Ever heard the old saying that “clutter is a sign of a creative mind at work?” Well, if that’s true, then I have the most creative mind on the PLANET.
I will demonstrate, with a potentially highly-embarrassing picture of my room as it is right now.
I’m not sure if this kind of clutter is what the saying-makers had in mind… xD It looks like I’ve been in the process of moving for the better part of half my life. (For reference, the left side of the picture shows the closet puking its cluttery guts up on the floor; the bottom right corner is a small slice of the bed, remarkably tidy; the top right corner is one part of the dresser, also covered in clutter. The rest of the room is similarly “decorated”…I need not inflict more suffering on my viewers than this.)
How a Too-Tidy Room Can Inhibit Your Creative Juices
Now, I admit, I can be pretty clean and organized when I put my mind to it (or if I get ticked off enough at not being able to find anything). But I have always hated a too-perfect room, too. You know, where everything’s SO tidy and SO put away that you feel like you can’t even step into the room without wrecking the perfection of it. A too-tidy room feels like a doll’s house or an operating room rather than a person’s real living space.
My mother always loved for me to have a room that looked like a doll’s room as a kid, because she liked that everything looked really cute and was easy to clean up. I had difficulty even breathing or sitting down in my room when it was like that, by contrast–it felt like anything I did in the room was going to spoil it all somehow. Trying to work in that space, then, was almost impossible, when every creative project I tried to do in there seemed to undo all of the hard work that had gone into cleaning and straightening the room.
However, I think I may have taken the “clutter = creativity” thing a little bit too far. What do you think? 😛
How a LITTLE Clutter Can Help Creativity
A little clutter, I believe, makes it easier for one to think outside the box. With a little disorder around, you don’t feel like you just HAVE to think along certain, well-beaten paths, and you have mental “room” to innovate or just toy with an idea for a while. A little clutter reminds you that disorder is part of the creation process–things have to get a little messy (to paraphrase Ms. Frizzle) in order to come up with something AWESOME.
I notice that when my desk is just a little disordered–not covered up, but not empty of my personality either–I feel a little more “at home” and feel more inclined to use it to work. I can easily clear a little space to work, but I have things on the desk that inspire me to work more if I get stuck, or are ready at hand if I need to switch gears for a moment to refresh my creative juices.
How MEGA-Clutter Hurts Creativity
But, on the flip side, too much clutter makes it impossible to think of anything. Well, anything besides “Where IS everything?!”, “****, I just lost my pen! Again!”, and “I am SO tired of this grocery bag sticking to my foot every time I walk in here!” (True story…that picture of my room is definitely not faked.)
In my room as it is now, my desk is so covered with junk I couldn’t show it to you, for fear the Clean Police would beat down my door. Using it as a workspace is a lost cause, and has been for many a year; it’s just not feasible to “clear off a space” when everything is in a jumble and it’s hard to tell what to keep and what to get rid of. Nothing creative can go on when there’s so much distracting stuff to look at, and so much to clear off before one can even get started.
The Solution: Balance–Not Too Tidy, Not Too Cluttered
So, how does one include just enough things out of place or disordered, without the whole space becoming too aggravating to work in? Here is what I’m trying in my current space:
- First, put away anything that doesn’t have anything to do with the current project you’re working on. Looking at a bunch of bills and junk mail while you’re trying to craft the next great symphony, for instance, will only distract you.
- But don’t clear everything away! Leave out in the open anything that directly pertains to your current project. If you’re working on a novel, you’ll want pen and paper, maybe a whiteboard, all the random notes you’ve scribbled down on random napkins and receipts, etc. If you’re trying to paint or draw, you’ll want your art supplies, extra paper, those extra sketches and doodles for inspiration, etc.
- Don’t go nuts trying to make your workspace tidy, unless an untidy workspace sets your OCD off. For me, a too-tidy workplace hems me in, and I feel trapped by pristine perfection; having things a little tiny bit scattered gives me breathing room. But whatever you choose to do, put pertinent objects on and around your workspace in places that feel natural to you, so you won’t be distracted trying to find things in the middle of your creative frenzy.
A Final Note: Don’t Confuse Clutter with Garbage
If you find yourself wading in paper scraps, gift wrap, old receipts you don’t need to file, grocery bags (again, true story)…do take time to remove the obvious trash, so that your perfectly disorderly workspace doesn’t end up covered over and unused. Trash is not creative, not unless you’re making an art project or a sculpture with it. (And if you are making a trash sculpture, let me know, and I will happily donate materials to your cause. xD)