When you hear the word time, what thoughts come to mind?  Not enough, stress, restrictive, pressure....it's certainly not on my side.  Although we may have a different concept of time, time is exactly the same for everyone.  There are 24 hours in a day, no matter what.  Even though time is calculated and processed the same way for all people, some friends are consistently on time, some co-workers are always early, and some family members are forever running late.  Why is that?  Is it truly a lack of discipline and planning, or is it something deeper?  No matter how many beepers, reminders and tools a person uses, if they are fighting an urge to not be labeled as "stiff and rigid", "thrive on the high working on a project at the last minute brings" or "embrace flexibility and freedom" no amount of planning will sway their unconscious thinking.
 
So why bother?  Why bother if time management is rooted deep in our subconscious if we are over-achieving early birds, or over-scheduled freedom seekers?  Because time is a limited resource and self improvement is always a good thing.  As ironic as it sounds, planning and time management actually create freedom.  You are deciding what to do with your time instead of letting others dictate for you, letting their values and emergencies trump yours.  You have more control over your time and your life when you embrace planning.
 
The first step is realizing why you are creating the self-detrimental behavior in the first place.  Did you have a parent that was always on time that you vowed never to be like?  Do you procrastinate because you are a perfectionist, because if you started a project ahead of schedule you would devote every waking second to perfecting the outcome?  Step one is not learning time management tools that will magically make you more time savvy.  It's learning why you struggle with time in the first place.
 
Some people struggle with time to the other extreme; chronic over planners.  They assume planning guarantees success, and are let down time and time again when their plans are not seen through.  All planning and time management does is dramatically increase the odds of success.  Like all things, planning and time management are good in moderation.  So if rain delays the family fishing trip, just remember the real purpose the the trip was not to catch a fish, but to have quality time with the family.  This purpose could still be achieved by doing something spontaneous indoors....even if it was not the official plan for the day.