Tardiness and creativity are quite connected

[casper]

Apparently the desk of Albert Einstein looked as if someone had decided to destroy his job. Einstein answered criticism of his work habits question "If a cluttered desk is a sign of the cluttered mind, we would then need to think about the empty chair?"

Kathleen Vohs, a scientist at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, with his colleagues conducted a series of experiments in neat and messy areas with 188 adults. Vhos his findings described in the New York Times and concluded that disorderliness and creativity strongly linked and that, although there are certain benefits of clean, clean rooms can be preconventional for inspiration. His conclusion was published in the paper "Physical Order Produces Healthy Choices, Generosity, and conventionality Whereas Disorder Produces Creativity '.

Joe Reed, a professor of marketing at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, in the video explained their research results.
Video:
https://youtu.be/t043bPqCKUY

How does look your desk?

 

[Xico]

well, my desk at home looks organized and at work a little bit less

 

[Kasia]

So I have to become a bit more messy if it really helps to trigger my creativity ;) Now my desk is rather too neat...

 

[3DStudent]

Hmm, at work my desk is neat and tidy. My room at home is usually an organized mess. :P

 

[MusicMan]

Organised chaos!

 

[marek760]

Well, it seems to me that my a desk represents my mood, sometimes it is clean and organized sometimes is more disordered, but often it is clean and tidy.

 

[luc]

Well, I'm not sure there, I don't think it's black and white. Personally, I'm way more productive in a clean environment - I had to really learn how to keep order, in the past it was all a mess with me. And I used to justify it with "I'm a creative type, order is something for boring people" - sigh. I think it's nearly always better to stay on the cleaner, more orderly side, without obsessing of course. After all, order is the opposite of entropy, and so is creativity, no? As a matter of fact, I know people who are "creative types" and are totally chaotic, but I'm always thinking they're shooting themselves in the foot there and that they could be way more productive and in touch with themselves if they paid more attention to an orderly environment.

But of course, there ARE people who are totally obsessive with order and cleanliness, who are unable to let go, maybe a reflection of inflexible, rigid thinking... For them, I guess it would be very useful to allow some chaos in their surroundings. After all, where there's work, there's dirt, and we should be able to accept that, without idealizing it. Also, I guess you can benefit from a seemingly chaotic surrounding if it's stimulating and thought-out, kind of a "deliberate chaos" - like for example when you have tons of books on your desk that you need and can reach easily or tools or drawings or whatever all over the place that are important for whatever you're doing. But oftentimes, I think there's nothing deliberate in people's chaos, it's just things piling up and them totally helpless - I speak from experience :).

 

[patty2292]

Apparently the desk of Albert Einstein looked as if someone had decided to destroy his job. Einstein answered criticism of his work habits question "If a cluttered desk is a sign of the cluttered mind, we would then need to think about the empty chair?"

I love that! My personal space is normally quite messy, but i see it as an organised mess ;D
When a room is to clean, organised and neat it puts me on edge where i feel uncomfortable. I like abit of clutter, it says to me ''Hey, just relax!'' But thats just me :).

 

[Michael B-C]

Early on in my creative career I discovered that perhaps the most essential tension in life was that forged between the fixed and the free, between tightness and looseness, for it is in acceptance of a 'creative' balance between these two apparent opposites comes a third way, which is a resolution of both and a potential path to a fuller understanding and insight. Shakespeare (who wasn’t Shakespeare!) of course was the absolute master of this philosophy, literally embedding it into the form and use of 'his' verse whereby chaos meets order in a battle of wills and is resolved into a new way of being and seeing.

I must confess that from childhood I was pretty chaotic, my bedroom a perpetual mess and symptomatically, my life in near continual disorder. Over time I taught myself to become ordered to enough of a degree that I could balance this tendency somewhat, and now I prefer a healthy dose of order, tidiness and yes cleanliness along with the more spontaneous and messy in the momentness of being! In my creative profession I have to be ordered, organised, disciplined - for it is only from that form does true creativity emerge. Many creative types seem to view licence bordering on chaos as creativity personified but more than not it ends up as 'sound and fury signifying nothing'! Any study of genius in the field of creativity invariably reveals an incredible self-disciple, methodical purpose and intense, highly crafted skill that releases the well of spontaneity because the 'heat' of creativity is thus freed to express itself through a form and shape that is disciplined and directed. Contradictory to some perhaps but it seems to me, essential.

So form and discipline comes first as a conduit for its potential bi-product, creativity. But that doesn’t mean I am not surrounded by piles of books, items of occasional detritus and a freewheeling indifference at times to order. I suppose I therefore swing between the states - it all depends on a prevailing mood - tiredness, over work, stresses of life – all of which can lead to disorder; deadlines, schedules, focus, determination, a search for clarity, direction and a richer perception, all lead to order. I suppose the problem comes when you have too much of either (again what Shakespeare was exploring). Overly controlled, tightened and prescriptive behaviour will squeeze the life out of what you do; too much freedom, license and ill-discipline leads to chaos and lack of control or direction. The trick is to recognise just how much of both you need to generate something that has the value of both. It seems to be a microcosm for the macrocosm of natural law. Fixed natural laws vs. free will and quantum possibility for multiple choice. The universe has dared to structure itself so to enable growth and development. Carefully managed risk would be a way of seeing it! FWIW.

 

[luc]

Michael BC, that was so well put, thank you!

I think you're totally right, in most cases the "creative type" who is totally chaotic, ill-organized and just lets himself be where the wind blows him is a myth. Maybe that's true though for some pathological forms of "modern art", but real art is Work. I think Steven Pressfield in his little book "The War of Art" brings this point home very neatly. There's a thread about it here.

In this pathological society, it's easy to justify (self-)destructive behavior like living in a mess, always being late and never be organized as "creative", but mostly I think this is only a rationalization for failing in life even at a very basic level. It can also be expression of a lack of self-esteem I think: Once I got myself and my life more organized, a lot of things changed, and it helped me feeling more balanced and self-confident. The other side of the spectrum of course is obsession, but I think most people idealizing a chaotic lifestyle shouldn't worry about that, it's not their problem. Btw., changing these bad habits offers lots of opportunities for doing the Work, osit.