Now that you have learned what makes good organization, it’s time to discover something concerning poor organization. Did you recognize the qualities that unorganized persons have?

For many individuals, life zooms past once they reach their working age. Day-to-day, it’s the same dash routine of waking up, heading to the workplace, coming back from the job, and sleeping.

Researchers found that our attention is drawn to time-sensitive tasks. We even prefer to focus on these tasks over less urgent tasks that offer greater rewards.

In the real world, categorizing urgent/non-urgent and important/not important tasks is more difficult and ambiguous than under experimental conditions. Here’s how Steven Covey breaks it down in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:

SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. Each element of the SMART framework works together to create a goal that is carefully planned, is clear, and trackable.