Visit the home of a genius and you might not find color-coded closets, spotless counters, or spice racks in the dictionary. What you might stumble upon is a mountain of books, trip over projects in the works, or see a desk resembling a paper minefield.
At first glance, one might easily mistake the mess and disorganization for laziness or thoughtlessness. But science and history tell a different tale.
Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and Steve Jobs shared one thing outside of their genius: messy workspaces.
Their messiness did not prevent them from revolutionizing physics, literature, or technology. Many people think that their messy atmosphere may even have aided in their creativity.
So the frying pan in the sink and clothes strewn around the couch may not be signs of a messy life but a busy brain consumed by bigger issues.
The Surprising Science of Cluttered Rooms
That a disorganized home may actually mark the occupant as intelligent is more than mere speculation. In 2013, University of Minnesota researchers played a trick on people in a study now classic in the field of psychology.
They were split into two parts. One did tasks in a clean, organized room and the other in a disorganized one. Both were asked to come up with new uses for a ping-pong ball. The results?
The individuals in the clean room came up with logical, classic ideas. But the ones in the disorganized setting came up with much more innovative and surprising uses.
Senior researcher Kathleen Vohs outlined how tidy spaces induce “playing it safe” and conformity to social convention, and how messy areas make one break the mold and experiment. Messiness can hence nudge the brain in the direction of creativity.
That research corroborates what many artists, authors, and inventors have shown across the ages.
Novelist Roald Dahl wrote amidst a blizzard of papers and loose items in the garden shed. Steve Jobs, the icon of minimalist design himself, was accustomed to working in messy rooms littered by drifting sketches and prototypes.
And Mark Twain’s fabled desk was literally strewn with piles of books and drafts.
Why Messiness and Intelligence Sometimes Accompany Each Other
Not all genius individuals fare well in messiness. Some genius individuals are compulsively tidy. But for the others who are not, messiness tends to mirror how their brain are prioritizing. Here are a few explanations why:
1. Creativity Feeds on Chaos
Disorganization can be a catalyst for outside-the-box creativity. When the environment dissolves structure, the mind begins forging connections elsewhere.
Just think of this as artistic cross-pollination: one unfinished work buried under a pile of papers might spark the solution for a different problem.
Makers and artists know this. The painter Francis Bacon swore by the mess in the studio not as a distraction but “a kind of compost” in which the ideas took shape.
2. They Prefer Mental Labor to Chores
For highly educated individuals, mental activity typically comes first. When they are in the middle of a problem, product development, or research, the vacuum can wait.
Einstein best encapsulated this, suggesting that if a messy desk is the mark of a messy mind, then what does an empty desk suggest? To him, time spent cleaning was time not spent in revolutionizing the field of physics.
3. They Challenge Social Norms
High IQ goes along with a brain ready to defy arbitrary taboos, like the belief that a “good” grown-up should have a clean residence. To many people, the imperative of perpetual cleanness is more about social approval than utility.
Inventors such as Thomas Edison or Nikola Tesla did not have household tidiness. They spent almost all their waking time at work and disregarded social expectations regarding keeping the house clean.
4. They Get Lost in Thought
An active mind does not necessarily store dirty dishes. Great thinkers are even liable to be so absorbed by their thoughts that they forget where they are.
A messy living room may simply be background noise for a scientist whose brain is working through a discovery or a novelist lost in a novel world.
5. Chores Feel Boring
For some, tidiness comes naturally. For others, and especially for those who have an active curiosity in their makeup, it’s darned dull. Bright people appreciate mental stimuli and hence find repetitive work a time-wasting bore.
That doesn’t mean they don’t like clean spaces. Many adopt a “burst cleaning” style, tackling mess only when it becomes overwhelming, or they outsource chores entirely. For them, tidying isn’t about habit, but function.
The “Organized Chaos” Approach-G
Keep in mind that disorganization and clutter are not the same. Cluttered individuals at home or at work may have a system in place that is invisible outside. They move around the pile and can pull the desired item at once.
This concept, often called “organized chaos,” means that while a space looks messy, it’s perfectly functional for its owner.
Einstein reportedly knew exactly where each paper sat on his famously cluttered desk. To him, the stacks weren’t obstacles but a filing system only he understood.
When Mess Helps and When It Hurts
Not all disarray is fruitful. Just as disarray stimulates creativity in a few instances, too much of it causes stress, distraction, or even sickness.
Psychologists report a tipping point at which, once the disarray becomes too burdensome, rather than generating mental energy, it drains it.
That’s why even highly successful individuals who are used to living in messiness also draw boundaries. They permit messy creativity in the workplace but organize other aspects of life, such as money, calendars, or health. Balance, it appears, is paramount.
What This All Means for the Rest of Us
So, should you give up your tidiness materials and embrace messiness? Not quite. The argument here isn’t that intelligence is messy-minded but rather that different minds do best in different conditions.
Some people function best in clean, tidy spaces. Others benefit from a certain degree of messiness in freeing up their creativity. The point is not the state of the home but whether or not the space facilitates attaining one’s goals and achieving mental health.
As psychologist Kathleen Vohs put it succinctly,
“There’s no one best environment. The point is to match the space to what you’re trying to achieve.”
A Culture of Cleanliness Obsession
In America, years ago, neatness was associated with goodness. From Martha Stewart’s empire of how-to-be-more-organized books and TV shows to social media influencers touting minimalist “aesthetic” living spaces, the takeaway is clear: a clean home spells a successful life.
But studies and the practices of some of the greatest thinkers in history imply this isn’t the full picture. Just as neatness may seem gratifying socially, it does not necessarily align with intelligence, productivity, or creativity.
Indeed, outside the West, littering isn’t taboo in the same respect. The Japanese way of life, for one, focuses on the coexistence of living amidst order and imperfection and accepting the so-called wabi-sabi.
The Bigger Picture
Ultimately, intelligence can’t be measured by the manner in which one organizes their attire. It reveals in the way they think, their creativity, and what they contribute to the world.
Whether such genius emanates from a spotlessly clean home office or a paper-covered desk is more or less irrelevant. The real question is not “Why is their house a mess?” but instead “What are they making instead of cleaning?“
A Cluttered Home, a Brilliant Mind?
Messiness has long carried a bad reputation, but science and history suggest it deserves a rebrand. For some, clutter is less about neglect and more about priorities, priorities that lean toward big ideas, innovation, and creativity.
If you are the type who thinks best in a spotlessly clean, monastically spare apartment, or the type who thrives in a messy desk environment, as fertile soil for creativity and intelligence isn’t a matter of how you clean. It’s a matter of how you use time and energy.
So, if your own home appears a bit messy at the moment, relax. You may even have good company in Einstein, Twain, and Jobs. What you may have here is the catalyst for your next genius-level thought.
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