Clean your space and free your mind
To make better, one must make room
Thanks for reading another free Friday essay from J Robert Clark. I appreciate having you here. Please support more content like this by signing up for a paid subscription, and/or buying me a coffee on buymeacoffee.com. Thank you! ~JRC
A cluttered world is distracting. Without freedom to move about, we must always engage with our surroundings. We have to think about where we step so we do not trip. Cautious, we avoid knocking over all the stuff that surrounds us. We are engaged in simply navigating instead of thinking about the essential things that matter more.
Conversely, a clean space brings peace. It releases our brains to be creative. Having room to move gives our minds freedom to soar.
I am a neat person - as in tidy. My shop, home, and car are almost always in order. But this constant state of cleanliness does not come naturally. Like many, I can let things slide; I'd rather do anything than clean.
When I don't clean, and the mess takes hold, I feel a deep sense of discontent. Worse still, I cannot dream when surrounded by clutter. It feels as if I am locked in a drab reality, unable to imagine a brighter, more colorful existence.
So what do I do in these moments? When the creative spark is out, smothered by my unkempt surroundings? I clean, of course.
Creating something takes far more thinking than doing. I'd say that my making is about 90% thought and 10% action. Quite literally, I am spending at least ten hours thinking about it for every hour of actual making.
I'm always pondering how I will do a next step or execute a complicated assembly. Running possibilities through my mind, over and over, helps me to pull a build off well. But if I fail to put in the needed time - the required thought - I find myself in the dreaded state of do-over.
A clean and organized shop helps me think. I waste less time if my tools are put away. Keeping things orderly and clean allows me to move freely in my space. Here, I am thinking about my projects, not avoiding the pitfalls of mess.
Sure, when I am in the creative moment, nothing matters more than the build. I lay tools down randomly, and debris piles up fast. Lost in making, I am almost oblivious to my space. Again, this is why cleanliness and order are so vital. Creating can be trancelike, and anything that rouses us derails the creative flow.
But in the flow, mess always ensues. The longer I stay there, making, the more my shop falls into disarray. It is in these times that I must consciously stop and clean up.
I have to force myself to do it. Stop, John, I tell myself. Get this place in order. And I do.
It pulls me out of the flow, but it gives me time to reflect. And here, while picking up tools and sweeping up chips and dust, I work out problems. I think about the build and next steps. It’s a productive time and I’ve learned to embrace it.
Problem-solving, imagining, and even revelations happen while I clean. Cleaning makes time for thought while I organize the room to work. And in tidying up, there is a new beginning for creating.
Until next time.
JRC
Keep putting though on the board I as many other truly enjoy reading what we feel.