MAKING MESSES

Ask any kid, making messes in the pursuit of creativity and play is fun! Waaaaaaay more fun than cleaning up afterwards.

"Moooooooom," our 11 year old yells down the stairs. "Can Jake and I build a foooooort in the living roooooom? Please? Mooooooom?"

"Only if you clean everything up before your father gets home from work."

"Ugh, forget it."

The fort is the fun. Pulling out every blanket in the house and flipping over the chairs and draping the furniture to create an awesome hidey-hole in which to act out stories and play is the fun.

Folding the blankets and replacing the furniture and making sure everything is back in order after the mess isn't "fun" but it is the responsible thing to do.  On that particular day, our son decided that the fun of building the fort wasn't worth the price of cleaning up afterwards.

Kids gleefully paint and splash and build forts and pull every outfit out of the closet playing dress-up. Which is as it should be. When creating, it is important to play freely and enjoy the art of the playing.

The next step is cleaning the mess. (If a baby can pull a toy OUT of a bin, they can be coached to put it BACK.)

Ooooh, that makes a lot of kids mad, doesn't it? Have you ever seen it?

But, good parents, teachers and leaders don't care if the kid gets mad. These adults realize that, in the improv of life, playing and making messes is worthwhile fun but the other half of creation lives in that space AFTER the fun.

Integrity lies in owning the "mess" and accepting the responsibility for what we've created.

Bless This Mess

A recent ARTICLE in the NY Times shares the results of some interesting research:

PEOPLE ARE MORE CREATIVE IN MESSIER ENVIRONMENTS

This article got me thinking. I started wondering if that was true in my creative life. I must say, I tend to agree.

I have a "workshop" where I journal and paint and make messes. I've even started bringing my computer in THERE to write! I find that I feel MOST creative in this space. I clean it up periodically and then sit there, wondering what to do!! However there IS a point where it gets out of control and I cannot do anything either.

Like everything in life, I believe there is a balance. I like to have all my art supplies visible, out and handy; not too particularly structured or lined up but close at hand. That probably looks messy to a lot of people.

I can remember, years ago, when I was working at a big corporation, there was a VP who was completely frustrated by an employee's messy desk. This employee worked a job where he was expected to be creative. No one, but the VP, had complained about this employee's desk. Other workplaces have strict rules on the cleanliness of desks and/or the amount of personal items employees are allowed to have out in their space.

What do YOU think? Does a mess help you think more creatively?

Leaders? If you don't tolerate a "mess" but you expect creativity from your employees are you willing to entertain the notion that maybe your personal desire for tidiness might be at odds with the creative minds of your peers and direct reports?