A Messy Desk Is a Sign of Genius, According to Science

he desk was invented around 1,200 AD and while the technology upon it has evolved, the desk itself has remained the same: a flat-surfaced work area accompanied by drawers and cubbies for storage.

Today’s efficiency experts insist that people are more productive when their work area is uncluttered, with “a place for everything and everything in its place.” That’s the thinking behind Inbox/Outbox bins and, more recently, the idea of a “Zero Inbox” email.

Historically, however, a cluttered desk has always been considered as the hallmark of industriousness, if not outright genius, as in this 19th century portrait of 18th century uber-pundit Samuel Johnson:

Similarly, depictions of America’s founding fathers invariably show Thomas Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence not on a barren conference room table but on a desk cluttered with books and papers.

After the invention of photography, we start seeing real-life examples associating desk clutter with genius, like this photo of Mark Twain at work:

Thomas Edison had a famously messy desk as did Albert Einstein, who remarked that “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” More recently, the desk of Steve Jobs was a rat’s nest. (Click on the names for proof.)

These geniuses were apparently onto something. Researchers at the University of Minnesota, recently tested how well students thought of new idea when working in orderly vs disorderly work areas. The study showed:

“Participants in the messy room generated the same number of ideas for new uses as their clean-room counterparts. But their ideas were rated as more interesting and creative when evaluated by impartial judges.”

This connection between a messy desk and productivity is often missed because few people consider the cost of neatness, according to Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman authors of A Perfect Mess:

“That messiness and disorder can be so useful wouldn’t seem such a counterintuitive notion if it weren’t for the bias towards neatness programmed into most of us. Specifically, people tend to ignore the cost of neatness, discount the possibility that messiness can’t always be excised no matter how hard it’s fought, and trust the idea that mess can work better than neatness.”

So if you’re somebody who’s work area, like mine, is usually a mess, it’s time to stop apologizing to the neat-freaks and stop feeling guilty. While our cluttered desks may not prove we’re brilliant, at least they shows we might be geniuses.