Read the following text and answer the quiz below.
[1] Even as a kid, Alice Lovatt was always getting in trouble for being late. She was routinely stressed about arriving at school on time. “I just don’t seem to have that clock that ticks by in my head,” said Lovatt, a musician and group-home worker in Liverpool, England. It was not until she was diagnosed with ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, at 22 that she learned she was experiencing a symptom sometimes called “time blindness”.
[2] Time blindness is the inability to determine how long a task will take or conceptualise how much time has passed. It relates to executive function that occurs in the frontal lobes of the brain, and it is a well-documented characteristic of many people with ADHD, said Stephanie Sarkis, a psychotherapist in the US state of Florida. “Anyone can have issues with running late, just with ADHD, there’s functional impairment,” said Sarkis, author of 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD. “It impacts family life and social life. It impacts work, money management, all areas of life.”
[3] Sarkis cited research that stimulant medication prescribed for other ADHD symptoms, such as inattention or restlessness, is also effective at treating time blindness. That is not to say, however, that everyone who is chronically late has ADHD – or a built-in excuse.
[4] Jeffrey Meltzer, a therapist in Florida, counsels people who are consistently late to examine the core issue behind their lateness. Some people who hate small talk fear arriving early, which could point to anxiety as the underlying issue, Meltzer said. Others may feel they have little control over their lives, so they try to reclaim a few minutes from their responsibilities.
[5] In those cases, one tool is to create a small “coping card” to refer to regularly, he said. After determining a reason for chronic lateness, write a reframed thought about that reason and the consequences for being late on an index card. For instance, on one side write, “Attending this meeting doesn’t mean that I lose my freedom.” On the other side, write: “Being late again will upset people at work.”
[6] Meltzer said the hardest reason to change the habit would be something that early arrivers often attribute to latecomers – a sense of entitlement. People who feel their time is more important than others’ may let themselves be late.
[7] Whether a person has ADHD or not, they are still responsible for their actions, Sarkis said. She was also diagnosed as an adult and struggles with managing time. The good news is that the same interventions that help people with ADHD can work for all late-arrivers.
[8] Sarkis said using a smartwatch to set alerts can help you know when to leave, though having analogue clocks around also helps. Relying only on your phone to see the time creates more distractions. She also suggested breaking tasks down into a checklist of smaller parts and resisting the urge to cram too many activities into one day.
Source: Associated Press, January 1
