Aspies and bad time perception?

[Nanda]

So, yesterday i got back from an university travel and called my parents to pick me up, and since i knew they wasn't in home (and the street was kinda empty), i go wait on a place with more people around. I sit on a chair and put my stuff on the floor. When they arrive, my father got down the car, he seems upset and asked me how long i've been waiting, i said about 10 minutes because i was tired and MY TIME PERCEPTION WAS ALWAYS AWFUL. Long story short, my mom and dad was all the way home fighting about how much time i was waiting because my dad took so long to pick me up as dad keeps saying that i said that was only 10 minutes (luckily there was the phone messages i've send to my mother as prove. It took around one hour for them pick me up).
i was far for three days, i was tired and when i get home there was fight. Turns out i had what you can call a shutdown moment (i did this on my room, on private).
Since i dont have a autism diagnosis and little chances to get one, i would like to know if a bad perception of the time is an aspect of autism.

 

[anthoskate]

Yes. I used to take a long time to do my homework because I can easily get distracted with thoughts of my special intrest and when I am in my own world there is no perception of time.

 

[Flinty]

When I was a small child I was bad, but now it's usually amazing. (Yet I still arrange to arrive a half-hour early for anything important.)

 

[Andrew_Collins]

Sometimes i stare in the mirror or stay in the bath for 2 hours. when I was at school I was always late and one of the teachers was really strict ,,,, i would have to make up wilder and wilder excuses , "oh this old lady collapsed on the road, and i had to help her ti hospital" i would say... " oh o.k Sit down" the teacher would say, then it was "oh there was a gas explosion at my house , rubble evrywhere,,, i had to give a police statement" " sit down then"... then it was oh my keys fell down the grid..........Lol... I would run on the spot and dab water on my head to pretend i was rushing just before going into a class .when really i was taking my time.

I always hate being late but I'm really badly organized and can't leave the house without a nice breakfast and until I'm ready.

 

[SyAn]

Depends on what I am doing, but I very easily loose track of time. So I forget to cook lunch. Then my husband says something like "Would you like me to set the table?" or some such thing to remind me of the time - isn't he great?

 

[Nanda]

Depends on what I am doing, but I very easily loose track of time. So I forget to cook lunch. Then my husband says something like "Would you like me to set the table?" or some such thing to remind me of the time - isn't he great?

Awn, that's so cute! He seems to be a very gentle person.

 

[Nanda]

I always hate being late but I'm really badly organized and can't leave the house without a nice breakfast and until I'm ready.

Yeah, i kinda know what you're talking about. But i can say i'm more flexible about time now than i was before, i still dislike being late, but sometimes it's just inevitable, one have to accept that. The same works about other people being late, i'm very flexible now and don't get moody as much i used to do in the past (its not very easy for me to modulate my humor, thought).
I also have a organization issue as you do, add that and the awful perception of time you can have an idea of the mess i try to solve, i think that make us (or some of us, at least) have to work mentally in order to remember things twice as much as NT people, so we can make things work out as we plan.
Plus, college make me even more confused that i already am.

Its note good have to get out of the house not feeling ready, i know the feeling it's not pleasant.

 

[Peace]

It sure is with me! This is one of the most defining things about my differences. It is also probably the reason I am so opposed to a schedule. Not only minutes or hours in a day, but about what day, or when certain things happen. I am constantly surprised to find out when something actually occurred. An event that I swear was a month ago, was actually a year ago. An hour seems like 5 minutes. Most people who know me say that I will be late to my own funeral.

 

[Adamantium]

I had not read about this as a feature of autism, but it's certainly true of me. Without my cellphone I never have any idea of the time. My sense of the passage of time is completely variable: sometimes 15 minutes seems like hours and sometime 4 or 5 hours seems like 20 minutes... If I don't put alarms in my phone, I am not on time.

 

[Structrix]

My husband complains about this all the time. My just one minute turns into 15 minutes. I do not do it on purpose. I also have a really hard time to judge how long a task will take me as well.

 

[Judge]

I used to teach corporate time management to "problem" members of my department. I'd say my sense of time is well, acute to say the least.

 

[Adamantium]

I used to teach corporate time management to "problem" members of my department. I'd say my sense of time is well, acute to say the least.

Can you recommend any good resources for the temporally challenged?

 

[Judge]

Can you recommend any good resources for the temporally challenged?

Well, keep in mind this was from an informal perspective of corporate insurance underwriting- not life in general. So this may or may not make sense to a lot of folks. But it's central to what I used to teach. There was no text or formal resources to refer to.

Think continuous prioritization, first and foremost. Always assessing what is most important in terms of "A", "B" and C". Focusing on what's most important (A's) first. Then move on to other things (B's and C's) of lesser priority.

And if you become overwhelmed with too many things in the same time frame, "juggle" them. Do a little of all of them, always beginning with the "A"s first. Better to be partially finished with everything rather than have to report you've finished only one thing from beginning to end.

And above all, never be visually separated from a timepiece.

 

[karla]

I´m always late. I loose track of time very easily, besides I need to take my time. When I have to go out in a rush I feel very uncomfortable, like something´s missing (because I didn´t have time to put my earings on or something stupid like that). Doing things like changing clothes, or taking a shower can take a long time, and when people ask me "what took you so long?", I honestly don´t know.

 

[Maelstrom]

[QUOTE="Nanda, MY TIME PERCEPTION WAS ALWAYS AWFUL.[/QUOTE]

Hi Nanda Well if I fall into my inner auti land the world ceases to exist and so do meals according to my mothers complaints. And as far as I'm concerned calendars and week days don't exist either unless I paw through the tv guide or paper. And God help me on the birthday anniversary holiday stuff if I ever figure out how to charm a woman properly. I think the term for that one is D.O.A.

 

[Harrison]

I have to keep everything on my electronic calendars and all my bits of gear synch up so I know what I'm supposed to be doing. Even things like 'so an so will be calling' have to go there.

 

[Vanilla]

Yes. I'm quite terrible, for this.

Because I can easily lose track of time, I tend to set many alarms, on my phone, to prompt me to remember to do things, or to go places. Otherwise, I can easily hyper-focus on a train of thought, or in what I'm doing, and lose all track of time.

Long before I had this system to help me, I used to slip up more often, when I wasn't careful. When I was still in school, I used to live so close to my old school, that I could walk there, in 5 mins. One morning, I had woken up earlier than usual, and so was ready for school, 10 mins before I would normally head over. I thought to myself, I'll just check my email, then head over afterwards. I sat at my computer, blinked, then checked the clock, and realised that 45 mins had passed! It felt like only a few minutes had gone by! I was obviously late, despite being ready so early

This thread touches on a similar issue, while showering (this one's also a problem for me, at times): Showering in a time machine | AspiesCentral.com

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

Being required to learn the Franklin Planner system (linked to Steven Covey) delayed my ADHD diagnosis by several years. Suddenly things stopped "all happening at once." Not all the good tools are electronic, from my point of view, but then I don't like too much electronic/mechanical noise (whirs, dings, and don't get me started on ring tones).

 

[DogwoodTree]

I usually have a pretty good sense of how much time has passed and what time it is UNLESS I'm hyper-focused on whatever I'm doing. Then I have no idea until I stop to think about it. But for the most part, like even if I wake up in the middle of the night, I can guess within a half hour of what time it is (lots of practice at this with having had 4 babies, none of whom slept through the night consistently for the first year).

When I'm at a therapy appointment or talking with a friend, I know how much time has gone by. Even when I zone out (not hyper-focus, but inward-focus), I tend to know when it's time to come back to the world and move on to the next thing.

 

[Progster]

I agree with DogwoodTree - my sense of timing is good, unless I'm deeply involved and focused on something, in which case I don't notice the time going by at all until I suddenly realise I need to eat, need the loo, that burning smell is the pizza I forgot in the oven, etc.