There are many causes of chronic disorganization. Here is a start:
There are many characteristics of individuals who are chronically disorganized. Not all people will have all of the characteristics. Some will have a few, some many or all.
Difficulty Holding Physical Boundaries With Belongings
It is common for chronically disorganized individuals to have poorly developed boundaries for their belongings. Often similar items will reside in multiple places. For example office supplies may be stored in the office, kitchen, bedroom, garage, car, and other living areas. This creates difficulty when looking for items to use or when putting items away. It seems there is no best place for these items, so often they are put wherever makes the most sense at the time instead of a place that is always consistent and can be remembered from time to time. Another problem occurs when items can’t be found. Often multiples are purchased of the same item and placed in various areas around the home. Purchasing multiple items creates more clutter and makes it more difficult to find other items.
Ambiguous Action Plans
Most chronically disorganized clients have goals. If you ask them how they plan on achieving those goals they will share ideas, but those ideas are not developed into concrete plans. Their ideas lack sequence and logical order. They have difficulty breaking things down into smaller chunks. They may see the goal in its entirety and not be able to see the components (or starting point) that get them to achieving their goal.
Visual Clues As Reminders To Take Action
Sticky notes, note pads, and wipe boards are all tools that CD clients often ineffectively use to remind themselves. I had one client whose kitchen cupboards were entirely covered in sticky notes. None of the notes stood out, so she couldn’t find any of the information she posted. Creating a system where chronically disorganized individuals will be confident they will find something and can repeat the process is vital in establishing systems tailored to them. This helps them to develop trust in the new organizing process and trust in themselves.
Difficulty With Decision Making And Prioritizing
It is often difficult for chronically disorganized individuals to prioritize tasks or eliminate tasks. Many live in a constant state of hurry or catch up because of the amount of tasks that need to be accomplished, and the order in which they are accomplished. Often people go through the motions of getting the tasks done with little regard for the importance of the task or their ability to get help with the task. They do not take into account their own values and needs and how these impact the priority of what they do. Similarly, prioritizing and decision making are difficult with belongings. Having someone help you to establish parameters to give priority or importance to your belongings can help you to keep what is of value in keeping with your goals.
Eclectic Interests; Frequently Incomplete Projects
Many chronically disorganized clients are very crafty, creative and imaginative thinkers. They have terrific, inspired, out-of-the-box ideas. Frequently they abort these ideas mid stream to begin some new project that is currently inspiring them. Often these half finished projects clutter the home and remind the individual of the potential that the project had. They are often a source of guilt and remembrance of an idea unfinished or money wasted.
Difficulty Managing Their Time
Most chronically disorganized individuals don’t know how long it takes to perform basic tasks. They often grossly underestimate the amount of time it takes.
They frequently don’t spend their bulk time on their most important tasks, but spend it spinning on details and urgent tasks due to ineffective time management techniques.
Difficulty In Letting Go Of The Stuff Causing Clutter
It can be unimaginably difficult and painful for some people to let their things go. Some want to but don’t know how. Some don’t want to but feel they should. Some fluctuate on their willingness and resolve from appointment to appointment. Some are afraid that if they get rid of their belongings they won’t be safe or secure, or ever have enough, or that they will miss even unused, unloved, and broken items. Some feel if they get rid of an item that was given to them by a friend or loved one then it is like getting rid of the friend or loved one.
Accumulating More Than They Need Or Desire For Pleasure
You may have more than you can possible use or need. Having an excess of items often gets in the way of living the life you envision. Managing and constant handling and moving of items takes up much time and makes it difficult to find the things that you really want to use. Some are compelled to purchase multiple items because they are unable to find an item that they are looking for.
Easily Distracted Or Loss Of Concentration
They might find organizing and routine paperwork boring and have difficulty staying focused on it for a long period of time or they have difficulty prioritizing what needs to be done and give up. Let’s face it, paperwork isn’t terribly stimulating. Someone who is easily distracted can stop and pick up something else leaving a calamity of unpaid bills, and correspondence behind them. Unopened mail or unpaid bills often create anxiety, fear, and guilt. The phone, a child, TV or any stimulus may seem more interesting than their task at hand, especially if they are trying to manage the paperwork all by themselves. They may use these distractions to avoid paperwork and bills that cause them emotional pain.
Common Traits In A Chronically Disorganized Home:
- Living areas are cluttered
- Storage areas are filled and often overflowing
- Family members argue about clutter and time management
- Frequent tardiness or absence from appointments and regular activities such as work and school. This can be because of poor time management, distractions, or inability to find necessities when leaving such as their keys, wallet or purse.
- Unable to find important documents and such as birth certificates, marriage license or their deed to their home.
- Unable to find and effectively process monthly bills and mail
- No household calendar, or using multiple time management systems that aren’t synced together. There is likely to be poor communication between family members regarding these conflicting schedules.
- Household tasks such as laundry, housecleaning, grocery shopping and yard work are often incomplete. There may be piles of laundry throughout the home, some clean and some dirty. There may be little evidence of housecleaning or yard work. One area of the home may be very tidy while other areas haven’t been touched at all.
- Incomplete projects. These can be household projects, work projects or craft projects
- Evidence of past attempts of self-help. You may have lots of organizing materials that you have tried to implement to no avail or organizing products that you have tried to use but have not found helpful.
Common Traits In A Chronically Disorganized Work Environment:
- Lack of time management skills, poor sense of timing and limited awareness of the passing of time. Consistent tardiness with most projects or overscheduled to complete an unreasonable workload.
- Frequent tardiness or absence from meetings
- Projects not completed on time
- Difficulty making decisions
- Inability to give detailed directions or create a systematic plan for projects
- Frequent loss of important paperwork, files, computer documents or time management system
- Work evaluations consistently mention organizational issues
- Lack of filing systems or many complicated systems in use
Interestingly, some who are chronically disorganized at home may not be at work, and those that are chronically disorganized at work may not be at home. The environment where chronic disorganization doesn’t come into play is likely set up well for their abilities. For example, a chronically disorganized individual who has difficulty with time management may do well in an office environment if she has a secretary to keep her on task, but falter at home on her own.
Those with chronic disorganization may have history where self-help efforts to change have failed, they see a diminished quality of life due to disorganization, and future disorganization is fully expected. So, in essence, it is severe and persistent disorganization that is disrupting your current lifestyle, causing you pain and will disrupt your life for a long time if something isn’t done about it.