I think your workspace can say volumes about what you’re like as an employee and a person. My desk, for instance, reflects the fact that I’m always working on a million projects. Call it creative chaos. I try to keep it tidy (as I hate messes), but usually my creativity and my ”always on the go” lifestyle supercedes my desire for neat little piles. It’s not such a big deal now that I work from home, but when I was working for a startup, I used to get those all company emails reminding us to keep our cubicles clean for potential investors and I’d feel guilty knowing I was part of the problem.
Sound familiar? Check out my article for Yahoo! HotJobs on decorating on your workspace.
Nice article!
Before I started working from home (where I’m surrounded by things that make me smile, spark creativity or remind me that I’m good at what I do), my “conversation starters” included a photo of me at a Halloween party dressed as a pregnant Wonder Woman –everyone in the office knew I didn’t have children, so I got to tell that story a lot (the Superfetus was a throw pillow from my couch).
Check out my recent post about the effect of one’s surroundings on creativity, morale and more.
I like order and am very organized at work. At home I also like to be organized, but since I started writing on my blog and other articles, I have papers all over the place. I just don’t have the space at home. I only have a small two-bedroom apartment that I share so my office is the livingroom couch and I put my papers on the coffee table. I am outgrowing my “office” and can’t stand the clutter. I find it hard to be creative in a mess.
More knickknacks collect more dust – another good reason other than clutter to choose your knickknacks carefully!
Very true, Mark!
Great article, Susan! Being relegated to the living room, I have to keep a close watch on the paper clutter, whereas David’s desk is a terrain of hills and valleys; whenever I start to wish I had a desk, I pass by his and shudder.
Susan,
I completely know the feeling. My creativity tends to get a little out of hand sometimes, who am I kidding, it gets a lot out of hand most of the time. If I had to say it nicely it would be that my creativity tends to trickle from my desk to the floor around my desk, kind of like the way mercury would if you broke a thermometer, but then again I would be kidding myself and everyone I know. It is more like a Tsunami hit my cube and then washed in to the empty cubes beside me. At one point I decided to “liven” my space up a bit by getting a plant. This was a very bad idea…for the plant anyway. After about a week, I remembered that I had a plant, secretly stashed somewhere under my paper like a squirrel and an acorn. I am happy to report that the plant is doing ok today, but it, like many other stacks of papers and such, reside in the empty cube next to me. Gotta love it!
@Sal: glad to hear the plant is doing better!