creative chaos

I do love reading opinions that validate my quirks, and this would certainly be one of them. My organization style can best be describe as “piles.” Piles of what, do not ask. I throw things into large categories, and beyond that, am completely disinterested in organizing them further. This is why I’m such a fan of search over sort in the digital realm, google and apple’s spotlight being excellent examples of that, and while it doesn’t work quite as well offline, my semi-photographic memory is enough that I can find any book on my shelf, and for that matter any quote I’d like in it, in a few minutes. The decoratively boxed piles of paper sitting on the shelf are a different matter. This is why I’ve taken such enjoyment from Clive Jame’s article on creative chaos.

The pontificator with plans for fixing the world can’t organise his own desk, and as for what lies beyond the desk, forget about it. The evidence that I’ve spent years forgetting about it is all out there. Piles of old newspapers and magazines. Stacks of box files containing folders containing memos about the necessity to buy more folders and box files. Hundreds of books uselessly hidden behind hundreds of other books. A small statue of a Sumo wrestler, or else a life-sized statue of a small Sumo wrestler. A bag of random receipts that my accountant might have found quite useful in their year of origin, 1998.
But let’s start with the desk. Or rather, let’s not. The desk is too much. Little of its surface is visible through piled notebooks and shuffled papers. From BBC NEWS | The brilliance of creative chaos

Creative chaos isn’t exclusively the realm of poets and painters, or even their less creative second cousins, bloggers. No, it’s the realm of all disciples who claim to know a God who is always other, and who keep strict spiritual disciplines in order to make room for mystery and the surprising in-breaking of the Spirit and presence of God. Norm and numinous define us.

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For some complementary photos, check out this collection of creative spaces in need of some attention, sparked by the above article.

You creative types in need of some help taming the chaos might want to download Mark McGuinness’ free ebook, Time Management for Creative People. Of course, making the time to download and read this is likely to either 1) distract you from what you’re supposed to be doing, or 2) require you to structure the time to spend with it. Either way, if you need it, reading it is likely to prove problematic.