The current trend of minimalist and paper-free offices dictates that everything should be in its place, and this "everything" usually means that you're allowed a notebook, a laptop and maybe a family pic. This environment, however, might be the worst for a creative mind, and here are the reasons why.
A cluttered workplace is not actually devoid of order. What an outsider would consider as chaos can actually be an effectively organized system.
Everyone has a colleague or a business partner whose desk is so cluttered one can't even tell if it's made of metal or wood. Yet when you ask for something that person goes to some pile, flicks through some papers and pulls out the file you've asked for. Now imagine if someone would order to clean that "mess".
This company includes Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, Max Levchin, co-founder and former CTO of PayPal. They're all creative powerhouses and prefer chaotic work environment.
However, remember one important thing. Zuckerberg became successful not because of snack packs scattered on his desk. Vice versa: a messy workplace is just a part of his personality, along with incredible programming and managing skills.
A nice model to follow.
We don't mean a cup of coffee spilled on a company-owned laptop. Chaotic environment causes chaotic thinking, which sometimes can breed ingenious solutions.
University of Minnesota researchers explored how working in tidy and messy rooms affects behavior. They found that participants who worked in messy rooms came up with more creative ideas, while tidy environment encouraged people to play safe.
No one would want to have a surgery in a room where instruments are strewn on the floor. However, if your task requires some free thinking, it's logical that you should feel free to organize your space.
If your desk helps with your routines, it works for you, period. Keeping it clean means you're spending precious energy that is better be spent on tasks at hand.
Simple chores may seem insignificant, but they can add up and eventually eat a big chunk of your precious time.
We must warn that it's the worst excuse for your boss you can come up with.
Nevertheless, our world is pretty chaotic, so disorder is inevitable in pretty much every aspect of our lives. Instead of fighting it, you can benefit by simply fitting into it.
After all, cosmic entropy brought the ultimate wonder - our universe. So there's a solid chance your desk entropy can generate an idea of a startup worth millions.
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