To mess or not to mess – that is the question!

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?”

These words originate from physicist Albert Einstein who allegedly was a bit of a messy person. While developing his relativity theory, his table was always filled withsmall notes and papers, but something indicates that this mess was not so bad at all.

frida

Creative solutions
A study shows that a messy environment stimulates creativity and makes you more likely to choose new things instead of classical things. The study was conducted by Kathleen D. Vohs, Joseph P. Redden, and Ryan Rahinel from University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management. In three different experiments, they placed the participants in either an orderly or a disorderly room to investigate how their decisions were affected.

A study shows that a messy environment stimulates creativity and makes you more likely to choose new things instead of classical things.

In one of the three experiments, the participants were told to invent new ways to use table tennis balls. The result showed that the participants from the two different rooms came up with the same number of ideas, but the solutions made by the participants in the disorderly room were much more creative than the solutions made by the participants in the orderly room.

But what about the orderly people?
If you are not as messy as Albert Einstein, don’t worry. The study also showed that14958301_1238111219543803_457625233_n participants in orderly rooms were more likely to be more generous and made healthier choices than the participants in the messy rooms.

When the participants in the orderly rooms were asked to choose between an apple and a
chocolate bar, the participants in the orderly room were more likely to choose the apple than the participants from the disorderly room. In addition, the participants in the orderly room donated money twice as many times than the participants in the messy rooms.

So, whether you are as messy as Einstein, or you arrange your books in alphabetic order, you do not have to worry about it. Each attribute has its own advantages.


Author: Frida Kruse Lind

Photo sources: www.gretchenrubin.com, www.youmatter.suicidepreventionlifeline.org, www.clearvisiondevelopment.com


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