There are a number of reasons most time management programs don't work for you or anyone else, but the biggest reason is because most time management programs don't take a holistic approach to the problem. Almost never are you having difficulty with time issues because you don't know about a technique or system. You are having trouble with time issues for reasons that are very specific to you. Until you know and understand what specific to you is getting in the way you can't even hope to get your time troubles out of your life.

Many time management programs are focused on a day planner system. There are a number of day planner systems that include time management programs either with them or have them available for sale. Yes, you will need to use a day planner system to gain control of your time but there isn't one day planner system that is perfect for everyone and until you know your exact behaviors that are causing your time management problems you aren't in a position to choose a day planner system. You need two key pieces of information before you spend one penny on a day planner system. You need to know your own problematic behaviors and you need to know what you want to get out of or from the day planner system.

Sometime time management programs are focused on certain techniques that are supposed to resolve all of your time management issues. Again, I highly doubt that there are magical techniques out there that you have never heard of. But even if there are, the ones that will be important to you are the ones that address you and your specific needs. So, even if you know about the technique you probably don't recognize its value in relation to you and your needs.

Rarely do time management programs address you and your specific needs because they are designed to help the masses rather than to help just you. The next time you pick up a prescription from the pharmacy read the insert the pharmacist gives you with the medication paying close attention to the information about adverse events. Drugs only have adverse events in a very small percentage of the population or they don't get approved by the FDA. That's great right? Well, it's great unless you happen to be one of the people in the small group that has that adverse event because now for you it is a 100% occurrence. The correlation here is that what may work for the masses and be a great solution for most people may have zero value for you, and you are the only person you really care about.

Rarely do time management programs include the personal support you need to make the changes that will have the highest impact and most value for you. You can't see your own blind spots, that's why they are called blind spots and those blind spots that you can't see may be the very behaviors that are causing you the most damage in your efforts to get control of your time. Outside personal support can help you to identify those blind spots and help you to get results faster than you ever could on your own. When or if you ever played sports you had a coach to spot your bad form, to show you the correct form, and to help you practice it so you didn't keep making the same mistakes. Same concept applies with how you handle time. Why make it harder than necessary and prolong the stress?

Frequently time management programs are given in a workshop or seminar format. Workshops and seminars can be highly motivational and you can walk away with some great ideas. The big problem with that format though is that you will forget 50% of what you heard after one day and after two weeks you will remember less than 16% of the information you were exposed to. Obviously, if you want to make real life changes this isn't the best format for the problem.