An anti-anticlutter movement is afoot, one that says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder. Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds (who reap higher salaries than those with neat “office landscapes”) and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and cooler than their tidier counterparts. It’s a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands.And lest the DavidAllen-ites amongst you mock:
It was the overall scumminess of Alexander Fleming’s laboratory that led to his discovery of penicillin, from a moldy bloom in a petri dish he had forgotten on his desk.(HT: Susan Wise Bauer: link fixed)
By the way, here's one of my favorite pictures on the web. Athesitic philospher Quentin Smith looking for something in his faculty office:
See also: Kings of Chaos (the six messiest desks at the University of Chicago) and What Does Your Desk Say About You? (people with messier desks tend to have more education and make more money).
