Does Having a Messy Desk Make You More or Less Creative?
The latest research will end this debate
Yes, that is my desk. And I am not ashamed.
An armchair psychologist could infer plenty from this photo. First, this person clearly doesn’t clean (thus the Roomba manual to solve the problem.) Second, she still has a landline, so using a cleaning robot is beyond her technology comfort level. Third, there are children somewhere lurking in the background and an uppity cat who thinks she owns this desk. And lastly, you really probably should never send this person a written bill. It will get lost in this abyss.
But what if this desk was empty? What stories would it tell then?
The answer is obvious — none. A clean desk is a blank canvas.
Now, no offense to you tidy desk people, but I have always had this theory that an immaculate, uncluttered workspace indicates someone trying to hide their personality. Or they work for the CIA.
Einstein (another fellow slob) would have agreed with me but was a bit more sardonic. He famously said, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”
Well, research shows Einstein was kind of right.
A recent study found a cluttered desk correlates with greater creativity and stronger idea generation. In this study, researchers asked participants to develop a novel use for a ping pong ball. Half the participants worked in a messy room. The other half worked in a tidy room. When the task was complete, a panel of independent judges rated the messy room people as having more creative ideas.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this study also found having a clean desk confers some benefits. For example, the researchers also found working at a tidy desk promotes healthier eating, and clean desk people are less likely to engage in crime. So there’s that.
The choice is yours. Do you want to be more creative or less of a criminal? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
But if you are one of those meticulous lost souls with a place for everything…I am going to entice you into the darker side of slovenliness. Here are a few tips so you can embrace your inner criminally-minded, creative slob.
The six-step messy desk system to make you more creative
- Always put important papers on top of the pile. Unless they are important papers you psychologically don’t want to deal with —tax bills, contracts, rejection letters, to-do lists, etc.
- File cabinets and drawers have one purpose — to hide your favorite snacks from your kids. Don’t worry…Little Debby Snack Cakes don’t expire. And most mice won’t eat them. (How I know this is beyond the scope of this article.)
- Spills are just nature’s way of artfully coloring your workspace. So while the neat might shudder at the coffee cup ring staining the mahogany wood, messy people see it as giving your desk “character.”
- When people call and ask for a certain file, contract, or manuscript you promised to deliver weeks ago, always blame it on your messy desk. Make sure to ruffle some papers around for an audible effect.
- Whatever you do…never EVER clean your desk. Once you visually map out the typography of your desk, cleaning it is like a tornado that levels the entire town. In other words, if you put it away, you will never find it again.
- If the chaos gets too much and you feel that urge to organize, don’t despair. Just move one item to a different spot. Repeat. Congratulations…you just organized.
Final tip — never be ashamed of your messiness.
About two years ago, a local journalist requested an interview. But instead of asking to meet in the usual coffee spot, he asked if I would feel comfortable with him interviewing me in my office. He explained that readers love to see an author’s workspace.
I responded, “No fucking way, you creepy psychopath.”
No, I jest. I didn’t say that. But I wanted to. I wiped the sweat from my brow and managed to muster an “Oh, sure, that would be fun.” (And then I got off the phone and called him a psychopath.)
I immediately set to work shoving my life into drawers and file cabinets. And then I stopped myself. Why should I pretend to be something I am not?
I will confess that he and the photographer were a bit horrified when he saw the full dishabille of my workspace. But it was at the end of the interview, and good journalists always have their subject pinned by the end of that conversation.
He chuckled and said, “I am glad you are not one of those creative people who clean just for an interview.”
I was not.