"I dey come now now." E be joke because e true. You mean am. For your own mind, you don almost ready. Then one hour don waka.

Na one of the parts wey dey vex pass when you dey live with attention difference, partly because e easy make other people read am as disrespect. If you late, e mean say you no value my time. If you talk five minutes and you take two hours, e mean say you dey lie.

Wetin research actually find

Real evidence dey here, and e good make we talk am exactly, because internet no dey talk am exactly.

Meta-analysis of 27 studies, wey compare 1,620 children and adolescents wey get ADHD against 1,249 wey no get, find say the ADHD group judge time less accurately and less precisely, and dem get more tendency to overestimate how long something take.

Bigger meta-analysis of 55 studies, wey cover children and adults, find plenti different kind difference for timing: e harder to separate very short durations, more variation when dem dey estimate duration wey last some seconds, and pattern for time estimation and production wey the authors describe as e dey match internal clock wey dey run fast. Dem also find two different things dey happen for time reproduction task: for short interval, distraction dey slow person down; for long interval, say person no like to wait dey make am fast.

Anybody wey tell you say science don prove say "time blindness" explain your whole Saturday dey oversell am. Anybody wey tell you say na pure discipline problem dey ignore big literature wey consistent. The truth sidon for middle, and e still useful.

Why five minutes turn five hours

Join the perception research, three ordinary mechanism dey do plenti of the work:

  • Time stop to dey sampled. When attention lock on top something wey sweet, the habit to check clock disappear. Nothing dey interrupt, so nothing dey update.
  • Estimate dey built from the best case. You remember the one time wey the task take twenty minutes, you no remember the four times wey e take ninety.
  • Nobody dey count the transitions. "Fifteen minutes to get ready" na the bath. E no be to find the shirt, to charge the phone, to find key, to answer one message.

Wetin dey actually help

The principle na the same as the one for forgetting: stop to ask your head make e do the job, put the job for the world.

Make time dey visible

Analogue clock or countdown wey you fit see inside the room wey you dey, dey do something wey phone no fit do: e dey show time as space wey dey shrink, continuously, without say you go open am. Phone, you must check am. Wall clock just dey.

Time the thing once, honestly

Pick the task wey you dey misjudge pass. Next time, start timer when you begin — the preparation join — and look the number for the end. Do am three times, you go get real figure. Most people dey find say na around double their estimate, and from that time dem fit just double am.

Use arrival time, no be departure time

"Comot by 6" dey fail because to comot na process. "Dey inside motor by 6" na one single fact wey you fit check. Then set alarm for the thing wey dey before the thing: alarm for "start to get ready", no be for "go".

Put the alarm for the cue, no be for the clock

If-then plan — exact trigger tie to exact action — get good experimental support for helping people actually act on their goal. "When the 5:30 alarm ring, I stand up I wear my shoe" beat "I go start to get ready around half five."

Make the middle wey nobody dey see, visible

For anything wey get deadline, write down the three things wey must happen before am, each one with im own time. The deadline no be the task. The three things na the task.

About to late reach people

Two practical things, and none of dem need say dem go diagnose anybody with anything.

Tell people the system, no be the excuse. "I dey set alarm for 5:30 so that I go dey inside motor by 6" na sentence wey dey build trust. "Sorry, time just waka" na sentence wey dey spend am.

Pick the relationship where lateness dey actually cost something, over-engineer those one. You no need perfect system for everything. You need one wey reliable for the three things wey matter.