Zen Workspaces

Over at Unclutterer this week, Leo Babauta had a guest post on creating minimalist workspaces (including a photo of his own space, which is essentially just a desk, iMac, mouse, and keyboard).

My desk is not that minimalist. And you know what? I'm entirely okay with that. Take a look:


A lot of the work I do is design and illustration – so right away that adds the stylus and tablet, the pen, pencil, and ruler holder (where I also keep a thumb drive and -shhh- lip gloss), the eraser, notebooks, and the layout pad. The headphones (which I highly recommend) are really the best way to listen to any computer audio. There's my phone and Praktica, ready to go. The index cards are great for notes I don't need a permanent record of, or ones that need to be filed in a sequence that might change. You'll also notice a coffee cup on my desk. You could try to take that away, tell me it's unnecessary, but it wouldn't be pretty.

I'm also unabashedly breaking the no knick-knacks rule, and will continue to do so. Sure, I could keep non-photo blue pencil refills in something other than a Buddha that raises the roof – but I like the charm it adds to my desk, and being reminded of when Big M took me out for sushi on my birthday. I don't need a wind-up K-9 on my desk – but I like the kinetic joy it provides at a moment's notice, and I also have fond memories of when it was given to me.

Long story short: A workspace doesn't need to be all that minimalist to be zen.