Compliments of lantzilla via Flickr

“One of the things that affects stress levels is the degree of control you have over a situation. ” [Domar].

Mastering one’s workspace makes spending time in the office more enjoyable, and consequently, less stressful. Eastern philosophers would even argue that our material attachments work at cross purposes to achieving spiritual enlightenment (Carlomagno, 2008). More space is simply a larger area for mess to multiply. Imagine the stress you would feel if you were suddenly audited by the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and were unable to produce important documents, or a portion of your data. In her book Healing Spaces (2009, p. 131), Sternberg explains: “When we enter a new space, we look for logical patterns and connections. If we can’t find any, we feel unsettled.” Stress is caused by things strewn haphazardly about, and our inability to accomplish a personal inventory and subsequent purge. It is also the result of having to go back and forth constantly to rectify mistakes generated from loose ends that were never adequately addressed in the first place. Just sitting in a cluttered room can create stress due to the visual assault on your senses (Scott, 2007). Instead of a sanctuary that induces a sense of well being, your workplace may instead look like a myriad of projects swimming in a pool of debris. Turn the page…