Time anxiety is that constant feeling that you’re behind, that time is running out, and that you should be doing something important right now, even when you can’t say what it is.
My friend Chris Guillebeau wrote a whole book about this feeling. Chris is a New York Times bestselling author, the host of the daily podcast Side Hustle School, and the founder of NeuroDiversion, an annual gathering of neurodivergent adults. He isn’t a clinician. He’s a writer who was diagnosed with ADHD as a kid and knows this feeling from the inside.
We talk about the two sides of time anxiety: the big fear that you’ve missed your chance in life, and the daily feeling that there’s never enough time in the day. Chris tells me about the book manuscript he turned in four months late in his thirties, after a lot of outward success, and why getting more efficient isn’t the same as being effective.
I share what two large research reviews found about how people with ADHD judge time. It’s not everybody with ADHD, and plenty of people without ADHD feel this too. And if you got your ADHD diagnosis later in life and you’ve been counting the years since, this conversation is for you.
We also get into the time rules most of us follow without anyone asking us to, how depression changes what time anxiety feels like, a simple tip for anyone who’s always running late, and one question you can ask yourself at the end of today.
NeuroDiversion 2027 is March 24 to 27, 2027 in Austin, Texas. I’ll be there, and because you listen to this show, you get $50 off your ticket. Tickets go on sale in January.
NeuroDiversion 2027, $50 off your ticket: https://www.neurodiversion.org/thevibewithky
Time Anxiety, Chris’s book: https://timeanxiety.com/
You can also find Chris’s daily podcast, Side Hustle School, wherever you listen to podcasts.
If this conversation brought something up for you, my Mental Health Resources Hub is free, with no email required: https://thevibewithky.com/mental-health-resources-hub/
If you’re struggling right now, in the US you can call or text 988. In the UK and Ireland, call Samaritans at 116 123. Anywhere else, findahelpline.com lists local lines.
Ky is a mental health advocate speaking from lived experience. He is not a clinician, and nothing in this episode is medical advice.
Much love. Good vibes. - Ky
