Tidy Desk, Tidy Mind? Bollocks.

I’m writing this at desk devoid of ‘stuff’.

In preparation for my house move, I have cleared everything away, leaving just a computer, bonsai tree, lamp and notebook. That’s all I ever need, but I allow outdated notes to fester and cameras to linger for longer than they should. These unnecessary objet are always kept tidy, the notes formed in delicate stacks, perfectly aligned with one another and also with the edge of the desk. The cameras are positioned to look purposeful.

False Pride?

I took pride in my tidy desk for many years, happily declaring that “a tidy desk is a tidy mind”. A colleague once retorted, well, if that’s so, what does it mean if he has a dirty desk? His allusion was obviously a bit risqué, but also pointed out that it’s utter rubbish. The tidy desk/tidy mind saying is a misnomer, a tidy desk is probably the sign of one of the following:

a) Not enough work.
b) Anally retentive desk occupier.
c) OCD.
d) A blogger who is about to ‘share’ their ‘inspirational’ workspace online, so has swept the crap into a box temporarily.
e) A misguided belief that cleanliness and tidiness are virtues to be aspired to.
f) An unwavering, borderline obsessive level of personal discipline.

None of these suggestions point towards a tidy mind. I would argue that one of the fundamental struggles I face as a human being on this planet is that my mind is by no measure ‘tidy’, it’s a tangled labyrinth of misdirection and any tidiness I exhibit is a fluke occurrence. Albert Einstein once made a very similar observation:

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”Albert Einstein

Success Comes in Peculiar Packages.

But it doesn’t matter. None of it does. It’s all irrelevant and has no bearing on my happiness as a human being. I’m actually sitting here, tired, packed and ready to go. I just want to leave now, but I’ve chosen to sit here and write this blog post for you, before I go and finish a freelance job and then tackle the final tranche of packing which I’ve been delaying slightly, for some reason, just so I have something to do at the last minute and look busy.

Tidy mind? Fat chance.