iconic teacher: marie kondo

I've read so many home organization books, magazines and blogs in my life I've lost count. Most of that literature starts in the same place - decluttering. The guidance usually suggests that you must declutter your space before you can organize anything. I, along with most professional organizers across the globe, agree.

Where professional organizers sometimes differ is on the decluttering process itself. Some recommend decluttering one room at a time, while others suggest a 15 minutes a day approach. Personally, I subscribe to and teach others, the KonMari Method. It's a process that Marie Kondo shared with the world in her New York Times best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

As I read Kondo's book, I found myself nodding in agreement often because I had learned many of the lessons she shares in the book from my life-long passion for organizing. The life-changing nature of my personal tidying marathon was the impetus for me wanting to deepen my knowledge on the process as well as start my own business to help others.

To learn more, I attend a KonMari Consultant training 3-day intensive seminar. During the seminar, I heard Marie Kondo share more on her philosophy and provide us additional home organization advice. Below were my top three takeaways.

1. FOCUS ON WHAT TO KEEP

In Kondo's book, she teaches the philosophy of evaluating each and every item you own by a measure of how much joy it brings you. If something sparks joy in your heart, you should keep it. If not, you should thank it for the role it has served and thoughtfully discard it. By following this process for every single thing in your home, you will be surrounded only by things you love when your tidying marathon is complete. Focusing on what to keep rather than what you "should" or "should not" throw out allows the person to truly focus on the positive. And, in doing so, they are allowed to release anything that no longer serves them.

2. THERE IS AN ART TO FOLDING

Somewhere in the 1980's I learned to fold clothes from my mom. I don't remember it being a special event, but it certainly was a lesson. I proceeded to fold clothes how my mother taught me for decades. It wasn't until I saw beautifully organized drawers on Pinterest where I realized there was a different way to fold where you could see everything in the drawer. When I tried the new approach, I fell in love. Then, a few years later, Kondo's step-by-step folding instructions took my folding to a whole new level. The clothes not only look more beautiful, but the space saving is tremendous. Below is an example of KonMari method.

3. PERSONAL GROWTH COMES FROM GOING THRU THE PROCESS

One of the reasons tackling clutter is so difficult is that it doesn't accumulate on it's own like dirt. Clutter accumulates from people. And, it requires those same people to make decisions on what to do with the items once there is too much. The KonMari process requires the person responsible for the stuff to face it head on and by doing so, something remarkable happens inside that person. The transformation is different in each of my clients, but one thing is the same ... it's not just the space that changed. The people experienced personal growth through the process.

It was wonderful life experience to be able to learn from an organizational master and I'm thrilled to be able to continue the journey by helping my clients grow personally from their own tidying marathons as well.

Contact me if you'd like me to help you and your family in you own tidying marathon.