If you’re a working mom who feels like you're *constantly* racing the clock, running five minutes behind everywhere you go, or shocked that a “quick” task somehow took 40 minutes… you are *not* alone.

In fact, what you’re struggling with is often referred to as **time blindness**.
In the world of ADHD, folks talk about this all the time. But it’s also common in midlife women - especially those juggling work, kids, aging parents, household logistics, and a brain that’s carrying the entire mental load of family life.

Today, we’re breaking down:

What time blindness actually is
Why midlife moms experience it (even without ADHD)
How your Brain Office Team explains the struggle
4 realistic fixes you can start this week

Let’s get into it.

What Is Time Blindness?

Time blindness is the difficulty accurately sensing, estimating, or tracking the passage of time.

It’s not laziness.
It’s not “poor planning.”
And it’s definitely not a moral failing.

For many working moms, time feels like shifting sand - you think you have plenty, until suddenly… you don’t. You look up and it’s already time to grab your kids, hop on a Zoom call, or rush to the next activity, completely shocked at how fast it all went.

Common signs include:

chronically running behind even when you try
losing track of time during everyday tasks
consistently underestimating how long things take
feeling like your evenings evaporate
needing “just five more minutes” (that turn into 20)

In midlife, this becomes especially noticeable because time demands increase while mental bandwidth decreases.

This is not a character flaw. It’s a skill gap we can support and strengthen.

Why Midlife Moms Experience Time Blindness

Your brain in midlife is doing a LOT.

You’re carrying:

the family schedule
emotional load of everyone’s needs
work deadlines
invisible household logistics
caregiving tasks
transitions (kids getting older, aging parents, changing career demands)

All while running on fatigue, decision overload, and hormonal shifts that affect memory and processing speed.

This combination creates the perfect storm for:

less mental buffer
slower task-switching
reduced working memory
difficulty visualizing time

Which brings us to…

Your Brain Office Team’s Perspective (Wendy + Penelope to the Rescue)

Inside your Brain Office, two key team members are trying their absolute best to keep your day on track when it comes to avoiding time blindness: Wendy and Penelope. We could definitely argue that a few other staff members are involved as well, but Wendy and Penelope’s roles are pretty key.

(Side note- not sure what this Brain Office thing is all about? Read more here to learn more about this metaphor for understanding executive functioning).

Wendy - Your Brain’s Memory and Attention Manager (Working Memory + Sustained Attention)

Part of Wendy’s job as the manager of your working memory is to hold important details “in her hands” long enough for you to use them. She doesn’t really care about remembering them after that, but it’s pretty important for her to be dialed in right now.

Things like:

what time you need to leave for an appointment
the steps you need to complete before you leave (e.g., let dog out, grab keys, grab purse, put coat on, let dog back in, lock door)
how long each step takes

When Wendy is overwhelmed or juggling too many tasks, she can drop pieces of information, which can have a massive impact on how long it takes to do something.

This looks like:

forgetting the time
getting absorbed in a task (sometimes to the point of hyper focus, which is common in folks with ADHD)
losing track of your next step
needing to drive back and lock the door when you’re halfway to gymnastics already

When Wendy is overloaded, time blindness becomes almost inevitable. If she’s managing more ideas in her mind than she can keep track of or is having trouble sustaining attention (or shifting her attention), it is going to show up as her internal clock being off.

Penelope - Your Brain’s Internal Project Planner and Roadmap Maker (Planning + Time Estimation)

Penelope helps you map out a plan, estimate how long tasks will take, and prepare for transitions.

But when she’s running the entire household calendar AND your work responsibilities, she gets frazzled when she’s overloaded.

This might show up as:

sharing wildly optimistic time estimates for when you will show up for your dinner date with a friend
forgetting to build in transition time between your evening commute home and being “on” as a mom or partner
assuming everything will go perfectly but without a great plan (wouldn’t that be nice?)
planning tasks that don’t match your real energy, like scheduling meetings back to back with no breaks (guilty over here!)

Together, Wendy + Penelope explain why your days feel chaotic:
One is trying to hold the details, the other is trying to estimate the path forward… and both are overworked.

The good news?

You can support them with systems that lighten the load.

4 Real-Life Strategies for Time Blindness (That Don’t Require a Complete Personality Overhaul)

I chose these strategies specifically because I think they can really work in a high-achieving working mom’s life, not because they are perfect or the answer to everyone’s problems.

1. Use Repeating Related Routines Instead of Rigid Schedules

Instead of having a rigid schedule for when things “must” happens based on specific time, link your tasks to predictable routines that repeat each day to help stay on track.

Examples could be:

“When the kids start their homework, I begin dinner.”
“At 9pm when the furnace turns to heat saving mode, I shut down my laptop”
“Once everyone is out the door for soccer practice, I check my email for 10 minutes.”

Linking tasks to repeating routines can help create structure without demanding perfection. Need some help getting some of those routines set-up? Read more about creating flexible routines here.

2. Use “Transition Timers” — Not Just Task Timers

Most people think to set timers specifically for a task. But the magic is in the pre-transition timer.

Think:

A 10-minute “wrap-up” timer before you need to leave
A 5-minute buffer before meetings to take a breath and collect your thoughts
A reminder to start bedtime earlier than you think you need

This supports Wendy by giving her cues before she drops the thread and gets lost in the actual activity.

3. Practice “Micro-Estimating” Instead of Guessing the Whole Day

Time estimation becomes more accurate when you break tasks into tiny steps. And when you take time to sample the time and reflect on what you predicted would happen versus what actually happened.

Instead of say:
“5 minutes should be enough to clean the kitchen” - which it might be…but without paying attention to how long each task takes, you may be farther off than you think.

Try:

unload dishwasher → will likely take 4 minutes
reload → will likely take 7 minutes
wipe counters, table, and sweep up the crumbs → 5 minutes

Suddenly Penelope can see the truth - and plan accordingly.

4. Use Visual Time Tools (Because Your Brain Loves to See Time, Not Feel It)

Time blindness improves when time becomes visible and not just an abstract idea in your mind.

Try:

visual timers
analog clocks
calendars where your day is blocked in color chunks- this super amazing one from Cozyla could be the answer to all of your scheduling issues
oven timers to show progress
a Time Timer app so kids can “see” transitions happening too if they aren’t great with understanding time in numbers yet

This reduces the load on Wendy and helps Penelope stay grounded in reality.

Think of Time Blindness as a Signal and Not a Failure

If you’re always running late, overwhelmed by evenings, or wondering where the day went, it’s not about something being wrong with you.

Your Brain Office team members are just exhausted - and they’re asking for structure, clarity, and support.

With the right systems, your days become far more manageable.
Not perfect.
Not rigid.
Just more manageable-ish.

And for working moms?
That is everything.

If you’re feeling stretched thin right now, remember: you don’t have to figure it out alone. We’re here to give you the tools and support you need to reset and thrive this fall or anytime of year. We are offering new programs all of the time that can help.

While Dr. Liz is a licensed psychologist, the information provided by Empowered Focus, LLC is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. Services offered and any materials provided by Empowered Focus, LLC are NOT a substitute for mental health therapy and do NOT establish a psychologist-patient relationship. Individuals seeking mental health therapy or clinical support should contact a qualified mental health professional in their area. A helpful directory for locating licensed providers in your area can be found at Psychology Today.

Time Blindness in Working Moms: Why You’re Always Running Behind (And What Actually Helps)