They say that superfluous things make it difficult to think that it is necessary to throw away everything that was not useful during the year, that the order in the workplace gives clarity of thought. But many great ones created in the midst of chaos. Does this mean that not everything is so simple? That sometimes it only seems to us that someone else’s table is dirty, but in fact there is logic in this mess?
What is order? Everyone, pronouncing this word, understands something of his own by it. What was inspired in him in childhood or he established for himself.
The order in the workspace is certainly important, but how it will be is up to the one who creates in it. After all, sometimes from the outside it only seems to us that we see a mess.
Chaos logic
“Folders, draft contracts, old charters are always piled on my desk, everything in a row,” says Ekaterina, 40 years old. “It doesn’t stop me at all from remembering what and when I should do, what changes to make and to whom to give what.”
“It is vital for me that everything on my desk, shelves in the closet, in the bedside table remains exactly the way I put it. Even if these are old notebooks, an apple core, a drawing on the back of an advertising booklet, says Alexander, 28 years old. – There is a certain logic in the arrangement of things, among them I find inspiration and just hate it when someone tries to “clean up” my “mess”.
Visible mess can actually retain its structure, its logic, and things that may seem like garbage to others actually matter to their owner.
“My mom loves cleanliness. Once she collected and threw away all my children’s drawings on sheets of notebook paper, – shares Maria, 30 years old. – Together with them, she threw out the old posters of my favorite bands that I bought on Gorbushka, clippings from magazines. I was very hurt, and I still can’t forget it.”
The way a person organizes his workspace reflects his way of thinking, and sometimes little things that are dear to your heart, dusty figures or yellowed letters inspire more than folders and files arranged in alphabetical order.
“I have three desks—a huge one, a smaller one, and a small nightstand—and they’re all buried under drafts and drafts of projects I’m working on,” says George Washington University neuroscience professor Richard Cytovik. — Some of my projects are small, others require a lot of headroom and space. There are folders as thick as a good book. They occupy all available surfaces. And I remember where the things I need are much better when they are scattered around than if I had to sign each folder or file.
Total cleaning won’t do any good
Some argue that if you haven’t used something for a year, it’s time for you to get rid of it urgently. This approach has become so popular that many bloggers pass it off as their know-how. But for others, it causes persistent rejection.
Clothes, utensils, tools, books – it doesn’t matter. A year has passed, and you must get rid of the excess. Do you have 50 volumes on the shelves? Throw away – you really need 5. Do you have 300 records? Throw out all the ones that you haven’t listened to for a long time.
“You are promised that as soon as you get rid of earthly treasures and throw them in the trash, you will immediately find peace of mind and achieve enlightenment,” writes Richard Cytovik. “But this is a wrong approach, because together with things you can get rid of heritage, memory, inspiration.”
“My aunt was categorically against trash. When she was being renovated, the workers asked with surprise how many years she had lived in this apartment. She answered thirty. Everyone was surprised by the answer, because on the balcony and on the mezzanine it was perfectly empty, – shares Vasily, 40 years old. – Our relationship with her went wrong when she threw out all the awards of her grandfather since the Second World War. For her, the past is in the past. It’s gone. And for me it was a memory of what is now irretrievably lost.
Artistic mess
Winston Churchill lived in an absolute mess – his bedroom and bathroom were terribly cluttered. It was there that he liked to work. But who will now deny his genius? Marie Curie’s desk was an extreme mess. The same thing happened at Chekhov’s workplace. At the same time, he wrote novels in one breath without a single blot or correction.
Being a creator means breaking rules and regulations, and a mess that seems completely meaningless to an outside observer is actually filled with meaning to a creator. He knows what is where and why.
And the idea that you should get rid of everything that you do not use for a year is far from suitable for everyone and is based on the assertion that a large number of things complicate life. However, research confirms that this concept is wrong.
The gurus of this approach simply confuse a lot of things with clutter. But history proves that the most successful individuals created brilliant works and made discoveries in a creative mess. Even Beethoven and Einstein.
There is a price to be paid for perfect order. The concept of “throw away everything you don’t use” makes us mistakenly think that we can easily determine what we should leave and what we will never use. But we can’t. Therefore, hands off the mess on the table!