10 Apr A Messy Dilemma

Messy office?

Well this is an interesting one.  My whole career is based around being organised and efficient and I actively encourage business owners to, once in a while, declutter their desks.

However, there is a real argument (and it’s scientific) that says a cluttered desk promotes a creative mind.

What????

Ok, this is not music to my ears! I need order and organisation in my life. Not only am I running a busy business, but I also have two young children with far more active social lives than me as well as the community activities that both my husband and I take part in so if I’m not organised, my life is thrown in to chaos.

The idea that clutter is a good thing, literally makes my palms sweat!!!

However, given that I have recently changed the tag line of my business from “Virtual Assistant” to “Versatile Assistant”, I think I need to at least embrace this theory and allow myself to consider the alternative.

I work with many business owners, all are different. Some offices are like a show home (it’s amazing), others are literally in chaos. But thinking about it, none of them are less successful than the others.

In fact, one of my businesses are literally working from their kitchen table, yet their business is rapidly growing. And they are coping! Admittedly, on a recent visit, I did happen to mention a local office that’s available and hoped they may start to feel the need for a larger space, but I’m now wondering if that was more for my benefit than theirs?

If they are happy working in that environment and the work is getting done in an efficient way (and it is, they are literally expanding daily), who am I to argue that their working environment needs to be tidier?

Thinking about it, this particular business has an element of creativity to it, so is that the answer? Are creative people more likely to be comfortable in a messy environment?

I’ve come to the conclusion that we are all different and a messy office does not mean a messy mind. It likely means that someone is being really creative and it’s probably a company I would want to deal with for my own needs.

So, I’m opening up my mind and trying to solve my messy dilemma. Of course, this means I will have to expand my portfolio of services and now offer to come and mess up your office rather than tidy it!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Are you messy or super organised???