Chapter 5: Your Mess Is Slowing You Down

You probably know some variation of this feeling: You get home from a long day to cook dinner and your chef’s knife is in the sink buried in dirty dishes with the rest of your cooking gear. Stressful, frustrating. There’s a reason meditation halls aren’t decorated like flea markets. A disordered environment leads to a disordered mind. 

Yes, being a mess can lead to lost productivity (up to two hours per week according to one survey). But it can also impact “our cognition, emotions, and behavior, affecting our decision-making and relationships with others,” according to Libby Sander, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Bond University Business School, and Director of the Future of Work Project.

“Research on clutter in the workspace shows that while it can be helpful for creativity (encourages our brain to think outside the box), for other types of work it can drain us cognitively and leave us feeling stressed and in a bad mood,” she says. “If you can see clutter on your desk while you are working (or sitting on the couch at the end of the day) it is distracting. Our brains like order and so will keep focusing on the mess.” 

She suggests starting small, by just cleaning the space in front of you or one shelf. “Ideally, you might be like Marie Kondo and put every single thing on the floor and sort it out and tidy it in one day, but often people find that too overwhelming or don't have enough time.”

We’d add that decluttering and organizing don’t have to be unpleasant when approached with the attitude of opportunity. Home design has flourished at most price points. With a few strategic purchases—shelves, side tables, racks, valet trays, maybe a credenza—you can turn your workspace into a place that’s productive but also deeply satisfying.   

Cleaning is a hassle, and it can often feel like an unproductive distraction to turn your focus to remedying it rather than accomplishing your tasks. 

One way to keep things clean while avoiding a kind of work fomo is to schedule in a regular period of time (whatever makes most sense) to just focus on cleaning up your workspace. Whether it’s something you put on your calendar or have as a recurring event in a productivity tool, just making it part of your routine will produce a huge benefit for your productivity and your sanity.