Crucial Tips You Need to Be On Time for Work

Episode Summary

If you’re a high‑achieving professional with ADHD but still late to work and tired of starting your workday stressed, this episode is for you. I’ll provide you with specific strategies you can start using today, from addressing your time blindness to leveraging simple tech hacks and creating the routines you need to get you out the door on time to work reliably.

What You’ll Learn About Getting to Work on Time With ADHD

• How ADHD time blindness derails your morning and simple workarounds to regain accurate time perception
• Evening launch‑pad prep that removes last‑minute friction by packing your bag, laying out clothes, and prepping breakfast
• Dual alarms and visual timers that free you from guessing when it’s time to leave
• Techniques to break the “one more thing” trap that steals your departure window
• Accountability methods—from buddy check‑ins to early calendar meetings—that turn commitment into consistent punctuality

Transcript:

(00:03):

Can adults with A DHD be on time to work? Absolutely. Let’s see how.

(00:08):

You’ve tuned into Scattered, Focused, Done – A podcast for ADHD adults like you who want to learn how to adopt the best strategies, tools, and skills to be able to get your essential work done in a way that works with the way your brain is wired. I’m Marla Cummins and I’m glad you decided to join me today on this journey to re-imagining productivity with ADHD. So you can do what is important to you without trying to do it like everyone else.

(00:39):

If you’re an adult with ADHD who’s often late to work, you may have people in your life who jump to the conclusion that you just don’t care and may even see it as a sign of disrespect. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You care so much that that caring may even exacerbate your lateness because you’re worried about being late.

How to Overcome ADHD Time Blindness to Arrive On Time

(01:02):

But what is it about ADHD that contributes to you being late? One factor might be ADHD time blindness, which is your difficulty perceiving and estimating how long it will take you to get someplace. You may underestimate the time needed. You may also struggle with the perception of time passing, which makes it hard to know when to leave. So you might say to yourself, I’ll leave in 10 minutes and then 20 minutes have gone by. Another factor that may hinder your ability to arrive on time to work is your difficulty with executive functions, of course, such as planning and organizing what you need to take with you. So you may end up running around at the last minute and even then forgetting some of what you need. And to compound this difficulty with planning and organizing you may also procrastinate due to difficulty prioritizing getting ready

(02:00):

But let’s start with getting to sleep early enough. It’s obvious to you that if you’re not getting enough sleep, this has to be at least part of what is making it hard for you to get up on time, to get to work on time. And there are many reasons ADHD adults struggle with going to sleep at a reasonable hour. But one common reason that many adults with ADHD tend to have an evening chronotype, also called a night owl pattern, making them, and perhaps you, naturally inclined to stay up late.

This is commonly seen, in fact, in up to 75% of ADHD adults. It’s really important to understand that if this is your pattern, you may be hardwired to stay up late. Ideally, we could all go to bed and wake up when it best suits us. But since many of us can’t and you may not be able to, you have to work of course, of getting to sleep earlier.

(03:04):

I know you already know this. But I encourage you to dig in and get support around this if you need it. I’ve included an article about sleep with the show notes on my website that you can refer to for strategies on how to get to sleep on time. The other common reason A DHD adults stay up late and then don’t get enough sleep is that in the quiet hours of the night, nobody is expecting anything of you and you can do whatever you want. This is often referred to as revenge sleep procrastination.

Some people who fall into this category may become tired earlier, but then stay up and experience a second win, which makes it harder to fall asleep. A former client used to stay up late playing his guitar. Trying to go to sleep before you get that second win is of course one of the workarounds and also finding another time to do what you can to do what you enjoy. So you don’t feel compelled to stay up late to be able to do those things.

ADHD Evening Sleep Strategies for On‑Time Mornings

(04:10):

The solution is rarely to stop doing those activities. Because depriving yourself of something that is important to you and enjoyable may only exacerbate your resistance to doing the other tasks that may be less interesting. Of course, if you’ve been struggling with sleep for a while, it may be time to see a doctor and, perhaps, get a sleep study to see if there’s something else going on.

While not getting enough sleep is one reason why you may have a hard time getting up in the morning, another reason is that your brain is just not in gear yet. So it can feel like going through quicksand to get out of bed. You may also choose to stay in bed to stall starting your day as you anticipate the challenges that may lie ahead. And then again for others, the dopamine hit of doom scrolling is just too comfortable to get out from under the covers.

(05:09):

The key to finding the right workaround is identifying what is keeping you in bed. If this is one of your challenges, do you have any ideas about what it is? If the reason is that there’s something about work that you’re dreading, start there in terms of figuring out what you can do to turn it around. Is it something you can fix, so to speak? And if you can’t fix it, at least not right now, that may mean getting support whether from a family member, friend, therapist or coach so you can feel equipped to get on with your day.

And if your brain’s just not feeling engaged, there are a couple of workarounds that can help you with this. If you take ADHD meds, some people find it helpful to set their alarm once to take their meds and then have a second alarm a half hour later when the meds kick in so it’s easier to get up.

(06:08):

Another way to get in gear is to keep your phone out of your room. Yes, I know you’ve heard this one before. But have you tried it? One of my clients keeps her phone in her kitchen. I know that may mean you’ll need to get an old fashioned alarm clock to wake up if you rely on your phone for an alarm. Keeping your phone out of your bedroom serves two purposes. One is that you won’t automatically start scrolling in the morning.

Of course, additionally though, you’ll need to get up and retrieve your phone, which may help engage your brain. Some of my clients have found it helpful to have a small note on their bedside reminding them of the reason or reward for getting up on time. This may work for you too. Because in the moment, the only thought you likely have is I want to stay in bed.

(07:03):

Some of the reasons I’ve seen are be a good colleague, be helpful for patients, not lose my job. And of course, there’s the reward of avoiding something bad such as not losing my job. But I’m more of a fan of thinking of something that you want and value rather than something you’re trying to avoid. But not losing your job works too. So once you do get up in the morning, there can still be many friction points, as I like to call them, that slow you down and prevent you from actually getting to work on time.

One of the keys to reducing these friction points is to do as much preparation as possible in advance so you don’t have to run around in the morning trying to get it together. This is going to look different for everyone. Again, like many of the suggestions I’m offering, you’ve heard of this before and maybe even tried it. So if you think this might be helpful for you, the question I’d encourage you to answer now is what kind of help do you need to implement this and then experiment for long enough?

ADHD Morning Routine to Arrive at Work On Time

(08:17):

Is there someone at home or a friend you can text that you’ve done your prep? Are you working with a professional such as a therapist or coach? Once you’ve done it long enough, you may not need that scaffolding or help as the habit will pull you to do it. But in the beginning, you might just need a little extra support to get started. And that’s okay.

What do you need to have ready to leave in the morning? For one of my clients, the issue was that he didn’t have either his clothes ready or enough scrubs to wear on days he needed to go to the hospital. So on occasion, he started to send his clothes out to be laundered, and he ordered more scrubs. I know it sounds pretty straightforward. But like him, when you have a lot on your plate, it’s hard to follow through on these fixes that may have long-term returns.

(09:14):

Maybe for you it’s getting easier to put together foods for lunch. Last, a launching pad is always a win. This is where you put all the things you need to take with you in one place the night before. So you can just grab them in the morning, whether it be your bag, keys, purse, or whatever else you need. So what are your friction points in the morning? And how can you reduce them. In addition to not being prepared to leave, the other challenge for many ADHD adults is what I like to call one-more-thingitis, or I’ll just do this one more thing and then I’ll leave. It’ll only take two minutes.

Why does everything always seem to only take two minutes? Although it really doesn’t, does it anyway? You may do this because you don’t want to forget whatever it is that you’re thinking of in the moment. So you may bounce from thing to thing until all of a sudden having 20 minutes left until you need to leave turns into, oh my God, I should have left 10 minutes ago to avoid this scenario.

(10:21):

Having a set routine and a tool to help you follow with that routine can be really helpful. One of my former clients used the app Rountinery, which allows you to set exactly what you need to do in the morning and the amount of time it should take you. Then simply just check them off as you complete them. And those are the only things that you do. This habit will help you make it through your morning to the finish line, which is getting out the door and heading to work, whether by car, train or other means.

I’ve already mentioned in the beginning that time blindness or time perception may be getting in your way and some of the suggestions I already mentioned will definitely help you manage this. But another factor to take into consideration is your difficulty estimating time, which of course can be a significant factor in arriving at work on time.

(11:24):

The key I think, is not to rely on your sense of time and to offload the job to a tool that can help keep you stay on track to getting out the door and where you need to go. One innovative solution I came across is using Google Maps to set the time you want to arrive at work. You just put in the location and then once it gives you the directions, you set the time you want to arrive and you can also set reminders, then it just starts counting down.

Although ways might be better at giving you real time traffic information. Also using the app Rountinery, which I recommended earlier, can help you because you just run through the exact same routine and leave at the same time every day. Another way to externalize time is to use a visual timer, allowing you to see time passing.

Night‑Before ADHD Prep Hacks for Stress‑Free Mornings

(12:23):

This way you’re not surprised by an alarm and can know exactly how much time you have left. There are many visual timers. Timetimer is one brand you can look into. But maybe you’re wondering, can adults learn to estimate time better? Absolutely. If it’s something you do regularly like getting to work, this is of course easier. You can estimate how long you think it’s going to take you, and then time, how long it actually takes you, and note any irregularities such as traffic at a certain time of day that might affect the timing. You may need to process this aloud with somebody else so you remember all the steps along the way. I recently did this with a client. He thought it took 30 minutes to get to his office, so we went through the exercise of visualizing the steps on his way to the office.

(13:24):

He needed to drop his son off at school. But first it actually took him 10 minutes to get his son in the car with everything he needed. His son is only six. It took at least five minutes to get to the school and another few minutes to say goodbye to his son at drop off where he was then walked into school. After parking at work,i It took him another five minutes to get in the door. Once that 30 minutes became 45 minutes from the time he started to leave the house, which took a bit of time until he was in his office.

And when he timed it, he found out it was about the same. But before doing this, he did think it only took 30 minutes. He was always rushing in the morning and it was stressful for both him and his son. Once though, he got a handle on this time piece, the morning became a lot less stressful and he got to work on time.

(14:26):

You get it. Estimating time may not be your strong suit right now, or as a group member likes to call it it may be one of your lesser developed strengths.But you can build this muscle. If you’re interested in learning more about how to estimate time better, I’ve posted a link with the podcast on my website to one of my blogs titled How to Fix These Five Common ADHD Time Management Mistakes.

The last thing I’ll share with you is that for some people, it works to schedule a meeting first thing in the morning to create a sense of urgency. No doubt, ADHD adults tend to over-rely on urgency for motivation. And I often work with my clients on diversifying their motivators. But it’s okay to use it to your advantage on occasion. Here’s the thing, none of these strategies that I’ve shared with you will make a difference by themselves.

(15:30):

It’s figuring out what works for you to reduce the friction of getting to work on time and what kind of support you need to implement this plan. You can do it. Where would you like to start?

(15:45):

So that’s it for now. I’m really glad you joined me. If you want to continue to learn to work with your ADHD sign up for my biweekly newsletter, you’ll get time-tested ADHD friendly strategies and resources from me straight to your inbox. You’ll also get a free guide I created called Six Common Planning Mistakes Adults with ADHD Make and How to Avoid Them. You can find the link in the podcast description or you can go to marla cummins slash planning. That’s M-A-R-L-A C-U-M-M-N-I-N-S.com/planning P-L-A-N-N-I-N-G to sign up and get the guide. And until next time, this has been Scattered Focused, Done – Reimagining Productivity with ADHD. I’m Marla Cummins, and I’m so glad you’re here doing the work, and if you need help, I’m here.

Links and Resources

• Get the app Routinery.
• Read the post on how to Take Charge of Your Sleep When You Have ADHD
• Listen to the episode on Managing Sleep With ADHD
• Learn how to estimate time better in this post, How to Fix These 5 Common ADHD Time Management Mistakes