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Albert Einstein, big five, ocean traits, psychology, quotes, Sam Gosling, Snoop - What your stuff says about you, tidy desk, work
Before I head back into college tomorrow and lecture my socks of (a hard task as I am still barefoot in my shoes) I need to pay a little attention to my desk today.
With several projects in the pipeline (yes I got some of those jobs I applied for recently), 14 hours of teaching and preparing for, some bills that need my attention and then of course my manuscript that I need to finish in the next thee weeks, or so, my desk has become a little cluttered and unorganised.
So, today I will spend a few hours preparing lessons for next week, filling in the last hateful forms of administration, organising my schedule for next week and generally just tiding up the debris of a busy week.
As I shuffle, file, tear up, sort through I can’t help but think about an article I read about what a desk says about you. It was based on a book by Sam Gosling PhD called Snoop – What your stuff says about you and took a closer look at how people perceive us when they see our desks.
A nest of post-it’s may indicate that you can’t remember things, a collection of toys and novelty items show that you aren’t taking your work seriously, general messiness that you aren’t organised.
Gosling basically links up our possessions and how we display them to the OCEAN Traits, the big five (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism).
I’m not sure if our desks are a true reflection of who we are but I do know I work better when I have a little more space, it’s as if a tidy desk allows my mind to run wild with no distractions from clutter around it. However the clutter I collect while in the middle of things does seems to be an important aspect of how I work.
But for now, to give myself a fresh start for a new semester, I will keep organising today, give myself a little bit of room to settle in to a new rhythm and try and be one step ahead of my deadlines.
If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?
Albert Einstein
If you want to take the test and see how you rank on the OCEAN traits follow this link
jensinewall 
I do have plenty of sticky notes around. They serve as reminders of things I need to do as I work through my manuscript. But I keep them in a tidy order so they don’t bother me. 🙂
Yes I am not sure how true the correlation is … but it is more about perception than actual fact. And that kind of makes sense.
PS: I’d be lost with out my “to-do-lists”
I keep a running tally on a file in Scrivener of what I still need to do in my manuscript, but the sticky notes make their appearance regardless.
Post-its and reports and papers alike. Sigh! What does that say about me!
not sure … I think it’s more what people THINK it says about you … I for one need a bit of chaos when working, but enjoy a ‘clean’ desk when i start out
Me too – but I would like to keep it tidier!
Love post its. Wild colors prominently displayed. I have found that if I focus too much on a clean desk, I don’t get stuff done. There is a sweet spot for me. Just a little messy but not so much that I can’t work on a project without distraction!
same here so I do try to tidy up every so often