ERROR spoke to some self-defined Creatives to understand the correlations between creativity and organisation.
Creativity is the spice of life, and some may even say it’s tied to the life force itself. It’s an emotional force more than a logical one, and sometimes the challenge lies in pulling on the reins and keeping the reindeers of imagination in line. Yet, there’s been a Christmas story or two where crisis strikes and chaos ensues – but all’s resolved just in time for the morning presents to be under the tree.
So what’s org. got to do with it?
There is a plethora of articles written for creatives about how to be organised, but hardly a statistic or scientific evidence observing some correlation between creatives and disorganisation – yet, it seems to be a common idea, one which many creatives identify with.
In a recent poll Error conducted on Instagram asking our creative followers about their own relationship with organisation, 59% responded they currently/have always struggled with organisation, while 19% used to but overcame it, and just under a quarter of respondents at 22% said they’ve always had a fair grasp on it.
London-based freelance photographer Georgia Quinn says she is in a constant “situation-ship” with organisation. “I never feel like I’ve done enough and I certainly don’t feel very organised,” she said, adding that somehow, everything eventually still seems to flow and fall into place. Her ideas ties in with the Taoist philosophy, where there is an idea that Things Just Get Done. Lao Tzu says that ‘nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.’ “I’m trying to find my own form of organisation which fits within my unorganised style,” says Georgia, 32. “I know it sounds like an oxymoron and it’s definitely an ongoing process that I may never figure out.”
Artists are famous for being chaotic and disorganised – but where does this concept of artist as an undisciplined, careless person, lacking any systematic order in their lives and rarely meeting deadlines, actually come from?
According to Camilla Ceppini, 24, an Italian London-based art historian who recently got a master’s degree at Kingston College, the concept derives from the 16th century, when the public believed that artists were wholly at the mercy of inspiration. “Today the artist is also socially viewed with suspicion, because he often does not comply with the canonical norms of behaviour,” she said. She explained that, during this so-called mannerist period, came a first philosophical theorization of creativity: “Is this a force external to the artist, who is inhabited by it, or instead something to be cultivated intellectually?”
So is organisation helpful to grow your creativity, or is it possible to be a creative and maintain chaos? Is creativity something outside you, inspired by the delicacies and detriments of life, or is it an internal grapple with the beast inside to tame and train to do what we wish?
In other words, is it possible to be a messy, undisciplined creative? And is organisation helpful, or is it a social convention?
In today’s Marie Kando-cised world, with buzzwords like declutter and minimalist, being organised is seen as good and pure, and is something most of us strive for.
Lionel Gwasaze, 32, a multi-disciplinary designer, who’s recently worked on the breath app for meditation and mindfulness, acknowledges the role organisation plays in how he gets things done. “I feel like it’s a reflection of my mental state or ability to get into a flow state and do deep work,” he says.
He is the first to admit, however, that he struggles with staying organised. “My method involves ruthlessly removing distraction from digital and physical workspaces. I take a minimalistic approach and try to keep focused on the elements that drive me forward,” he says.
Lots of people have different ways to get organised, whether by meticulous means of tracking or inventive methods only they might understand. Method to the madness, as they say. The important thing is, don’t let the concept of organisation bog you down too much. Find the way for it to work for you and get your work done. The world needs it!
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