Do you have a bad sense of time?

[melon]

I've always had a messed up sense of time. I'm always forgetting birthdays, and I have problems recalling the time that events occured. For example, I was surprised to find out that I had joined the forum over a month and a half ago (I thought that I had only been here for a couple weeks). I often need to be corrected when describing the time of events - I'm often several years off. Does this have anything to do with specific personality types, or is only me? I'm good at remembering future class and appointment times, but I'm not good at recalling the time of past events.

[logos]

The same. I recall past events in sequence, but they are not fixed upon a timeline.

[banzai]

I seem to truncate my memory based on importance, so a long period of time without anything worth remembering would seem much shorter.

[Epicurus]

The same. I recall past events in sequence, but they are not fixed upon a timeline.Happens to me to, but when Im focused like Greyscale said I do remember time very well. Tough I do tend to fall into a sleep filled with dizzy toughts if not allert to the surrounding world, wich erases time.

[Emma]

I recall past events in sequence, but they are not fixed upon a timeline.


Same here: it comes like flashes, highlights of what was really significant (selective memory, I guess).

Anybody else who can't see the time passing by, like you think you have only spent two hours doing your homework, and then you realise you've spent four hours on it instead?

[Shadow]

Most of the time, I don't pay attention to when it happened, only that it happened. Which means I'm horrible at remembering birthdays. When I get involved in a project I never pay attention to how long I've spent on it, unless the radio or TV says it out loud.

[Epicurus]

It might be so also that intjs think more and because of that time speeds up, thereby harder to remember perhaps. Just as time seems to go faster when you get older because you usually have more on your mind even tough you probably can make it go slow by focusing on not thinking and staring at the clock.

[Myrak]

In general I think I have a good sense of time. When I'm really, really focused on something though the time seems to just go, and that sucks.

But lately, since we've just had Daylight Savings introduced, my internal clock has been really off. I'm on the west coast of Australia, so the sun sets relatively late in Summer anyway compared to the east coast, but now we have an extra hour of sunlight at night, so it's still light at 8:30PM. It ruins me because I love the darkness and the night, it's so peaceful; so I end up staying up even later than I usually do.

[Hdier]

I grew up without daylight savings time, so my internal clock is really screwed up right now. I've trained myself to be able to tell when 5 or 10 minutes have passed, but not much past that.

[BlackHawk]

I can decide how long i want to sleep (I'll decide 8 hours, and, lo and behold, i sleep for 8 hours +/- 10 minutes)
But i can never remember past events.
i.e.
Parent: When did we go to Washington DC?
Me: Uh . . . last year?
Parent: No way, that was three years ago!
Me: Oh . . . .

[OneBadMother]

I think it must be an INxx trait, though I figure that INFJs are the most likely to remember exact dates and details. I don't even bother trying to remember time beyond important day-to-day things anymore.

[bubbles]

I get up within 1 hour of my 'regular' wake up time without my alarm clock, am either late, or very early (though I am more often very early since I don't like being late). Daylight saving time just screws everything up even more. I also know a couple of INTPs and an INTJ that have a bad sense of time.

[Bossy Mom]

I have the memory of an elephant, and I only forget things when I am very stressed. When I was a child, I knew what time it was without even looking at a clock, but I lost that ability when I became a teenager. I used to always use a "file cabinet" in my brain for each year in history and was also acing it. I still have that ability, though.

[WavesSootheMe]

I have an excellent memory, but this doesn't seem to help me so much with time. Dates and numbers sure, but time not at all. I don't think that I think of time as passing me by in a linear fashion. I think of time in terms of events and priorities. If somehow two events get linked in my head, I tend to see them as occurring simultaneously. For example, when I first moved to my new city I set up a job interview for 2pm the next day. That day I went to sushi at 3pm and we talked about the interview and then talked about something else that was happening at 3pm and so the next day I ended up showing up for my appointment at 3pm. It didn't matter. It wasn't really the job I wanted anyway. I didn't make any mistakes with the ones that were important to me. Also, I'll often double book myself because it won't occur to me until later that I can't start the new activity until the first one has ended. On top of that I'm horrible at estimating how long something will take.

[mrswentworth]

I think migraine helped with my memory. Or just, I have a good memory. But I only remember things that I choose to. Things like birthdays.. I just cannot be bothered.

[stasis]

Bad.
Goddamn terrible, to be specific.

[Laura_Palmer]

I can usually guess the time within 15 minutes or so.

[INTJoe]

Wow this thread is surprising to me.

I've got outstanding sense of time. Hours could go by, and I could probably estimate very closely what time it is.

I also am able to compartmentalize events of the past to where I can recall exactly when they occured. Sometimes I have to use deduction to get there, but usually I can get there. My father is the same way and he's INTJ. I would have assumed INTJ's were very good with intuition of time.

Now, what's funny is that when I'm drunk, I lose ALL SENSE of time. It is actually really scary and almost unbelievable how I lose track. I will even check my watch several times and read the time, but it won't register with me. This gets me into all kinds of trouble because if I meet up with buddies and tell my gf I'll be home by 10, I am always late.

[melon]

Well, I'm not really talking about our ability to guess the current time; I'm wondering how accurate INTJs are at recalling the time of past events (or remembering future dates), which I am terrible at. For example, I thought that my friend moved away about four years ago when he actually moved away about seven years ago. ;D I'm usually fine at remembering future important appointments if I have a calender or something, and I'm pretty good at guessing the current time.

[RoqueBear]

This is probably too far down for anyone to read.. But...

I have two different modes, if you will, when I contemplate time..

When I am at work, school or getting ready for either... I think of time chronologically. I wake up at Xam.... I'm done getting ready in 30 minutes.... I think of time like a clock displays it.

When I am at home and I'm not doing either of the above, I think of time in a sequence of events... I bush my teeth before bed.... Even though bed doesn't have a specific time, its relative. My close friends who understand how I am... When they ask how long will I be? I answer in a sequence of events and they understand what I am saying.

This does actually have a lot of cultural influence to it also..

[danalaina]

hm. interesting.

like some of you are saying, i can place events in my past sequentially, but i'm really bad at remembering dates. the best i can manage on average is to associate childhood events with whatever grade i was in at the time. then, if i think hard enough, i can usually map that to a year. this isn't am immediate process, though. it takes me a minute or two.

it had not occurred to me that this failure to place events properly in my history could be a part of my type.

i'm absurdly punctual, though.

something time-related that i heard recently (Captain Tangent!)...i can't remember where, but i heard it suggested that people who are perpetually late have control issues and that their lateness is just an extension of their desire to control the circumstances of every meeting. i find that fascinating.

[INTJoe]

i heard it suggested that people who are perpetually late have control issues and that their lateness is just an extension of their desire to control the circumstances of every meeting.

That's me in a nutshell. Help, I'm in a nutshell. How did I get in here? What kind of nut has a shell?.............

[janonymous]

my memory about events and people is really messed up. i completely forget things that happen to me. and i often feel like an ass for forgetting who people are.

when it comes to important dates, i've trained myself to jot reminders on my calendar.

i am also very punctual just like danalaina. i strongly believe that being tardy shows a lack of respect.

[ame]

i frequently forget what day of the week it is but can remember events and words down to the letter, though i couldn't tell you when it happened.

"you were standing right there (pointing at exact spot) when you said..." then i'll stop to remember and arrange the words, and quote them.
doesn't matter how many years ago said speech or event happened.

[True Rune]

I voted Somewhat, but I'd say bad too. I'd often get in trouble as a child for playing video games all night, and I often oversleep.

[Ligda]

I have a pretty good sense of time when asked, but when I'm involved with something often hours go by without me noticing.

[michael ingram]

I have pretty good time awareness, but I know that us INTJs are known for living in a sometimes dreamlike state.

[cullenisacreep]

I used to, but not anymore.

If I put something in the microwave for five minutes, watch TV, and get up, it will always be almost to the second of the end of the heating process.

[Vagrant]

I have a good sense of time during the day. Not so at night.

[raz1337]

I usually have a disregard for time. I know it's important for things, so I have to keep track of it. Otherwise, I'd forget about it. My cell phone died a week ago, and I just now put it back on the charger. I use it to check the time since I'm too lazy to buy a watch. Without it, I was like, "oh well, no clock on the go anymore."

Dates are even harder. Honestly, today, a customer asked me the date. I went to check my register, and her 8 year old answered before me! I remember the day because of work and school. Like, today, I was wondering what the date was. So, my train of thought was exactly this: "Ok, election day was the 4th, and that was a Tuesday. Today is Sunday. A week from the 4th is the 11th, and that's a Tuesday. Sunday is two days before Tuesday, so that makes today the 9th." Is it normal to do that?

[PRBori]

I do not care much about time or every event unless they are meaningful... that say I don't keep track of time all the time, sometimes I don't even know what day of the week is... seriously...

I guess I have more important things going on my head than time... time is only of importance at work for deadlines...

Outside of that I don't have many friends, so I don't have to remember b-days or anything like it....

[Nikita]

I either lose all track of time or have an uncanny ability to guess the hour and time it is.

[LionsPride]

My timing, more often than not, is impeccable. If I am early or late, it is often always in my favour.

[dragonsscout]

My sense of time is usually very good, but I choose to ignore it sometimes. It only gets significantly off when I'm having a very good time or a very bad/boring time.