOP technique is a mindfulness-based technique that helps you to slow things down and become centered before proceeding.

The steps to this DBT technique involve:

Stop what you are doing
Take a step back and give yourself some time to calm down
Observe your surroundings and try to understand why you are feeling overwhelmed. Gather the relevant facts so that you understand your options.
Proceed mindfully by making decisions based on what you want from the situation and how your actions will impact your goals.

Top ADHD Time-Management Apps

Technology could help to serve as a tool for managing your time. Here are some popular options:

App	Key Feature
Todoist	Smart to-do lists + natural-language deadlines
Trello	Kanban boards for visual project flow
TickTick	Built-in Pomodoro & habit tracker
RescueTime	Automatic time-use reports
Forest	Gamified focus sessions
Google Calendar	Reliable cross-device reminders
Focus@Will	ADHD-friendly music for concentration