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Cluttered Desk, Cluttered Mind
By KWiz | January 19, 2007
On January 9, 2007, an article appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled “Chaos Rules” with a photo of Albert Einstein standing around his very cluttered desk, appearing to be looking for something, with the following quote within the photo:
“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind,
of what, then, is an empty desk?”
–Albert Einstein
For this article, Jim Auchmutey of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed Eric Freedman, one of the authors of the book, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder–How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place. Freedman states,
“…we’d all be better off worrying less about neatness and order.”
When asked about the state of Einstein’s desk, Freedman says,
“Einstein had a fantastically messy desk. I spend a lot of time walking through the halls of academia, and I can tell you there’s a strong correlation between how spectacular someone’s mess is and how successful they are as a professor.”
Finally, there is a sidebar at the end of the article (it’s difficult to determine whether Freedman or Auchmutey, the AJC writer, penned this sidebar) which reads, ”What messy can do for you” featuring four famous men. For example, with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s photo comes the caption, “The California governor hates making appointments and has pretty much winged his whole career.” But the caption of one of the other men he features (again, including photo) states:
“…if it’s neat you want…history’s ultimate neat freak: Adolf Hitler.”
What a way to end a supposedly informative, possibly persuasive article…
I’ve not ever been the neatest person in the world. In fact, I was pretty much a slob growing up. It took me getting married to get my act together. When my desk at school is a mess, I can get nothing done. When my desk is cluttered, I feel cluttered. I am unproductive. I spend more than the nine minutes Freedman says is the average time looking for things on my desk. I feel like crap when my house is messy. I can’t stand to go to the kitchen and see very many dirty dishes in my sink - I get irritated at myself if I don’t wash the dishes and I come into the kitchen only to see the dishes saying, “Wash me, wash me!” Lots of clutter, in my mind, causes chaos (literally).
The AJC article elicited a few comments from readers. HGTV regular Monica Ricci remarked,
“I have addressed this book in my blog, and hope Mr. Freedman can accept that there is indeed a fraction of the population who loves, and indeed thrives in extreme chaos. However, most people who live in chaos DO desire to improve their life results and happiness, which is why the professional organizing industry was born. We organizers are in business to help people change their lives by changing their internal and external environments, not by judging or shaming.”
Thank you, Monica.
And John at MightyBargainHunter.com provides “Sixteen Ways Being Disorganized Costs You Money.” Five of those ways include:
- Extra trips to the store
- Spoiled food
- Buying things you already have
- Dining out a lot
- Huge amounts of lost productivity
That list is all too familiar to me. Before I got married, I ate out everyday because I didn’t wash my dishes too often. (When I was working corporate, my favorite restaurant was Houston’s. They had this fantastic Grilled Chicken Salad with mandarin oranges and this wonderful peanut dressing. Is that still on the menu?). I’d frequently forget where something was and buy a replacement, only to find it later on. Looking for bills, important papers, and books took time. And when I decided I was going to do a good cleaning, it took half the day! Productivity down the drain! I could’ve been working out or something!
For me, a little neatness makes for more peace in my soul. Instead of thinking that having an empty desk means one’s mind is empty (as Einstein’s quote above “explicitly implies,” I prefer what Monica Ricci recently posted on her blog:
“One of the side benefits to being organized is that you find you have the mental space to wonder about stuff.”
How do you process clutter? Does it help you think? Does it hinder you? Do you find yourself to be more productive — or less?
A better indicator might be, “How long does it take you to find your car keys when you have someplace to go — immediately!” Maricar’s “Keeping the Castle” addressed this in “January Is Get Organized Month…Or Not”:
“Yes, being organized saves more time than having to hunt for one’s keys for 10 minutes every single day. Surely a reasonably clean home contributes to a feeling of well-being and relaxation. Yet freaking out over every little Cheerio on the carpet is too much. Especially if, with every crumb that’s picked up, three more get added to the pile.”
Balance, balance, balance…
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Topics: Health and Wellness, Marriage, Personal Development, Personal Finance, Spiritual Growth |
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January 20th, 2007 at 4:25 am
Ah yes - balance is the key to everything isn’t it?
I am actually reading A Perfect Mess right now and they have some interesting points so far. But I think the most important thing is doing what works for you.
As for the Mr. Linky - if you go to my site and go to a Wordless Wednesday or a Tackle It Tuesday post you will see a little box thing where people can enter in their name and URL. Their link then appears in a list. That is a “Mr. Linky”. It is a great tool when you have a number of bloggers participating in a meme so that everyone can get to one another’s posts.
On the first day of the party, people will add their names and the URL of their party post to the Linky. Then others will click on their link and visit their blog.
Hope that helps. If you have any other questions - let me know.
January 20th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Thank you for a lovely and candid post and for citing my blog entry about the book. Watch for Julie Morganstern on this week’s CBS Sunday Morning where she will take on Mr. Freedman and discuss the book and the benefits of being organized.
~Monica
January 20th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Thank you Janice…I’ll make sure I check out the Wordless Wednesday and Tackle It Tuesday posts…I’m excited about the party!
January 20th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Thank you Monica. I’m so glad you left the comment, because that’s how I found out about you (we don’t have cable, but when I do get access to it, I love watching HGTV).
I’ll make sure to watch the CBS Sunday Morning tomorrow. It’s one of my husband’s favorite programs. It’ll be interesting to see how Ms. Morganstern approaches the subject with Mr. Freedman.
Thanks!
June 25th, 2008 at 2:12 am
I’ve got to admit, I like it when my desk is clean, but it is few and far between when I can actually see my desk buried under all the paper and stuff that ends up piled on top of it!