About efficiency and creativity

There are many contradictory quotes and common understandings about creativity, efficiency, cleanliness and mess. If you abide by some and not the others, it would seem that you can’t be both efficient and messy, or creative and clean. I think that is utter nonsense. Life is of course about balance. And although we do see ourselves in a live movie – our life as a continuous line through time and space – that is only because of our inner consciousness. We are not the same person at every single moment in time. And while during some periods, we truly believe in organising our lives and are working on that task very thoroughly, at other times we actually don’t do any of that and are thriving in the mess that we created, finding the most amasing things about ourselves and the environment around us. I believe that we are the only driver of our own doings, and we have to be and experience efficiency, organisation, cleanliness and mess at all times.

There is the common office adage: a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind.

Rob Allen says that being organised would allow you to free up space on your operating brain, and hence you would have more time to be creative. Barbara Hemphill agrees “Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.”

Albert Einstein asked “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”.

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” – William Morris

“Once you have a clear idea of your priorities – that is your values, goals and high leverage activities, organize around them” – Stephen Covey

“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club” – Jack London

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will” – George Bernard Shaw

“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas” – Donatella Versace