A lot has been written about time management and how we can possibly run our busy lifestyles without feeling like we play catch up all the time. Even though this topic has been covered over and over again, I feel it is one of the classic timeless topics and therefore never be covered enough.

But instead of writing about the various tools that can take you from a procrastinating professional to an effective and kick ass time management warrior, I rather talk about what I tried and failed with before I discovered the simple ways to control my business in the end.

I think the biggest issue we face is to have too many choices in tools to help us manage our time. It can be hard to resist the pulling forces of all the cool apps currently floating around on the Internet. So many have tremendous appeal and they offer us every imaginable ability, except they can’t make us coffee. Bummer.

My desperate search

So, in my search of trying to find the best medium to help me keep control of my ever increasing mountain of paper clutter, digital clutter and schedules, I tried just about anything out there. Leo Babauta wrote a post on 8 Simple Online Time Management Tools a while ago on Freelance Switch, but despite the shiny facade of the application mentioned I found none of them worked for me. I might mention here that I did try them all bar one or two. Not to mention the many others I discovered along the way in my search for the holy grail of time management tools.

The magic discovery

After trailing and failing with dozens of applications, ways, ideas and DMO’s, I made a miraculous discovery. In fact, if it wasn’t for this particular discovery I’d still be searching for the perfect time management tool for me.

And you know what, this tool I discovered has got to be one of the easiest, straight forward and manageable tool ever invented. Not only that, but this tool has so many uses it is a true all rounder.

This magic discovery is the one and only Moleskine. Now, before you ask “what is a Moleskine”, let me explain. The following is an excerpt from the actual slip of paper that comes with every Moleskine notebook:

Moleskine is the legendary notebook used by many European artists and thinkers for the past two centuries, from Van Gogh to Picasso, from Ernest Hemingway to Bruce Chatwin.

This trusty, pocket size travel companion held sketches, notes, stories and ideas before they were turned into famous images or pages of beloved books.

It is that easy. Since I discovered the Moleskine notebook, I quit on all the other online time management tools. To be honest, I found them time consuming, which in my eyes defeats the purpose of managing time in the first place.

Instead of spending two hours inserting schedules, reminders and contacts into the various online time management tools I spend about 15 minutes max. every Sunday evening. Not only is my week ahead clearly outlined, but I have developed a great system to keep the tool easy, fast and fuss free. And best of all, it works a treat!

Hacking your Moleskine

I basically own a Moleskine dedicated as a diary. It fits into my pocket and my hand bag and I can take it with me everywhere I go without the extra bulk, extra weight or having to be afraid to drop and break it.

To make it my own I hacked it according to the guidelines of Mike Rohde. My Moleskine Hack is the easiest time management tool I have come across in all the years I have been online.

Important aspects of taking control

Before you can use any tool to manage your time, whether it is online or offline based, you need to be clear about the work flow. The biggest setback for me in the past was my inability to keep things simple.

I overcomplicated matters and worst of all I always tried to do too many things without matching them for realistic execution.

Instead of opting to complete six major jobs in a week I now space these out. I also found it best to mix small tasks with big ones and never to include more than two major tasks every single week.

The moment I started to execute this, I finally managed to finish my to do lists pretty much every single day.

The other benefit

Ticking off your list has another major benefit. Besides getting things done, you will actually go to sleep with a sense of accomplishment rather than feeling stressed.

Keep it simple stupid

The K.I.S.S. principle applies also very well to time management. If you struggle with it, then take a step back and go easy on yourself. Release the self imposed pressures. You will soon find that you’ll actually get a lot more done once your new time management system is in place.