Simply cluttered

I borrowed someone's copy of Real Simple magazine. Have you seen one? It's quite an enterprise. I'm not clear how spending $3000 on a armoire that doubles as a computer station makes your life "real simple", especially when the credit card bill comes due, but I suppose if you're in the market for a computer desk you appreciate their having looked into the matter for you. Aaah. Once I internalized that particular piece of cognitive dissonance, I liked the magazine a whole lot better.

Anyway, about desks. There's a big article here recommending ways (and merchandise) to keep your desk tidy, uncluttered, and real simple. The magazine quoted this guy Harold Geneen to prove its point. Harold Geneen said, "You can know a person by the kind of desk he keeps."

Well, gee, that's cryptic. I wanted to know exactly what he meant by this, so I looked him up. And lo, it turns out he wasn't quiiite as impressed with tidiness as Real Simple would have you believe. The full quote is,

"You can know a person by the kind of desk he keeps. If the president of a company has a clean desk then it must be the executive vice president who is doing all the work."

I love it. Here's what else Harold Geneen has to say on tidiness. You'll never feel guilty about your messy desk again.

"If your desk isn't cluttered, you probably aren't doing your job."

“When I come upon a man who has a gleaming, empty, clear desktop, I am dealing with a fellow who is so far removed from the realities of his business that someone else is running it for him.”

Comments

[your mother]

A clean desk is a sign of a sick mind.

[Kimberly]

I have a love hate relationship with Real Simple. There's a part of me that really loves it (they do great product reviews, have interesting articles, etc.), but when they do features that claim they're going to show you the perfect pair of jeans or sandals and most of them are $200+ in the same issue showing you how to use jelly jars as vases, I want to feed the magazine to the cats.

[Lori]

My desk at work is constantly piled high. I never get out from under. Then, once a month, I do a ritual cleaning. That was last night. Today, mess.

At home, it's always a mess during the week and I clean it on Friday nights so I don't have to look at the crap while I'm home on the weekend as my office is what was the formal dining room off the living room.

[elswhere]

My last boss (well, boss's boss) had a very, very clean desk. It always made me suspicious, and now I know why.