I’m on a mission.
I’ve been cleaning out closets and drawers all over my house, muttering the words “be ruthless” as I try to decide what stays and what goes. As of yesterday, my hall closet is a mere shadows of its former self. For the first time in umpteen years, I can get a pair of gloves off the shelf without having a virtual storm of hats and gloves and scarves raining down on my head. And the towels and cosmetics in the bathroom linen closet all have their own separate and pristine stations.
Today I’m tackling my “office” – the room I call my own for reading, writing, meditating, and occasionally sleeping (when my husband’s snoring gets out of control). The winnowing process in this room could be painful – after all, this is where my books and notebooks and folders with ideas jotted on scraps of paper all end up.
How do I decide what’s worth keeping and what should be consigned to the circular file?
“The relationship between clutter and creativity is inverse,” wrote Jeff Goins, in a recent blog post titled Your Clutter is Killing Your Creativity. “The more you have of the former, the less you have of the latter. Mess creates stress. Which is far from an ideal environment for being brilliant.” 
Does mess create stress for you? I know it does for me. Because my personality places a premium on neatness and order, my brain gets fatigued in cluttered environments. When I’m surrounded with haphazard piles of papers and books, I can feel my mind go into a frenzy. Where do I start? What do I look at first? Should I clean up this stack, file these documents?
These kinds of thoughts adversely affect the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the area in charge of executive functioning – the way we apply our thoughts to the completion of goals. When the goal is writing and creative thinking, it’s wise to keep this area of the brain as clutter free as possible.
So I’m off to put my prefrontal cortex to work on a system of organizing and ordering all the creative objects floating around my office space.
How about you? Do you think clutter affects your creative ability? Or do you thrive amidst artistic disarray?
Write On Wednesday 
Deirdre
Jan 04, 2012 @ 11:40:59
Becca, we are so much alike. I’ve also cleaned my closet and office this week and the great clutter cleaning of 2012 has begun.
Clutter and disorganization absolutely affect my creativity; it makes me feel agitated. And that starves the creative process.
Becca
Jan 04, 2012 @ 20:35:55
My office is the hardest place to keep clutter free, which is annoying because I really need it to be! I’ll just keep trying, I guess 🙂
Kerstin
Jan 04, 2012 @ 13:49:44
I’m the same, clutter tends to overwhelm me quickly, even as a kid I didn’t like it. I think for me this is mostly about craving a peaceful and harmonious environment which is essential to my inner wellbeing. Mess can unsettle me deeply. Having said this, this sense of peace can be rather superficial as I tend to be tidy on the surface but please don’t open the drawers! That’s what I want to work on, a basic organizing system that works well and makes sense, and is easy to maintain (that’s key!), not just in my house but also in my digital life and in my head!
Becca
Jan 04, 2012 @ 20:36:42
I think that’s my problem with creating a long lasting solution – in order to appear clutter free, I just move the clutter somewhere I can’t see it!
Jennifer Gutierrez Orozco
Jan 04, 2012 @ 17:55:38
I get paralyzed with disorder, plain and simple. That I’ve b een paralyzed for half a year with my own disorganization shames me! 2012: get organized! Thanks for your post.
Becca
Jan 04, 2012 @ 20:37:36
Start small and work your way clutter-free one drawer and closet at a time! That’s what I’m trying to do 🙂
Good luck – let me know how your progress!
Lilian Nattel
Jan 04, 2012 @ 18:01:11
I don’t like clutter in my work area–but I haven’t seen any evidence that this is universally anti-creative. Some people thrive in a nest of debris. Or at least feel more comfortable. I’d like someone to actually research it!
Becca
Jan 04, 2012 @ 20:38:27
That would make a very interesting study. I have a friend who is extremely creative by very cluttered. She says she knows where everything is and it doesn’t bother her at all. She manages to get things done- eventually!
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Sep 02, 2014 @ 23:43:06
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