On Marie Kondo
As it is a trend to write about Marie Kondo in 200WaD, I want to ruminate on her works and what it means to me.
It was through the NYTimes Best Seller list, I came to know of Marie Kondo and her book, Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I became even more curious about it when Tim Harford wrote that it really changed his life. (On a side note, I am sucker for books when people mention it as life-changing or the most important book in their life. I refer it as Keystone Books. Will write a little more about it some other day.)
My first reaction after reading the book was, “What? Is this a best seller?”. How can a book about tidying up and decluttering be life-changing? But indeed it is.
Marie Kondo is less about decluttering and tidying. She is more about living a happy life, sparkling with joy. Her means is through decluttering. She is more like a productivity expert giving tips on something tactical, but the goal is to make a big strategic change in one’s life. She is a philosopher in a consumerist world. She is not asking us to denounce our desire for material wealth. She is an antidote for hoarding and asking us to more conscious of the things that we collect/buy/store.
Her first book, Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, was really laying the foundations for her philosophy that took the world by storm. But her second book, Spark Joy, was more of an extrapolation of the first. It is much more tactical in giving tips and getting in action.
Personally, I have done a lot of de-cluttering in my life after reading her work. But I am far from perfect and I am still a work in progress in this area (like in many other areas of my life).
What impresses me of Marie Kondo is her branding and marketing prowess. Her team has done excellent work in translating the content and make it very reachable to English audience. They have named a technique KonMari after her. They also have a Udemy MOOC and also a Netflix show. Even though her English is not good, she has taken the English speaking world by storm. This is not a small achievement at all.