Are organized people boring?

As somebody who cannot find his keys underneath his dirty

laundry, I say yes to both.

And so does science.

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Anthony here for D News.

And there is this prevailing myth

that messy people are super-creative geniuses.

Just look at the desks and work spaces

of Albert Einstein, Roald Dahl, or Peter Parker--

who is not real, but feels real in my heart.

I like this theory because I'm a little disorganized myself.

But is it true?

And what traits come along with an organized life?

Researchers at University of Minnesota

wanted to find out just that, and so they ran three studies

to see how the tidiness of a room affects human behavior.

In the first, people were sent into either a tidy room

or a messy room and asked to think about all

the creative ways to sell ping-pong balls they could.

People in each room gave the same amount of answers,

but the two independent judges found the answers

from the messy room more creative.

And a previous study by Northwestern University

showed that people in a messy room

drew more creative pictures and could solve brain-teasers

faster.

In the second Missouri study, the people in each room

were given menus from a smoothie shop

and they were offered a smoothie with a free boost.

In the tidy room, people were more

likely to choose a boost that was labeled "classic,"

while the people in the messy room

were more likely to pick one labeled "new."

So the messy room led people to be drawn more towards novelty,

while the tiny room was drawn more towards convention.

Boring.

Trailblazers, I tell you.

Messy trailblazers.

Anyway, the final group was asked

to fill out a questionnaire, and then they

were offered either a chocolate bar or an apple.

And here's the thing.

The people in the messy room almost always

went for chocolate, and tidy-roomers

went for the apple.

I'm willing to admit to a certain level of impulsiveness.

That's fine.

Oh, and also, those people were asked

if they'd like to donate to a charitable organization,

and the people in the clean room donated a lot more money

and they donated more often.

OK, so maybe tidy people make healthier, more ethical people,

but the messy people are still the creative risk-takers,

and that counts for something, right?

In reality, the results just seem

to show that cleaner environments promote safe

and conventional behavior and messy ones

cause a break from traditional thinking.

Those things are not good or bad by definition.

It just depends on what situation you're in.

You know, speaking as somebody from the messy camp though,

it's important to remember that in a public space,

like school or work, you have to deal with other people's

perceptions of your habits.

57% of people in a recent survey said

they judge people by how clean they keep their work spaces.

And nearly half of them said that a messy desk

is a clear sign that the person who sits at it

is straight-up lazy.

Maybe I should keep my desk clean

but secretly do all my work in the storage closet.

Best of both worlds.

Do you work better in a clean or a messy environment?

I cannot think unless I'm surrounded by clutter.

Let me know down in the comments and subscribe for more D News.