How does the level of neatness around you affect your work? Back in college, I could have dirty clothes on my dorm room floor, spiderwebs under my bed, be walking on paintings still wet, and not be able to see more than 10% of any furniture surface area…absolute visual chaos…and yet still get my work done on time, and well.

As I’ve gotten older,  I’ve come to appreciate a neat desk. My level of efficiency and creativity expands as the clutter and chaos around me contracts.

I just spent the last 10 minutes cleaning up my office and I probably trashed more than 80% of the clutter. Why do we find ourselves holding onto paperwork and old notes and files when we know they’ll be obsolete in a matter of days, or even hours?

It feels nice to have a clean desk. Like starting the day with a clean slate.