Confessions of a slob

This just in: messy people are more creative and successful than their neat-freak counterparts. Finally, a reason to feel good about my less-than-stellar housekeeping habits: successful creativity is at my fingertips. Would you believe there's a coffee table in that picture?

Today's Province reports on a study conducted by Cleveland-based PsyMax Solutions that analyzed the work styles of hundreds of top-level exectives. The study showed that those execs who were less organized were also more creative, and more likely to earn higher salaries than their tidy co-workers. In addition to creativity and innovation, sloppy CEOs also socred higher in risk-taking.

My apartment is still suffering some of the effects of the insane amount of work I was doing in the past month, all leading up to the Portfolio Show and graduation. I build little stacks of papers and textbooks and such when I'm working, and despite my best intentions, those little stacks always seem to get out of control. They merge and form rivers, then lakes, and before I know it, I am living in a virtual sea of paper. One one side of my apartment, at any rate. On the other side, mountains of clothes rise out of the sea as it gets close to laundry day. I live in a studio, so bed-area and living-area flow into each other too easily.

The various storm systems that sweep through here only add to the chaos: every assignment received is a force unto itself, and while it may necessetate the re-ordering of the paper sea back into stacks, it simply adds to the sea when those stacks inevitably flood the floor again. On top of regular hurricane Kat, there was a long feature flurry, a hail storm of communications plans, and a hurricane Portfolio, to name a few.

But those are past now, and even hurricane Kat is resigned to restoring order. So now, the recycling and the laundry are done, and the flood papers are slowly receding. One of my problems now is my file cabinet, which is really about as full as it can get. But that can be dealt with. Anyone up for a bonfire?