A Messy Workplace with Many Ideas: How to keep your workspace clean

A workplace can take many forms in someones life. A cramped office cubicle, an open room with multiple desks, a corner office all to yourself, your very own bedroom or office at your house. Each workplace is unique to each person working in them, no matter where it is. Over time however that workplace get’s crowded and messy with various projects, ideas, and especially coffee mugs. The juggling task of working in a messy workplace can be difficult, and in recent years has been used as a judgment tool in a persons creativity and intelligence.

Researchers have found a correlation to a messy workplace and more creative ides, but has come with the cost of a shorter attention span at larger scale problems (A Messy Desk Is a Sign of Genius, According to Science | Inc.com; Messy desks could be a sign of genius, say researchers | The Independent). Having messy workspaces gives one more objects that they have connections with. Mostly it comes down to their memories of the objects and the emotion they have of that memory and. People always remember things where they had a strong emotional memory of the object, and this can make it hard to let go of such things. With this, things can start to add up, and it’s a sign that it may be time to start asking, “do I need these here?”

I think the best thing to have is a clean workplace. I don’t like messes on my desks, and I find that when I have a clean desk I can focus more on my work. Having the space (that elbow room) to move about and organize when the mess does come to my desk, gives me the ability to attack projects strategically. This said, when I have a messy workplace, I find myself getting lost in thought and ideas about the bigger picture of the project, but not focusing on the immediate task at hand. Although the articles give great reason to keep your messy workspace as “it can show genius” I find more of my things getting lost the more crowded my workspace is, and that’s not just my thoughts. For example: my computer filing scheme. While I have not found the perfect naming scheme yet, I do have a general scheme that I used for school. It would follow:

~/Documents/BCIT/[semester]/[course #]/[Lecture | Lab | Assignments]/[files].*

I will be switching this to a new scheme at a later date, but I will be working on a post about my development setup another time. Sorting is important, and when you get a system down pat that works for you, finding things is easy and convenient.

Your workspace is important, and wherever it is, it should work for just you. If you find yourself like me and wanting a cleaner workplace but never can get it clean or keep it clean, I have some tips you might be interested in trying. First, I’ll talk about how to trim down, then I’ll talk about tips to maintaining cleanliness.

How to trim down

1. Have I used it recently?
   Have you used it in the past month? The past 6 months? The past year? If it doesn’t hit whatever time you set (I usually go a year to be safe) then you probably don’t need it.
   2. Why would I need it soon?
   In what practical case would I use this item again? And when I say practical, I mean in a regular day or in what situation that could happen in a day requiring you to use the item. If it’s some old toys that you’ve had since you were 5 but don’t ever remember playing with, get rid of them.
   3. Can I store it somewhere else?
   This is for the things that you want to keep, but maybe just need to put somewhere else. That said don’t put your giant teddy bear your ex 4 ex’s ago got you “somewhere else.” It won’t be brought out until your 40’s (I promise).
   4. Can I sell it?
   These are for the things that are still in great shape. And no I don’t mean the fives times dunked iPhone 4S you still have lying around, I mean the 3 times used guitar you have in the closet. Face it, when are you going to pick it up again? Unless it was a gift, then maybe keep it.
   5. Can someone else I know use it?
   Remember those old toys you have? Give them to your siblings, siblings kids, cousins, family friends, charity. Kids love getting gifts, and even some of your toys you didn’t like, someone else might. Plus, it’ll really brighten their day to get something on a non-special occasion.
   6. Did family give it to me?
   While you may not like it, that lame present you got from your grandparents has some meaning put into it. They got it for you and families family. Friends stuff is a bit more fluid, but family stuff should at least get a second thought before you get rid of it.
   7. Toss it
   If it passes all this, toss it. It’s time to get harsh and let go. Trust me, if it passes all this you’re not going to miss it. Focus on the things you use day to day, or things that you have a lot of pleasure in doing as a hobby, something that gives you joy in a hard week. Anything that makes it to this step is probably better afterwards.

Maintaining that cleanliness

1. “I’ll get to it later’s” and “I’ll do it tomorrow’s” are the worst sort of thing to keep on your desk or in your workspace. They never end up getting done. Keep things organized in a “priority” and “earliest convenience” queues on your desk. “Priority” are things you need to get done as soon as possible or sooner. “Earliest convenience” is for the non-priority projects, that have a later due-date or ongoing upkeeps. Might be good to add a “daily” pile to the list if you have things that need to be done end of each day.
2. Work on things as soon as they come up. This extends the previous point, but working on your things as they hit your desk get’s your mind thinking about them. Even if you have to put it down to get to something more important, you have now began the work and have unconsciously been thinking about solutions or workarounds. Being proactive and beginning work early sets a bar for yourself and you can always get back to work you’ve started.
3. Make a sorting system for your workplace. Things should always have a place to go that stay out of the way. Pens, paper, notebooks, laptop, keyboard, mouse, documents, mail. They should have someplace to go natively that other things can work around, or if they get moved go back exactly there. This should even be applied to your house objects. Don’t be lazy and put the remote on the couch, put it on the coffee table. Every. Time. You. Put. It. Down. Put things right back after you’re done using them. If that means you have to go back to get it 5 times over, do it anyways. You’ll remember where it goes, and you’ll never lose it.

With all this said, if having a messy workplace works for you, by all means keep it! I’m not saying that it’s good or bad, because it works and that’s the key. This article was some tips that I find to keeping a clean workspace, and about some things I found while looking at why I should/like to keep a clean workspace. I hope that you have some takeaway from the article, but if I can suggest one I recommend looking at your filing system. Keeping everything on Desktop leaves it easy for people that have access to your computer to get your information. Till the next time!
~Spencer

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