Untidiness For Creativity

Imagine a room, it is really messy. All of the stuff do not stand where they supposed to be. Books are on the floor, clothes are on the couch and socks are on the floor… No…I really hate that especially the last one.. So I can’t support that kind of untidiness. In my home everything has to stand where they supposed to be.. But in some cases places of certain stuff has to change and this change sometimes can be chaotic. What I mean?

When I was in high school and was preparing my master thesis, I used to work on the floor, just using a coffee table to write. When I was working on a problem or making a research, every material was on the floor. According to me it is very useful, because that kind of untidiness helps me to make a better work or a more effective research.

Also when I want to compose or record music, my room turns into a kind of battle field..   Because creative things come along like that.. That chaotic ambience helps to trigger different ideas, emotions and these ideas, emotions turn into good stories or music...


But some scientists don’t agree with me.. They say, chaotic ambience, untidy working environment causes loss of focus and distraction. I agree but not in all cases.. If you are doing operational things, everything has to be organized. That helps you to be fast and prevents you from making mistakes. But if you want to make creative things, objective of your job changes.  Your objective is just making something different.

I know that’s not a satisfying answer. But I have a proof that will satisfy. First I want to ask a question. Who do you think are the most creative people in the world? Anybody has an idea? Children.. Especially under 6-7 years old children who have not started school yet.. Have you ever observed them when they are playing with their toys? It’s really enjoying.. When they want to play, they put around all of them on the floor.. And they create interesting and really different games with using unrelated toys. All of us know, when they are playing, the room looks like a battle field. So that most of parents disappoint their kids by letting them play just with one or two of them. By doing that they weaken their creativity.

I visited once one of my relatives who has a 6 years old child. I gave him a present. A spider man and spider man car.. And then he wanted to bring his other toys but his mother told him “Emir No..You should play with that toys, it’s enough for playing”. That’s a basic example how to block a child’s creativity.. For what? To prevent the untidiness. Maybe he could create another exciting spider man story with his legos, dinosaurs, other cars. But he couldn’t...

Nowadays there is another popular way to weaken our children’s creativity. Ipad or other android pads, tablets.. We gave them to play and they also accept it with happiness. But we put a limit to their creativity and imagination with the game, a producer imagined. For what? To prevent the untidiness. Using ipad as a toy for children can be another speech topic to discuss.

Yes..In some cases I defend the Untidiness for creativity. Let your child be untidy while playing games. Because it is those times, they are mostly creative.. Let yourself be untidy while you need to make different, creative things or trying to solve a hard problem. Because in that chaotic ambience, unexpected things can trigger an idea, story or something you need.

But there is a main and really important rule for “untidiness for creativity” concept. When you are done, tidy up all of them and live another concept. That’s “Tidiness for peace of mind”.