Why You Need A Messy Desk
If you don’t have time to tidy your desk - why not leave it as it is? Advantages to drowning in paperwork have recently been highlighted…
Clutter nutter?
A long time ago, a very famous man said “If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign”. By saying this, Einstein was hinting that having a very tidy workspace could reflect negatively on the person sitting at them, rather than positively! A recent discussion about this in the Telegraph further highlights the debate between messy Vs tidy desks.
Are you a messy Myrtle or tidy Ted?
We’re not suggesting our desk hire clients completely stop ordering their paperwork, files, post-its and other office items that generate clutter, but if you don’t have time to keep your workspace completely tidy during your working day then you may benefit from some advantages...
1. Let those creative juices floooooow
Some experts fully support Einstein’s suggestion that having a messy desk indicates a mind that’s bursting at the seams… possibly with creative ideas that could influence marketing ideas and strategies.
There’s no clear reason why this could be the case, but researchers explain it could be as simple as paperwork from one idea lying messily near/next to brainstorming notes from another campaign - which could be accidentally read together sparking creative ideas and taking you in a completely different direction.
2. Be a flexible work friend...
This advantage considers the characters behind messy desks! Instead of being neat and ordered, which is what most bosses expect on business premises, the messy types might be the type to bend the rules and office policies slightly. This type of worker who doesn’t do everything 100% by the book also tends to be more spontaneous and able to improvise when required. These traits can really benefit those unpredictable, fast moving working environments, like media offices and stock market premises.
3. Make it work for you...
Whichever way you choose to order your desk - it’s got to work for you. By this we mean it’s all about finding the right balance. If you feel like letting clutter build up, but then you’re wasting loads of time finding documents, losing important pieces of paper or getting anxious that those private files aren’t under lock and key - then you may have embraced messiness a bit too much, and you might prefer our lockable filing cabinets.
Likewise if every item of paperwork has been filed using some great and complex system you recently devised - so complex you can’t recall it, then you’re being a bit too neat for your own good, feel free to relax those tidiness rules a bit!
4. Time!
When we say messy, we don’t mean at the level where environmental health needs to be called! Taking time to throw out food wrappers, clean up spills and wash cups etc goes without saying. A cluttered desk is usually the one with the extra paperwork lying around, post-its scattered across the workspace, stationery out of place and so on. You save time having a desk like this, time that could be spent filing and tidying - but just remember, if it takes you ages to find that important document, then you might need to re-think your desk style.