Do You Like Your Sink Full? Or Empty?
Recently there was a new initiative at work where everyone was required to keep their desks clean, neat and well labeled. The rationale was taken from safety protocols meant for nuclear power plants. Now, while I'm not 100% against the initiative, this is just not how I roll, so let me explain by talking about the good ol' kitchen sink.
The Kitchen Sink Theory
Who cares about that mundane device in your kitchen? That thing where you do the most boring of all kitchen activities, washing dishes. I mean, don't you ever wish you could just go about cooking without ever having to wash those dirty dishes, but alas, life is not that easy. Unfortunately, dishwashing is a part of life and as such, the question that most people face is this, do you wash your dishes every time there is an empty dish in the sink or do you wait for them to pile up?
Let me explain, it is my opinion a person who waits for the dishes to pile up is someone who normally washes all the dishes at one go. In other tasks at work, it means that you wait until a certain task has piled up before having to attend to them. I subscribe to this theory based on "switching cost" when you have to switch between one task to attend to the other. You can read all about the concept here.
So Leave Your Dishes Until They Pile Up?
Well, I would definitely do that. I don't know about you but I think washing dishes is something that can wait. Just like a clean desk is something that can wait. Don't get me wrong, I like an organized desk, but my version of an organized desk may not be the same as clean. I would much rather spend time completing more crucial tasks as compared to wasting a lot of time cleaning the desk.
However, I also acknowledge that everyone is different. Some may not be able to work without a clean desk but I personally won't mind. As such, I think people should be given the opportunity to work in a way that they feel comfortable with. After all, I believe that there are things that matter more than making a clean desk mandatory.
Conclusion
So, without sounding like I'm justifying my mess, let me give a final perspective. In learning, everyone is allowed to pursue it the way they think works for them. Some rush head-on into it, making mistakes and failing along the way. Some may just prefer to study it first before trying their hand at it. Some may decide to just research it through Youtube videos until they finally get the push that makes them try something out. Now, all these learning methods lead to the same destination. The only question is, which one suits you best and which one plays to your strengths. Just like a full sink of dirty dishes, I like diving head-on into things, making a mess first then only consolidating what I've learned later.
As such, play to your strengths and wash the dishes whenever you feel that it suits you. Just bear in mind that if you leave them for too long, it gets rather unpleasant.
is a very valid point of view and I agree where you should do what works best for you to each other in my case I don't let things come together, I am a maniac with that and I prefer to have everything up to date and punctual, although requires a lot of discipline, it is achieved with good habits
@alvinauh first of all very nice article , I agree with your point. Situation are different for different people we need to check and make changes accordingly. And I like to keep my sink empty so that I can fill whenever I need 🙂
I have been trying to push my friend to become calm, organized and arranged but no matter how hard I try it is not working until I realized that I had no right at all to push him into something he did not like, he is better at just bring himself and that is perfect.