Is being disorganized a sin or personality flaw or both?

[Obsidion]

I personally feel that being disorganized is a sin, because when someone is disorganized, usually it results in causing problems for other people around them. It causes delays when stuff should’ve happened on time, it forces other people to pick up the slack for people that they wouldn’t have had to deal with had the other person been organized and on top of stuff to begin with, and it causes the quality of someone’s overall work to suffer. What do you all think?

 

[sugarcat]

It’s more of an incompetence or a flaw. Seems to go with having ADD, imho. Organization is a skill - extremely useful, and necessary in our frantically busy lives. Not caring or trying one’s best to meet obligations may be a sin, but lack of a skill isn’t.

 

[TK421]

It can be a sin if it exists out of negligence or sloth. Organization is also a skill/attribute as much as it is a virtue though, so people will have varying degrees of that foresight and clarity of thought for putting things where they need to be. It will be difficult for some and automatic for others. The human person is diminished when they are not organized, and by far the most important thing that needs to be organized is not files or objects, but internal thoughts & people as a community. This is why St Paul lists “the discernment of gifts” as a a gift in of itself. People need to be in the right places at the right times in order for the Church to be at full combat capacity.

 

[utah_rose]

If so, I’m guilty. Have struggled with this since I was a kid. I’ve really tried to improve but it’s difficult. I’ve also had a hard time following directions and remembering them since I was in school and got punished for this from the nuns. Any one else out there?

 

[St_Francis]

If so, I’m guilty. Have struggled with this since I was a kid. I’ve really tried to improve but it’s difficult. I’ve also had a hard time following directions and remembering them since I was in school and got punished for this from the nuns. Any one else out there?

I also seem to have difficulty with organization too. I really work at it, but my brain just doesn’t go in the right way, afaict. As a result of my attempts, I tend to be slow and careful about things and drive everyone crazy.

 

[Arizona_Fat_Gir]

Read the book “Up the Organization” and another one, “The Peter Principle”. I read "The Peter Principle"once, and it said “People rise to the level of their incompetence.” That’s true since many times the ones who are good at a job get promoted to the next level, and then the next…until the job becomes much too difficult for them and they are incompetent at it.

That’s why you may find some bumbling idiots running companies. Either they are related to the owners, they are incompetent because they were promoted too often, or they are disorganized. We had someone at work that if you gave him a copy of something he needed, he would lose it and come back time after time. And those who wait until the last minute when you are going home to stop you and ask you to do some last minute work. I used to watch “The Office” on TV and it was funny but true.

Remember if it can happen, it probably will. I don’t know where that saying came from, but it is something to think about.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

I have ADHD, disorganization a symptom. And If I’m not conscientious, I’ll forget to put up the mayo after making a sandwich. If I don’t write stuff down and make a list of things I need to get done, I’ll forget. You should see my room when I’m trying to get dressed, it is a mess! Or when I’m studying…everything is all spread out and don’t you touch it, yes, it looks like I need it tidy, however I know where everything is and I’ll clean it up when I’m finished.
My brain literally doesn’t work like it is supposed to, I hardly see that as being a sin.

 

[mommy_k]

I don’t think it’s a sin, it is a personality trait. If someone tries and tries, and they are still unorganized that may be a clue that they are not lazy. Sloth would be a sin.

I think highly creative people are prone to it moreso.

 

[BartholomewB]

If so, I’m guilty. Have struggled with this since I was a kid. I’ve really tried to improve but it’s difficult. I’ve also had a hard time following directions and remembering them since I was in school and got punished for this from the nuns. Any one else out there?

Me too. Both at work and at home, my desk has always been a clutter. If I put things away in drawers I tend to forget about them, which is why I like to leave them on the desk. No matter how many different books, files, and loose sheets of paper, I like to have them where I can see them.

 

[on_the_hill]

It’s a cross to bear.

Some people struggle with addiction, or ssa. I struggle with four or five different calendars, at least three of which are linked via The Information Superhighway, and I still lose track from day-to-day.

I try to keep detailed records of everything and yet still lose track from day-to-day.

I hope it’s not a sin. As for being a personality flaw, I am the way God made me.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I don’t think it is a sin unless you are intentionally procrastinating or trying not to be organized. I suffer from anxiety and depression and that makes it difficult to stay focused to be organized. I don’t know if I suffer from ADHD too. As I get older it is getting more difficult to organize my thinking and prioritize. I really struggle which creates more anxiety.

 

[sugarcat]

If so, I’m guilty. Have struggled with this since I was a kid. I’ve really tried to improve but it’s difficult. I’ve also had a hard time following directions and remembering them since I was in school and got punished for this from the nuns. Any one else out there?

Same here, you’re not alone. Can’t follow verbal directions to navigate either. Fortunately I’m not bad with maps. Bad at memorization, takes 3X longer for me.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

What is “disorganized”, though?

If anyone ever saw my office, they would think I am highly disorganized.
However, I know where everything is, and seem to keep my department running quite efficiently.

One person’s chaos is another’s orgainzation, IMHO.

I personally feel that being disorganized is a sin, because when someone is disorganized, usually it results in causing problems for other people around them. It causes delays when stuff should’ve happened on time, it forces other people to pick up the slack for people that they wouldn’t have had to deal with had the other person been organized and on top of stuff to begin with, and it causes the quality of someone’s overall work to suffer. What do you all think?

 

[Obsidion]

What is “disorganized”, though?

As in, you can’t find anything important that you need to find and you can’t remember things that you need to remember. And, you can’t stick to a schedule when you need to. Like you said, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have everything looking like it’s in order; even if it looks like a complete mess, as long as you get done what you need to, you’re doing well.

When I say disorganized, I’m not judging based on how your office, room, etc. looks; I’m judging based on how you run your life. As in, do you get your work done on time, do you finish what you started, is your work of high quality, etc.? And if you constantly have to change your plans or push back what should’ve been done on a certain day, that’s disorganization at its finest.

 

[Catholic_EC]

I would like to weigh in on this, Please Read the Parable of the Cracked Pot. Here is the Link.
skywriting.net/inspirational/stories/cracked_pot.html

This is my first time sharing a link so I apologize in advance if it does not work. That being said read the parable and give it some thought.

 

[Obsidion]

I would like to weigh in on this, Please Read the Parable of the Cracked Pot. Here is the Link.
skywriting.net/inspirational/stories/cracked_pot.html

This is my first time sharing a link so I apologize in advance if it does not work. That being said read the parable and give it some thought.

Wow, that’s so awesome! Thanks for sharing! Definitely needed to read this.

 

[3DOCTORS]

It is a rut a person gets in, I think. I have several of the predisposing factors - depression, ADD, OCD (which doesn’t always make a person more organized as popular folklore would have you believe - sometimes it just makes you dither that much more about what to do or where to put something! ). As with any cross or challenge, though, we need to do our best to deal with it in a way that is considerate of others, and also realizing that God doesn’t want us to have the stress that goes with it because it’s bad for our own health.

I’ve begun a painful purgative process (try saying that 3X real fast! ) because my disorganization and being too attached to “stuff” got me into hoarding. I’d made some previous efforts to deal with it and had some smaller successes. But finally this spring I had to admit I need to put forth a major effort to a) detach from material things emotionally and keep only what is truly useful and in a reasonable amount, and b) carry through with the decluttering process so as to start creating a more streamlined and sustainable life.

So I am in online and RL support groups and it’s not easy but I feel like God has really opened my eyes and that He’s going to help me plow through all of this and have a life more as He intended for me to have.

 

[DBT]

These type of things are considered imperfections, not sins, because they’re ingrained into how we were made and not necessarily something we consciously set out to do. There are all sorts of imperfections, being disorganized is just one of many. Other examples could be things like being a worry-wart, gloomy-gus, over-talkative to name just a few.

As an interesting side-note, the purification God does in us through the passive nights (see St. John of the Cross) are specifically designed to rid us of our imperfections.

Dave

 

[DBT]

One more thought on imperfections …

More often than not we don’t recognize we have them. In a sense we are “blind” to them.

For example, the worry-wart might go into confession because he yelled at his wife … never recognizing it was his “default position” to worry that caused him to brood over some phantom fear … that made his mood irritable … which made him impatient around others … which caused him to snap at his wife.

Similar scenarios can easily be imagined for the gloomy-gus, chatty-cathy or any other type of imperfection.

Sometimes God will give us a special light into our imperfections and frees us from our blindness. He does this to draw us into deeper union with Him. It is one way we can tell we are being passively tried.

Such is a great grace and we should do our best to cooperate with this light if and when it is given. For surely we will come face to face with many little temptations against our imperfections that don’t quite rise to venial sin.

At such times, complacency is the real enemy. It causes us to “stay put” in our spiritual growth, In the words of St. Teresa of Avila, failure to move forward is to go backwards.

But this is only if we’ve been given such light. In the meantime, more often than not, we are contently oblivious.

Dave

 

[Obsidion]

These type of things are considered imperfections, not sins, because they’re ingrained into how we were made and not necessarily something we consciously set out to do. There are all sorts of imperfections, being disorganized is just one of many. Other examples could be things like being a worry-wart, gloomy-gus, over-talkative to name just a few.

As an interesting side-note, the purification God does in us through the passive nights (see St. John of the Cross) are specifically designed to rid us of our imperfections.

Dave

No offense, and I really hope that this doesn’t come across the wrong way, but I feel like you’re just making up excuses for people and are basically telling them not take responsibility for their faults and not to work on stuff that they need to work on. I understand that we’re all born with faults, but we can’t just live with these faults and be OK with having them. We should work to change them and stop falling into the same traps over and over again. I hate the whole, “I was born this way” argument.

And even if we don’t “set out” to do something, that doesn’t make it OK.