As it turns out, those piles serve a purpose. You see, our brains have lots of thoughts floating around but it can only handle two different tasks at a time. When we allow our desks to get messy, it's like we're offloading some of our mental tasks from our working memory. That means our desks become an extension of our mind.

The process of taking information out of your mind and placing it into the environment is known as a cognitive artifact and expands your capacity to think.  How?  By removing some of the lesser priority tasks floating around in your mind you create more space (brain power) to tackle urgent or higher priority activities.

Every time you use cognitive artifacts, your brain understands and accepts that you won't forget things and releases them from your consciousness. Later, going through the piles reminds you of their intent, thus reinforcing the extension of your working memory.
 

Think of it like this: When someone ties a string around their finger to remind themselves of something, the string is a cognitive artifact. When they look at the string, they remember whatever it is intended to represent. So in this metaphor, string = messy desk; looking at the string = remembering tasks we still need to do.

When it comes to our desks, everyone has different working styles. Some people make piles, some use folders, some create lists, some stack from left to right while others from right to left or top to bottom. Still other people have desks that appear to have no organization whatsoever and yet, they know exactly where everything is. Those piles (however we create them) act as triggers to remind us what needs to be done.

The logical conclusion then is this: People who have messy desks are able to multi-task more effectively and are more likely to accomplish far more tasks than someone who works linearly (i.e. one task at a time) and cleans their desk completely every day.
 

Any time you use a man-made item to represent or aid your ability to process information; you have created a cognitive artifact. Examples of other cognitive artifacts are 'to do' lists, calendars, computers, cell phone task and calendar reminders, GPS systems, white boards, and sticky notes. All of these are tools for your mind and allow you to overcome the limitations of your consciousness.

In order for cognitive artifacts to be completely effective, you must visually 'touch' them on a regular basis. You must look through your piles, rifle through your papers, cross items off your lists and review individual task reminders. Depending on the urgency of your tasks, these visual touches can be daily, weekly, or even monthly. The key though is to look at them because, just like the string, if you don't look at them, you won't reinforce their intent in your mind.
 

Since cognitive artifacts are such an effective tool for multi-tasking, the impulse is to exaggerate their use of them. However, you should use care to minimize the non-essential clutter on your desk. As it turns out there are studies that indicate we don't use 60% of the items on our desk or 80% of the things we file.
 

And while a messy desk can represent an extension of your working memory, unnecessary clutter can have a paradoxical effect on your subconscious mind.  Non-working or non-task related items not only take up physical space, but can totally overwhelm your mental space which ultimately leads to stress. And stress, as we all know, is both a health hazard and a deterrent to your overall efficiency. So do your best to restrict your piles to those things that truly reflect necessary and productive work.

The bottom line is this: Stop feeling guilty about having a messy desk, create piles in whatever fashion works best for you and try not to be freaked out by the concept that a full desk is a reflection of the chaos occurring within your mind.
 

It was Benjamin Franklin who once said "A place for everything, everything in its place".  He just didn't say it had to be neat or tidy...