As mentioned on other blogs, I’m a fan of Clean House and I’ve signed on to the decluttering movement (though you’d never know it given the small tornado that has hit my motel room). I also just this week have marked a complete reorganization of my home office/studio - not too shabby for a roughly 10 x 15 foot space that I share with my boyfriend. So I’ve been quite eager to jump into conversations about getting more organized with other artists, because darn straight I want to brag! It took me months to get everything where I want it, and even tantalized by that “one last thing” (in my case, candlemaking) I feel like I’ve accomplished something truly significant in my life.
At the same time, traveling as I do among artists, I hear a lot of defenses of the clutter. “It’s creative.” “I know where everything is!” “I’m an artist, it should be that way.” “Organization is just another form of creative suppression.”
To all of this I say: What utter crap. If you just don’t want to do the cleanup work, own it. Denial is going the way of the land line. And I can assure you, being better organized is better for you all around. Here are my 10 reasons why:
1. You will get your projects done faster.
Most wasted/inefficient time is time spent looking for things. If you’re organized, you spend much less time locating the tools you need to work.
2. You lower production costs.
You finish your creation faster, you waste less because it’s easier to work in your space, and you have the exact right tools to work with.
3. A well organized space encourages creativity.
The practical burdens of “where’s my brush” or “where’s my dropper” are removed, leaving you free to focus wholly on your creative process. The cleanup also takes place within this,giving you the proper and healthy mental exit.
4. You look really good to customers.
Fast turnarounds, a photographable space, and a space where people besides you are comfortable should you do consults and commissions - these open up avenues for promotion and word of mouth.
5. Taxes
When you’re organized as you go, you’re less likely to be taken surprise when the tax body wants that 33-40% of your profit in exchange for such services as working stoplights.
6. Good organization makes it easier to recover from other bad decisions.
Let’s say that craft show you did at the truck stop went poorly. If you’re well organized, when you get a call from that gallery owner the next day, it’s much easier to jump on the opportunity and leave the bad experience behind - in part because you don’t need to dig anything out, it’s all right there.
7. Your friends and family will like you better.
Sure, the ones that really love you accept you as you are, chronically late, artistically self-absorbed, or perpetually lost. However, you might get more out of those relationships if you are together enough to set up that alarm for that lunch date - and you will also wind up appearing reliable, and thus impressing future clients you may run into in the course of your social life.
8. You just might find decluttering improves your aesthetic.
There’s no guarantees, of course, but sometimes forcing yourself to root through and discard belongings also forces you to root through and discard conceits - the honesty makes for a better artist.
9. You’ll plan your business and creative life better.
While some say that the first step to organizing is to get rid of the excess, the real first step is to envision the life you want to have that is immediately within your reach. Basically, it all starts with, “OK, I haven’t won the lottery. What can I do to live better now?”
10. Freeing up space makes room for new opportunities.
Just ask anyone who practices Feng Shui.1
These aren’t the only reasons to get organized and stay that way, but they are good ones.
- validity of Feng Shui neither endorsed nor denied. It’s worked for me thus far, but it’s not like I’ve paid super expensive interior decorators [↩]
