Time Management vs Time Blindness. Which Will AI Transform?
Why ADHD Brains Need AI That Catches Us When We Fall Through the Cracks, Not More Productivity Hacks
“I don’t lose track of time. Time loses track of me.”
Or: “I set the timer. I still forgot.
Not because I wasn’t paying attention, but because I was paying too much.”
We all get the same 24 hours in a day.
But some days feel like 30.
Other days feel like 18.
And with ADHD? That’s not just a metaphor. That’s math.
See, time blindness isn’t just frustrating, it’s fundamentally disorienting.
And it might be the most misunderstood piece of ADHD.
Everyone’s hyped on time management,
batching tasks, fancy calendars, and AI workflows. Fine.
But what if AI’s real trick isn’t turning me into a productivity bro?
But what if the real future of AI isn’t just about making us better at managing our time? It’s about integrating AI to replace the systems that catch us off guard when time gets away from us?
What if it’s catching me when time wins, like Delta Diamond rebooking me after I missed a flight? No shame spiral. Just a new adapting, evolving and living fluidly with us.
What if AI could do that but for our whole damn lives?
🙉 No, We Don’t All Have a little ADHD. We Just Happen To Share The Same Frustrations
I think we all hate being late.
But how many of us equally hate being early?
And I know you might say, “Well, I’d rather be early than late,”
But for my ADHD brain, I hate both equally.
So that leaves me on the daily attempting the impossible, no matter what it is I’m doing or where I’m going, to arrive in that perfect window of not too early and not too late.
You’d think after 76 countries and 40+ weeks a year on the road, I’d have it dialed.
But how about nope? My most predictable missed flights?
The ones with a three-hour layover.
Dead serious, I’ve been sitting across from the gate, fully locked into a project, laptop open, thinking I’ve got time.
Not lost. Not confused. Not distracted.
In flow.
And then I look up… and the plane is gone.
I didn’t lose track of time.
Time ghosted me.
🔥 The Rage-to-Grace Pipeline
For most of my life, I spiraled into rage and shame when that happened.
That voice in my head: "You’re 44 years old. How are you still like this?"
And the worst part?
Even when I got there early, I’d beat myself up.
Late or early, it didn’t matter. I lost either way.
But lately, I just smirk. I look up at the sky like,
“Damn ADHD brain again.”
And honestly? It’s not a defeat.
It’s grace.
⏳ Time Isn’t a Clock. It’s a Ghost.
People say, “Why don’t you just set more alarms?”
Cool. How about trying to set 6 different alarms every single day and still missing the one thing that mattered?
Time blindness doesn’t get better with pressure.
It doesn’t respond to shame.
And it sure as hell doesn’t respect alarms.
So I stopped trying to control time.
And started collecting data.
Not to optimize.
To understand.
📊 Data Over Discipline
I sleep with my Apple Watch not to fix my sleep, but to track it.
That way, if I’ve a 7am meeting, I know I’ll be worrying about it all night. I can plan two days in advance to only get 4 hours that night.
Because I already banked 8 the night before.
Pattern recognition.
Self-trust.
Grace again.
And please don’t assume intent when it comes to those of us with ADHD.
I intend to do the thing I truly want to do.
My brain tells me it'll only take 5 minutes,
but two hours later, I resurface with a pang of guilt.
But that’s the thing, isn't it? We could’ve just done better.
🤖 AI Didn’t Fix It. It Witnessed It. My Digital Truth-Teller
That’s the real shift.
I don’t use AI to stay on time.
I use it to tell the truth back to me or mirror me in my ADHD way.
Sometimes I’ll voice prompt ChatGPT:
“Let me work on this for 25 minutes. Let me know when time’s up.”
Or:
“Here’s my day build me a flow that works with my energy, not against it.”
It doesn’t always work. But it helps.
Here's one I used this past week:
GPT, I need to leave for the daughte’s soccer practice in 30 minutes before it starts. Based on my calendar today, what's the latest I can start my current project and still have buffer time?' It gives me permission to work AND realistic boundaries.📲 When Reminders Become Reality Checks. Building a Backup Brain
I’ve got different alerts set on different devices:
Mac: soft calendar ping, 15 minutes before
iPhone: loud voice alert, 1 minute before
Because if I’m deep in editing or on a client zoom, one of them will break through. Eventually.
Sometimes the audio kicks in after I’ve already joined the meeting.
It’s annoying.
It’s redundant.
It’s… exactly what I need.
💊 Time Blind Meds & The System That Doesn’t Fit Us
Here’s the irony:
I take meds twice a day.
Refills can only be made within a 3-day window.
Can’t pre-order. Can’t miss it.
So… the treatment for time blindness requires precise time sensitivity?
Make it make sense.
I’ve started setting up AI to:
Track when my refill date is coming
Add pickup reminders based on calendar flow
Eventually? I want my Tesla to ping me if I’m within 10 miles of the pharmacy during that window
That’s the AI I want.
Not productivity bots.
Co-pilots for chaos.
🙃 Masking, Meltdowns, and Moving On
I used to cover this all up.
Make jokes. Say nothing. Apologize late.
Now I just name it,
I’m transparent as hell ,
and I have zero shame asking others for help
or at least letting them know where I might need a nudge or poke.
“Hey, if you jump in that zoom and you don’t see me in there do me a favor and hit me up on slack and if that doesn’t work send me a text.
And 9 times out of 10?
People don’t mind.
They’re just relieved I stopped pretending.
🧠 The Real Reframe. The Delta Diamond Paradigm
What if AI didn’t just help us manage time…
but helped us recover from the moments we lose it?
What if, every time blindness won a battle,
AI stepped in like a digital Delta Diamond concierge?
That’s not a fantasy, it’s already partially real.
One of my favorite perks of being Diamond on Delta?
If I miss a flight, I don’t spiral.
It automatically rebooks me on the next best flight,
assigns my seat, and even alerts the rental car company of the change.
I don’t have to explain. I don’t have to perform. I don’t have to shame spiral through “what went wrong.”
Now picture AI doing all this, but for your entire life.
Your schedule becomes flexible.
Your priorities adjust on the fly.
Your systems adapt to you, rather than frustrating you.
That’s not a productivity upgrade.
That’s a permission slip to be human.
And AI? It doesn’t make me punctual.
It makes me seen.
“That's the real AI revolution for ADHD brains, not fixing us, but building tech that works with our beautiful, chaotic wiring instead of against it.”
📣 Got your own time-blind tricks, spirals, or AI prompts?
Hit reply.
I wanna see them.