A sloppy desk and no exercise,
Makes a man creative, powerful, and wise.
No, Ben Franklin never said that, although John Adams was said to be shocked by Franklin’s failure to practice what he preached.
While no one would argue that a sloppy desk alone will not lead to success, it is undeniable that a number of great men have had desks that are extremely messy:
Einstein: “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”
Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Mark Twain. What is one thing these three visionaries have in common?
They all had very messy workspaces.
A sloppy desk I can excuse and even endorse.
What I find more disturbing as a fervent believer in daily hard exercise is Winston Churchill’s utter disdain for the practice:
Sir Winston Churchill was an inveterate enemy to all physical exertion that went by the name of exercise. He attributed his productivity in life to his physical indolence and once gave the advice that you should never stand when you can sit and never sit when you can lie. He did much of his work in bed.
Modern medicine is decisively against him in his opposition to exercise…
Well, certainly no one should be made to exercise. But at the rate things are going, modern medicine will evolve into a health Gestapo, and no one will want to confide in or listen to their doctors about anything.
At least they don’t try to tell us that sloppy desks are a sign of mental illness.
A recent study published in Psychological Science, found that subjects who worked in a clean room were more likely to make charitable donations and eat healthy foods than those who worked in a messy room. For example, when participants in the clean room were offered chocolate or fruit, they chose the fruit. Kathleen Vohs, a psychological scientist at the University of Minnesota, said the clean room “cued [subjects] to ‘do the right thing’–that which is expected of you.”
Really? Since when is the right thing that which is expected of you?
Comments
2 responses to “Lifestyle Wisdom from Great Men”
I’m a messy desk guy. I ain’t rich yet. I’m working on it.
“…when participants in the clean room were offered chocolate or fruit, they chose the fruit”
Likely, for the same reason I’d choose chocolate in a Third World -survival instincts- eating raw food is naturally worrisome when sanitation isn’t available, or limited by resources.
The charity/cleanliness connection is fascinating.