If all you want to do is cope, something is wrong. Coping presupposes the existence of a time treadmill - and that you're on it. Managing time is an unachievable dream, the stuff of science fiction! No-one can manage or control time, it is an immutable, it moves forwards inexorably for everyone - managing director, office junior and entrepreneur alike. In our universe 'yesterday' will always have gone.. forever!

What can be accomplished however is a better understanding and management of yourself, your tasks and your relationships to raise the value of how you use your time. Inside of worrying about time, rather look inside yourself, know who you are, understand what you want to do and if your are really capable of doing it. Time will then take care of itself as one of life's constants and you can get off the time treadmill.

Getting done what you want done in the time available to do it is much more the result of your inner attitude than it is of using one of the many diary systems. Time management tools can help but usually only if you are a methodical, systems management person who is keen on list-making. Your attitude is what counts - knowing your capabilities and limitations, getting rid of negative thoughts, having a clear idea of what you want out of life and using your strengths to achieve it and developing your confidence.

Computer-based and paper-based time systems will rarely sustain you in the long run. Reliance on these systems will rarely sustain you in the long run. Getting the most value from the time at your disposal is down to your self-esteem and self-discipline and knowing what you can accomplish in the time available.

There is an old Chinese saying: Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. And therein is the key to the significance of inner time. The moment you start saying to yourself 'It must be finished today... There's no time tomorrow' the moment you step off the time-treadmill.