I’m pretty sure the real point of that paragraph, and the policy behind it, is that BANK clients do *not* want to see a piles of random scraps of paper on the desks at their financial services institution, or even lots of action figures in funny poses.

It’s comfortingly eccentric in Einstein’s office, and we can imagine him accidentally leaving the paper with the word “gravity” next to the one with “Reimann geometry” and AHA!

If the main job of First Financial Bankshares was, say, putting out new episodes of The Simpsons or something, I’d say right on.

But nope, not at my bank, and I’m temperamentally Scruffy as all hell. That’s what I pay ‘em for: to be Neats ‘cuz I’m not! I don’t want happy accidents, or any instances “where did we put his cashier’s check that we have to send to the consulate?” It don’t matter if that stuff is really automated, and all the paper is just scrap. It puts out an image that is damaging to a company whose entire basis rests on whether clients trust them to not make mistakes with their money.

I work in a design studio/office – and everyone’s work area is covered with design reference, papers, fabric, measuring tape, pins, etc. Luckily my company has no clean desk policy! They also let us wear flip flops! Yay!

I love the term Scruffy.

I started my blog because as a natural Scruffy aspiring to become a Neat, most of the advice I found was from natural Neats. I thought that a little empathy and advice from the trenches might be useful – and I use my blog to keep me accountable.

On the subject of productivity: as a nation, we’re obsessed, no doubt about it! For some folks, productivity is about the destination, never the journey; it’s about checking something off the list and moving on.

I don’t know about the new economy, but I do know that it’s hard (for me) to be productive without joy. I love the idea that productivity only measures the wrong jobs. I’m searching to find work I love, where focus and productivity (for lack of a better word) come naturally.

While I’ll never be a natural Neat, I’m working hard to clear some physical and mental space and make more room for serenity and joy.

I’m in between. I have stuff on my desk – toys for people to fiddle with when they talk to me, whatever 3 or 4 projects I’m working on, and a file organizer with everything else. Moderation is the key, neither too messy nor OCD neat. If your desk has only two things on it, IMHO you need a hobby.

But, it sounds like what you’re describing as a little mess (“three folders, a manual, a stack of reports on the corner of desk, and post it notes hanging off your PC monitor”) is not really a mess at all. I worked in law offices for over 10 years, and that’s as good as it gets! Okay, there was one neatfreak who actually had nothing on his huge desk surface besides a telephone. No blotter, no photo, no nothing! He even polished his desk regularly! But, he was only there part time.

As for those memos ordering employees keep their work areas squeaky clean, we got those all the time but no one paid any attention to them and no one enforced them. Probably because some of the worst offenders were partners! I agree that you have to leave out the stuff you’re actually working on. But, the trick is to completely put away all the stuff you’re not working before you can’t tell the difference. And, that kind of clutter is a real waste of time. I suspect Einstein’s huge stack of papers is all stuff he’s working on. My desk looked like that, too, whenever I worked on a document-intensive case and stayed that way for weeks till I got through those stacks.

Thanks for a thought-provoking post!

I have also started using a white board to track what else needs done, that allows me to remove that item off my desk without losing track of progress.

Great article though

No Professional Organizer (often the target of the ‘Neats’ label) worth their salt would ever try to make a ‘Scruffy’ into a ‘Neat’ because the system would never work.

In fact, I usually talked my clients out of aiming for perfect because perfect never lasts. Functional or good enough is usually just that – good enough. You don’t need any more.

People who need organizing are the ones whose lives are disrupted by the clutter and the lack of things done. Everyone else, no matter what the state of their desk can keep on keeping on. No one’s going to force them to change. Nor would we want to!

Great post as always!
Alex