Chaos Theory and the Cubicle
I have a confession to make. I have an extremely messy office. The campus manager once declared it a fire hazard and threatened to close the building down if it was not cleaned up by the end of the month. I've tried to straighten out the mess over the years, but with little success.
Two doors down from me a colleague, who is well know to many cluster members, has an office that is a model of organization and efficiency. The material stored in her bookshelves is carefully and neatly arranged. Her color coded file system allows for instant access to needed materials. Sigh... I wish my office could be like hers.
Recently two events have occurred to ease my burden. I strolled over to another building on campus and walked into the office of a colleague from another division. She is someone I admire greatly. To my surprise and pleasure, I discovered that her office was messier than mine!
Then a sympathetic division member sent me the following article from the N.Y. Times. It appears that our tendency toward order and neatness (or a lack of it) may be a hardwired phenomenon. I may improve to some degree, but it's likely my working environment will remain fairly messy, so I might as well accept it. Since many of us lean towards one pole or the other of this dimension (or certainly know someone who does) I think you will find the article by Lisa Belkin both insightful and amusing.
Chaos Theory and the Cubicle
Note: The image above is for illustration purposes only. It's not my actual office (Thank goodness).