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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever, by Marie Kondo
FOR the past few weeks, a number of my clients have raised the issue of feeling out of control. This is a particularly serious problem as all of these people are in senior positions and are expected to be in control, let alone merely feel in control.
Marie Kondo’s passionate book about tidiness addresses just this issue: the feeling of being in control, but from a different angle and one that makes an interesting contribution to the subject. Kondo instructs people in tidying and has been engaged with tidying living spaces since childhood.
A cluttered and untidy office did not get that way by itself; “You, the person who lives in it, makes the mess.” The immediate results of tidying your office (and home,) is the sense of order and control it brings. “If you put your house in order properly, you’ll be able to keep your room tidy always, even if you are lazy or messy by nature.”
Before reading on, it is worthwhile to first consider the effect of tidiness on your feelings of being in control. If you are like many others, a tidy environment is a prerequisite for working well. An untidy environment or still worse a chaotic one, is an unnecessary impediment even if you are able to get work done.
The goal is to establish the life and work style you want most. The starting point is to understand that there are two parts to tidying and their order is important. The first activity is to decide whether or not to throw something away, and when this is complete for the entire category to be tidied, you can then decide where to put what you wish to keep.
Both these decisions should be made only once – decide what to keep and then where to put things.
Kondo believes that when you see an uncluttered office with everything in the most accessible and appropriate place, you will be inclined to keep it this way.
Tidying must start with discarding
Simply finding the correct place to store things is only another form of hoarding - tidying must start with discarding.
To achieve this Zen-like order, the act of tidying must start with a clear picture of your destination. “Take the time to think this through carefully… vividly picture what it would be like to live in a clutter-free space,” she advises. The conclusion may be that you wish to have an orderly environment that encourages a feeling of relaxed control over your affairs.
“The whole point in both discarding and keeping things is to be happy,” she explains.
Through her consulting practice Kondo has found that people who cannot stay tidy can be categorised into just three types: the ‘can’t-throw-it-away’ type, the ‘can’t-put-it-back’ type and the ‘first-two-combined’ type. Ninety percent of people fall into the third category.
From experience Kondo has found that if you diligently tidy a little each day, you will be tidying forever. Tidying should be seen as a special event to be completed once and for all within a single period of time. This book attempts to inspire you to tackle the ‘special event’ of putting your office (and house) in order as soon as possible.
Until you have completed the once-in-a-lifetime event of putting your house in order, any attempt to tidy on a daily basis is doomed to failure.
“Unbelievable as it may sound, you only have to experience a state of perfect order once to be able to maintain it,” Kondo promises. The promise of never returning to clutter is an enticing one.
Kondo recommends sorting by category, not by location.
Start with papers, for example, and do not stop until it is complete. Categories are generally spread over areas whether the categories are clothing, trade magazines, books or reports. Collect them all in front of you or the floor or desk and discard. Gathering every item in one place is essential to this process, because it gives you an accurate grasp of how much you have.
Her criterium for discarding is an interesting one. There is no common formula of the “keep only 5 unread magazines” type, but rather, identify why you want them, really want them. Will they bring you joy, critical information, or insights that you need?
If not, discard them. There are several common patterns when it comes to discarding. Do not discard if the document has helpful information (informational value), sentimental ties (emotional value), or if it would be hard to obtain or replace (rarity).
Once you have finished discarding, you are ready for the storing phase. The essence of effective storage is to designate a spot for every last thing you own.
Once you choose a place for your things, you can keep your house in order. You decide where your things belong and when you finish using them, put them there. This is the main requirement for storage.
Tidiness in not an end in itself, rather it is a proven way to keep you in control at least of your immediate environment.
Having a sense of control in a chaotic environment is definitely more difficult than in an ordered one.
Having an ordered environment is energising even if it does not significantly improve your feeling of control over your business. But it might.
Readability: Light +---- Serious
Insights: High --+-- Low
Practical: High +---- Low
* Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of Strategy that Works. Views expressed are his own.
