Part of creativity is creating the environment where it can flourish. Which raises an ongoing question – is it about order or is it about chaos? Is it about messiness or is it about tidiness? The merits of mess – the question runs personal to professional. It can raise dynasties. It can threaten and even end relationships.
A recent research signal for productivity is that a disorderly mess stimulates more creativity than a clean space.
I think it’s about having the flexibility to allow whatever inspires people. Creativity is 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration, not the reverse. For me, creativity flows in a de-cluttered office and home environment. For many crazies, it’s surely the opposite.
If you’re in the clutter camp, Albert Einstein delivers your knockout blow to the minimalists: “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”
