I asked Breininger whether or not clearing clutter was the key to a peaceful, ready-to-focus mind. She adds, “We want to avoid the trap of making the organizing or clearing process the goal activity-remember, we are only staging the space so that we can do that special activity.” Does a clean space equal a clear mind? If by chance you have ADHD though, Breininger advises that there are two rules that can help you hone your attention: Try to only focus on clearing the space necessary for your current project and set a timer to do it quickly. It gives us time to think about or organize the activity in which we are about to engage.It provides us with a sense of accomplishment which translates into motivation.It clears the physical space so we can partake in the activity.They experienced momentum in the areas where they were blocked, which in turn bred hope, vision, and excitement toward what was important to them.” Decluttering can mentally prepare us for other activitiesīreininger believes it does so in three ways: They felt more relaxed with the open space and they suddenly spoke of immediate flashes of creativity.
After an hour of working together, I could see their psychological and physiological transformations. She comments, “These people are smart moms, successful attorneys, brilliant authors, actors, and athletes-all of whom found themselves paralyzed by clutter. Breininger recalls walking into clients’ offices, homes, as well as music, art, and yoga studios to meet with individuals who felt immobilized by clutter. Have you ever entered a cluttered office, initially excited to kick-start a new project, only to walk right back out because the mess “messed” too much with your concentration? For some of us, clutter can be downright debilitating.
Clutter can be debilitating for some of us When the inspiration disappears, they often organize their spaces again for a fresh start and to kick off the next waterfall of creative juice. However, with my right-brain clients (artists, musicians, writers, stylists-even crafters) they can gain creative inspiration from a bit of organized chaos.” She explains that this does not hold true over long periods of time, though, since many artists seem to “rage against the ordinary” when they feel the inspiration to create. “Yes, decluttering at home can make most of us more productive. When it comes to whether or not decluttering at home makes us more productive or not, Breininger thinks it does. Some “chaos” can be a good thing for creatives
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CLEAN SPACE PROFESSIONAL
So is your personal ritual of cleaning, decluttering, or playing your favorite song to get the creative juices flowing really helpful to you or not? Since when did we convince ourselves that we need a prerequisite clean-up before partaking in our favorite things? To help unravel the mystery further, especially for those who love to declutter before getting to work, I reached out to professional organizer Dorothy Breininger, or “ Dorothy The Organizer” from the Emmy-nominated TV series “Hoarders”, to get her take on the topic. The procrastinators also received lower grades in general, illustrating a self-defeating behavior pattern.
The procrastinators among the group reported lower stress and less illness than non-procrastinators early on in the semester (short-term benefits), but they reported higher stress and more illness later on (long-term costs). Baumeister examined procrastination among college students, closely monitoring their behavior and academic grades throughout a semester. In a research report published in "Psychological Science", psychologists Dianne M. Your brain is literally being presented with more than one sandwich to bite into and it becomes unsure of which to taste first. In layman’s terms, the more clutter you can see, the more easily you’ll find yourself distracted. There are dozens of sayings about it: “Clean space, clear mind.” “Bare desk, bright work.” (Okay, I made both of those up but you get the picture.) But what's the real deal? Are we really improving our chances of sitting down to do the thing that’s really important to us or are we just becoming incredibly productive procrastinators? Let’s look at how clutter affects the brainĪccording to a study conducted by the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, having multiple visual stimuli present within range of one’s view will result in those stimuli competing for neural representation.