Clutter is Killing Your Creativity
Why a messy desk isn’t as artistic as you think
Some weeks, my desktop is a disaster: full of papers and files and sticky notes with half-baked ideas that never get implemented.
Yes, I am your typical “creative.” Disorganized and disheveled, I proudly chalk it up to the artist in me. But if I am honest, this is embarrassing, not to mention unproductive. And in the mess, I realize something:
Clutter is not my friend; it is my enemy.
Clutter is procrastination — the “Resistance,” as Steven Pressfield puts it, a subtle form of stalling and self-sabotage. And it keeps me, and maybe you, from your best work.
The mess is not inevitable. It is not necessary or idiosyncratic. It is your foe, and it’s killing your art.
Clean up your mess
Before beginning her career as a successful author and speaker, Patsy Clairmont did something unexpected. She washed the dishes.
She wanted to take her message to the world, but as she was readying herself, she felt nudged to start in an unusual way. She got out of bed and cleaned her house. In other words, Patsy got rid of the mess. And it put her in a position to start living more creatively. We must do the same.
Bringing your message to the world does not begin on the main stage. It starts at home. In the kitchen. At your desk. On your cluttered computer. You need to clear your life of distractions, not perfectly, but enough so that there’s room for you to create.
The relationship between clutter and creativity is inverse. 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.
Make more with less
Jack White has an interesting philosophy on creativity. He believes less is more, that inspiration comes from restriction. If you want to be inspired, according to Jack, then give yourself boundaries. That’s where art blossoms.
At a public speaking conference earlier this year, I learned this truth, as it relates to communication. An important adage the presenters often repeated was:
“If you can’t say it in three minutes, you can’t say it in 30.”
We spent the week of the conference writing and delivering five-minute speeches every day. We learned that if we couldn’t summarize our ideas in a few short sentences, then we couldn’t elaborate on them for half an hour.
Sure, we could ramble and rant. But that’s not communicating. It’s word vomit. I’ve learned to do this with writing. If I can’t say what I want in a sentence or two, then I’m not ready to share the idea.
Prematurely broadcasting an idea before it can be described succinctly will cause you to lose trust with your audience and cost the integrity of your message. When attention is sparse, the people with the fewest, most important words win.
Be Ernest Hemingway
In a world full of noise, it’s nice not to have to weed through digital SPAM to find the nuggets worth reading. But this doesn’t come naturally. Succinctly getting your point across is a discipline.
I like to talk — a lot. I often process ideas out loud as they come to me. But I find this frustrating when other people do it. So I’m trying to master the art of clutter-free writing.
Here’s what I do: write and write and write, getting all my ideas on “paper” (or computer or whatever). Then, take out as many words as possible while still clearly communicating the message. Because if I can say it in five words instead of 15, I should.
This process of cleaning up your message is not intuitive for most people. But it is important, an essential discipline for anyone with something to say. And if you don’t know where to begin, start here:
- Reclaim your inbox. Throw away magazines and newspapers you have no intention of reading. Clean up your email, getting it down to a manageable amount (zero, if you can).
- Clean up your desk. Again, throw away stuff you haven’t used in months.
- Find a clean space to create. This is different for everyone, but it needs to not stress you out.
- Limit distractions. Turn off email, phone, and social media tools. Force yourself to focus on one thing at a time.
- Start creating clutter-free messages. Remember: less is more. Use restrictions to be more creative.
- Repeat this for the rest of your life.
As you do these six things, you will yourself freed up from the stress and strain caused by an unkempt workspace. And you will find, as I certainly did, that you have more room—both physically and mentally—to create.
A version of this article originally appeared on goinswriter.com.
Jeff Goins is a writer, blogger, and speaker who regularly talks about how to live a life worth writing about. He is the author of three books. For thoughts on writing and life, you can join his free newsletter.
