In the Zone

Entrümpeln liegt im Trend, auch am Arbeitsplatz. Und Experten stehen dabei mit Rat und Tat zur Seite. Doch arbeitet man an einem aufgeräumten Schreibtisch wirklich effizienter oder leidet darunter nicht auch die Kreativität? JULIAN EARWAKER informiert.

Decluttering at work and at home

Back in July 2016, the US psychiatrist Ralph Ryback identified a growing internet trend: organization porn. This has nothing to do with porn, he explained, but everything to do with an obsession for minimalism and tidiness. Lifeorganizers.com, Clutterbusters.com or the blog site Things Organized Neatly — getting tidy is big business. Leading the field is the queen of decluttering, Marie Kondo, whose website Konmari.com bears the logo “Tidy your space, transform your life”.

For Kondo, tidiness is a philosophy. When deciding what to keep or throw away, she suggests you ask: “Does it spark joy?” But can work files and papers “spark joy”? Perhaps by their absence…

“The important thing is to have a system and move papers to the correct home or temporary home quickly,” says interior decorator Alison Zirbel, writing in Alpha Phi Quarterly magazine. “Try not to touch the same paper more than a couple of times.” This means having the right filing systems before you begin. Organize zones on your desk and in your drawers to allow for a good workflow. Get more storage if you must.

“File, don’t pile: be vigilant about filing things you need as you go, whether that’s electronically or physically,” writes Olive Keogh in The Irish Times. Keogh has a simple rule for tidying: “If you don’t use it, want it or need it, get rid of it.”

Create easy-to-reach, designated spaces for things you use all the time and always keep them there, she says. Add new email addresses or phone numbers to your contacts list immediately instead

of scribbling them on pieces of paper that can get lost. Tidy your desk before you go home.

“Procrastination is the enemy,” concludes Keogh. “He who hesitates hoards.” If there isn’t time for a whole office declutter, do it in stages, she suggests. But what happens if you really can’t get started? Or if the amount of clutter is overwhelming?

“If you struggle to declutter, start from scratch. Clear everything from your desk and drawers and then go back to work,” advises Whitson Gordon on Lifehacker. com. “Add the things you actually need little by little. If there are things you don’t use after a few days... you probably don’t need them.” It’s not just a question of sorting out physical clutter, either. Emails, social media, online posts and contacts as well as finances all need regular attention.

Clutter, research shows, can lead to depression and fatigue. There are proven links between tidy environments and good health. A study carried out at Indiana University found that people with clean houses are healthier than people who live in a mess. According to the Association for Psychological Science, working at a tidy desk can promote healthy eating and generosity.

However, studies also show that untidiness can act as a catalyst for one essential element: creativity. “You can get really valuable outcomes from being in a messy setting,” says lead scientist Kathleen Vohs from the University of Minnesota. “Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights.”

The Us-based National Association of Professional Organizers says that 80 per cent of office clutter is a result of disorganization. Researchers at Princeton University have shown that clutter can negatively influence one’s ability to focus on a given task. They found that the visual cortex can be overwhelmed by taskirrelevant objects, making it harder to get jobs completed efficiently. Mindfulness can help. As the American educational consultant Eleanor Brown says: “Clutter is not physical stuff. It’s old ideas, toxic relationships and bad habits.”

According to interior design company OKA, people make better decisions in a tidy space. In a decluttered office, 83 per cent of the workforce say they feel more productive and in control. Decluttering can be used to improve teamwork and relationship-building, says Marie Kondo. “My suggestion would be for co-workers to tidy up their workplace together,” she told Qz.com. “There are many benefits to organizing your desk space, including increasing your efficiency by spending less time looking for the things that you need, being able to more quickly prioritize your workload and even feeling better as a result of working in a clean environment.” Why do most of us crave tidiness? Ralph Ryback says that cleanliness in our workplace and home mirrors the organization within our own bodies: “Many of our cells operate on strict schedules, or circadian rhythms,” he writes in Psychology Today. “Even at the atomic level, we are well regulated and well organized. Without this organization, our bodies would collapse into chaos.”

“If you don’t use it, want it or need it, get rid of it”