Marie Kondo: Organize the World: Design Your Life to Spark Joy | SXSW 2017

Hello everyone. I'm Marie Kondo. I feel honored to be here today in such a wonderful setting. Everyone at SXSW is talking about big things, but I'd like to talk about something even bigger. My grandmother My grandmother lives in Miyazakia, a very quiet place in Japan. Her house is not big and she doesn't own anything particularly nice but she took very good care of her things Her house was always clean and tidy Even inside her drawers were beautifully

organize

d Just like her house, her presence was simple and beautiful She never got angry No matter what happened She was gentle I admire her a lot she always told me Value what you can't see from the outside Normally people can't see the inside of

your

house however the way you

organize

the area and how you treat

your

belongings will in big measure.

It affects your way of thinking more than we imagine whether our house is tidy or not It has a great impact on our

life

Tidying up is something very important Now I would like to ask you a question: Is your house tidy? If your answer is no, don't worry, I can help you The answer is what I call the Konmari Method Let me show you some Konmari transformations before, and then before, and then another before, and after what changes Sorting with it The Konmari Method It will not only affect your house It will change your

life

while you declutter using the Konmari method you will also understand yourself more and

design

the life you want Today I am going to tell you how to put your home in order in a way that will change your life forever But Before this so you can understand how my method was created I would like to talk about my story.

I started having an interest in tidying up when I was 5 years old. I really like home lifestyle magazines. which my mother subscribed to when she was 15 years old. I started decluttering seriously. I decluttered and read all the books related to decluttering. And I ordered it everywhere I went. One day, I tidied my own room. The next day, my brother's room. The next day, my sister's room, kitchen, living room, bathroom, friend's room, friend's room, friend's room, classrooms after school and then back to my own room. I ordered every day. When I was 19, I became an organization consultant My graduation thesis was on Decluttering So it's safe to assume, I'm a crazy tidy freak Without further ado, let's get down to the main topic, what is the Konmari method?

There are four rules, Rule 1 Imagine your ideal life Before you get organized you need to face your truth, you need to face yourself Why do you want to order? What is your ideal life? Be specific. I'll give you an example from my client. Imagine yourself while you rest. My ideal client. Life is pure white walls and floor. There is simple but essential furniture and a pretty front. Nothing else on the floor, very clean like the hotel room before. I go to bed with a feeling of lavender scent, classical piano music in the background doing good yoga I drink chamomile tea before I go to sleep that's the life I want to live, said my client That's how specific you have to be You should be able to imagine yourself within your ideal life if it is difficult to imagine your ideal lifestyle think about the things you want to do inside your home and write them down on a piece of paper for some people it is meditating before bed, for others it is drinking coffee with your favorite cup in the morning Imagining your ideal lifestyle is very important Setting your end goal will help you stay motivated while decluttering So you should never skip this process Rule number 2 Declutter in one go if you want to become an organized person Shock your form to think and change it completely To do this You need a dramatic change in a short time You need to experiment, just a tidy house, just once Your quickest step is to set a deadline for tidying Tidying up is not a daily job.

It's a special event. If you've worked on sorting out the deadline, you're ready to get started. Let's talk about the process Rule number 3 When you organize, do it by category not by location Thinking that today this closet, tomorrow the living room, is of no use So I suggest that when you organize your clothes Gather all your clothes and put them in a pile all the clothes, I mean everything Find all your clothes in your house Including the garment in your bedroom, your closet, in your dresser, maybe your car, Gather all your clothes and put them in a pile like this When you sort books, do the same Gather all your books and put them in a stack like this Why is this important?

By making a pile, you can see everything you have imagined, all your clothes stacked in a pile. You'll probably be surprised how much you own one of my clients who collected teacups. When she put all of her teacups together, she looks like this. so many cups of tea, and she was in shock Seeing and realizing how much you own You will be able to choose what to keep with a calm mind So how do you choose what to keep? It is the most important part of a Konmari method: choose the item that brings you joy, if the item brings you joy, keep it, if not, get rid of it.

Does this element generate joy? What I want to tell you today is this: When you are decluttering, you should focus on things, on what you want to keep, not on the things you want to discard, if you try to declutter by looking for things to discard, you will become unhappy as a matter of fact. I used to be like that. This is my story during high school. When I was in high school. I thought tidying up meant throwing things away every day after school. I look for things to throw Although I kept throwing things. My house didn't feel tidy.

This caused me a lot of stress. I focused on the things I didn't like. I focused on the negative. One day my stress reached a critical point. I passed out in my room. I didn't wake up for two hours. I'm probably the only person in the

world

who fainted from ordering too much Yes, that's true. But I was afraid I have this strange voice in my head the voice said, look at things more casually I don't know if it was the voice of God ordering or just my imagination but when my mind opened and I looked around my room I felt like everything in My room was shining at that moment I realized that my way of organizing until that day was wrong I thought That's it!

The important thing about decluttering is not choosing things to discard but choosing things to keep. I should only choose things that make me happy, things that give me joy. From that moment on, decluttering became something positive for me and it started to work well. It's my aha. moment So how exactly do you choose what brings you joy? The key point is to touch each element one by one Just looking is not enough Touch each element When the element in your hand speaks in your heart you will feel like this Touch your element *ting* *ting* Your entire being in your body feels elevated * ting* On the other hand, the object in your hand does not speak to you You will feel like this *Gzzz* *Gzzz* You will feel that your whole body is sinking unhappily *ting* and *gzzz* You It may seem strange to you, I know, but when If you really do this, the difference is more obvious than you can imagine.

I want you to really try it. After you have chosen the elements that bring you joy. You need to find the best way. save them I would like to talk to you about how to fold clothes This is the most important part of the Konmari method, how to fold clothes but before this There is one thing I would like to emphasize When you fold your clothes, make sure you send a lot of love through your palms Fold It's not just about making your clothes small. It's actually an opportunity to talk to your clothes and communicate with your clothes and thank them.

For example, you could say, thank you for protecting me and thank you. to keep myself well I would like to show you how to fold Here is a t-shirt First, fold one side towards the center, fold the other side in the same way and create a rectangle folded in half. This time with a small space, it is like this. important and fold it into thirds. If you get a smooth rectangle, like this one, you're doing it correctly, it should be able to stand on its own. It is important that it can stand on its own because you will be storing it. vertically Next, let's try a hoodie.

You can fold the hoodie in the same way as folding t-shirts. Fold one side towards the center towards the other side in the same way and create a rectangle and fold the hood inwards and fold in thirds. It should be able to stand on its own Let's try the jeans first, fold them in half, fold them in half again and roll them into thirds, stand up when you fold the socks too, it's very easy, put them together, fold them in half and fold them half. Oh, try it. again, fold it in half and you can adjust it.

It should stand up on its own in half folding and half folding. Aren't they adorable? Once you're done. You can store them vertically. This way it is very easy to see how much and what type of clothes you have. When you get home, try folding your clothes this way and enjoy. Today I talked about the basic points of the Konmari method. Finally I will show you a video The video is a project I did with NHK World Japan Where I did the sorting session with two clients In this video I presented other topics that I did not share today That's why the video should help you understand how to fold, how to sort even better Here we go Please watch the video while pretending you are actually ordering Gina Kruger is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Brooklyn.

She found Kondo's book refreshing and very different from any other on the subject. I love the Konmari book. I feel like his method is so gentle and so personal that I love that he doesn't say that if you haven't used it for a year, you get rid of it. She said, does it speak to your heart to be busy raising two young children with her husband? Gina struggles to keep her place in order. The family of four lives in a 1,300-square-foot house that is always a mess. The Konmari Method recommends taking photos before you start decluttering. to better capture the disorder.

The biggest problem I have in the kitchen is when we go to buy food, I don't have enough places to put the food and I'm going to take a photo of it down here. It's like exploding. as you can see, I don't know what to do with it I hate folding the sheets Help us Konmari Kondo made a special trip to Brooklyn to help Gina tidy Every time I visit a house for the first time I start by saying hello to the house before I proceed to tidy up. So please let me say hello to her house.

Oh, sure, that would be wonderful. Kondo makes it a rule to spend a quiet moment before getting to work. It is like a solemn Ceremony. I greatly respect houses as entities and I greatly value communication with the house to organize it. When you declutter with that mindset, you're more likely to be inspired by the big picture of storage, like where you should put certain things. You are ready to face the challenge. In the Konmari method you do not order from one room to another, but by categories. The first category is clothing. They make a large pile in one place, so it is easier to know the total volume, and capture the situation objectively.

We are going to choose the pieces that

spark

joy in you, you have to take each object in your hands and feel. it The criteria are whether it makes you feel happy when you put it on and whether it will make you shine from now on. Well, what do we do with the yes? Awaken joy. Well. Awaken joy. Kondo says you can always tell if something brings you joy by touching it. And this, no joy. Well. The rule is to be grateful for each and every element that you are not happy about and that you are going to let go before throwing them away.

You should show appreciation for everything you let go, which in turn eliminates any feelings of guilt. This has had a long life, a long time. life. Thank you. Well, this is the question when you have something you need to iron, but you don't really like ironing it, and therefore it doesn't bring you joy to have to iron it. When I iron it and it looks nice, I like it. The most important point is whether you want to wear it with enough enthusiasm to go to the trouble of ironing it. So I should stick with this one and then these are the same.

I like the one I've ironed them and they're comfortable so we'll keep those two and say where we'll keep them. Yes of course. Three hours later they have separated what should be kept from what should be let go. Then they hang what can be put in the closet. When you hang things in this closet, you hang the long, heavy items on the left side and the ones that get lighter and lighter as you go. to the right that way you will make a growing line on the closet that will give you a quick boost just by standing in front of it.

That's the kind of closet we're going to aspire to. The Konmari method does not neglect a lesson in joy even from the contents of the drawers. To do this you learn to fold clothes. First you fold both sides with sleeves like this and make a rectangle that consists mainly of the body. Once you have that rectangle, you fold it in half, and in half again, and once more. It will be like this. Gina tries to fold Kondo style. That's perfectly fine. Did you know? If you fold your clothes while communicating your love for them with your palms, it will tighten the fabric more and reduce wrinkles.

When Kondo arranges the clothes, she holds them up so everything can be seen at a glance, she organizes the colors in gradations, so you can know which color dominates your collection. In the four hours after meeting Kon Marie, Gina has achieved so much order. The next category is books. Like clothes, she touches books without reading them. Kondo says to repeat this againand again it strengthens your sensitivity so it generates joy. The third category is papers. When it comes to papers, we cannot base our judgment on the joy they bring, so what I recommend is their complete elimination.

Well, once we got them all together, though, there was more than we bargained for, because we tackled them all in one go. We finished reviewing them in an hour and a half, which required tremendous concentration on their part. It's really inspiring to see so many things. It's done so quickly that you just want to keep it going and have it go away so quickly and getting it out of here is just amazing. I felt like 100% confident at this moment. Kondo's personal instructions have given Gina momentum. Following the Konmari method, she begins to address the fourth category, “Komono,” miscellaneous items found in the bathroom, kitchen, etc.

Over two weeks, she threw away 20 bags of trash and donated or recycled 50. I still almost don't believe it. Mine amazing, brilliant, amazing Gina's house underwent a dramatic change thanks to the Konmari method. Now it is very organized. I feel like the places I did completely on my own turned out well and I'm proud of them. I had very good training Kondo is going to visit her next client Emily Newhouse has her own apartment Although she has used the method before, the sentimental elements have overwhelmed her physically and emotionally This is something from high school, this is like a work of art It's not like I have to get rid of everything.

It is not easy to leave aside sentimental elements. But if you go through everything in the specified order, when you get to those sentimental items, you can somehow learn to choose what to keep. Sorry, it's emotional. This is hard because, I don't know, I went to fashion school and I went to fashion school for two years, and then I decided not to do fashion. So it's strange to see these things. You know, it is in no way unusual that you inevitably become emotional and tears start to flow. It just shows that you are really facing your own belongings.

So if those emotions arise while you're decluttering, it's important to enjoy them fully. Taking on the difficult task, Emily got rid of the things that didn't bring her joy. That storage room that was once cluttered *Tadaa* In fact, Emily was organizing this room to start living together with her boyfriend. She was able to face her past to welcome the future. John: I would like to thank you for helping Emily clean out this apartment because now there will be room for me to move into. In conclusion, how do you feel now? Exhausted? Happy, excited to continue and a little sad.

Enjoying your own emotions that you experienced while decluttering is a very important process. So complete the decluttering process with that experience in mind. So what did she see? Did she make you want to order? I hope so. My dream is to organize the

world

. I have seen many people's lives change through cleansing. People began to understand what really brings them joy and their lives changed. People changed jobs, changed relationships, lost weight, and created new businesses. They have recovered their ideal life. My dream is for everyone in the world to experience this joy. It starts with you After you leave South by Southwest and return home, look around and ask yourself, Is my house tidy?

Does my house bring me joy? If the answer is no, try ordering. It's not difficult to get started. We can help you. We have an app where you can track your order and see the before and after. From other people who are ordering. We are also worldwide training consultants to help you. if you need it The important thing is to stop, when you get home choose just one thing, pick it up and ask yourself, does this bring you joy? That is. May all your things give you joy. You get a happier life. Thanks I have time for questions.

I have some time for questions. I will now answer the questions you submitted during the presentation. So the first question, how do you justify your message? Oh, sorry, can you tell us more about your Organizing the World activities? So the first activity I am involved in right now is to nurture and teach other organizing consultants, so that they too can meet personally with their clients and teach them the organizing method. Another initiative that I started just this year. is that I have been visiting countries around the world and giving organizing sessions and conferences like this and of course, lastly, we have developed an application as we mentioned before.

And of course, through my social networks. , Facebook and more, I have more organization tips and techniques to share with you, so I hope you'll follow me and I'll see you there. So I really believe that through all these activities that I do, if one more people can finish ordering. I know that person's life will bring them much more joy. And I hope that number of people increases around the world. So if any of you here today really share with me this vision of organizing the world. I know it doesn't matter if you are a company or an individual.

I really invite you to contact me through my official homepage. So, next question. How do I become a Konmari consultant? Thank you very much for your interest. So, to become a Konmari consultant, you can actually find the details on our official homepage, but to break it down a little bit, I basically start with a three-day course and then after completion. of the course, you actually do a trial organization. You go to your client's house and do a supervised organizing session and then you write a report on it, and then of course there's the exam at the end.

And if you pass, you're officially certified as a Konmari consultant I think that's all the questions, three questions Okay, so that's all the questions we have and if you have any specific questions about organizing or cleaning, I'd love to... So the question was what do you do about it? things that come back into your life that don't necessarily

spark

joy, but that you need in your life. So in such cases, what you do is to really consider the true function of such things, for example, this clicker, it doesn't necessarily bring me joy, but it did help me.

It was very helpful in helping me make a very good presentation, so in that sense it doesn't necessarily spark joy. But it was useful for me and therefore it makes my life, enriches it and makes me happy in its own way. Try to see the positive aspects of that object or that item, so that by changing perspectives like this. Something that doesn't necessarily spark joy at first, even simple and ordinary things, you will be able to appreciate with a sense of gratitude. Thank you for your kind question. Thank you. Hello Konmari. Thank you very much for being her.

First, I want to congratulate you for giving a speech that is not in your native language. It was amazing that you were able to do that. So my name is Melody. I'm from San Diego. And I'm a digital marketing consultant. My biggest challenge in clutter is online and on my computer because I'm always there. Do you have tips for organizing computers or applications on your phone. That is not physically tangible. You can't touch. Thank you very much for a great question. I think this question is particularly relevant to the SXSW audience. So what I recommend when cleaning up a digital mess is the same as you would clean your house to do it all at once.

So what I recommend doing with digital clutter is, so to speak, You decide today that I'm going to clean up my laptop, so you spend a day decluttering your data, deleting some data, organizing it, and the reason why you should do This in one day is that it allows you to have a real understanding and overview. of what type of data you have on your laptop and by having this overview you will be able to better understand what type of organization style or folders etc. you need to organize your data. Thank you. Thank you. Quick question about how to support others during this process, perhaps a family member or someone who could use help but might resist it.

Do you have any advice? So in terms of giving advice to others on how to organize and declutter, is it really understanding what kind of ideal life that person is looking for or hoping for? So the first step is to really ask the person what kind of ideal life they hope for and what they envision, and the second point is to ask why it's important. Why do you find it difficult to throw things away? So that question is very important and by discovering these things, you really hone their sensitivity about what they expect in the future and so on, and it makes the process of organizing and tidying up a lot easier for them.

Thank you. Hi, thank you so much, I think we've all had moments like in the spring when we clean our entire apartment and we feel great, and it's amazing and then two months later. It's back to how it was. You know you buy new things, bring more receipts, whatever, so how do you keep order? So this is when the Konmari method becomes very useful. So after you're done cleaning in one go, the important thing is once you have all the things that bring you joy, is to get a

design

ated spot for each item. Once you've designated places for All the items, all of your possessions that bring you joy, you can experience the state where you feel really comfortable and you stay in your home and it's about it really bringing you joy.

You will be able to experience that once you have reached the state, and my only advice here is to really look at each and every one of your possessions and really appreciate them, using them and thanking them for being useful in the end. of the day or do it by decorating yourself so that you look beautiful and really appreciate each and every item, you will see that it is much better to keep them organized. It's much easier to keep them organized. Thanks Hi, do you have any tidying tips on behalf of toddlers and babies? Where it's not necessarily their own items that aren't necessarily just yours.

It's kind of a mix between I'm a mother of two daughters. So I completely understand how you feel in terms of teaching kids how to organize, I think the most important thing is to start by teaching them how to fold laundry properly. The reason folding like this works so well is that it's like origami. an element to play with, a joy, and by teaching them to fold clothes correctly, you are really teaching them the basics of organization and order, and clothes, of course, are something that we use every day, and in that way the Children can understand it early. that it is something that is valuable to them and that it is something that belongs to them.

And of course, the important thing is that parents really enjoy the organizing process. Thank you. Thank you Hello, thank you for coming here today, very excited to see you. Can you talk a little bit about how long it should take us to clean a house? In your book you say to do everything at once, in one go. , but is it six months? one year? I live in an apartment of one thousand square meters. But I've been doing this for two years. It really depends on how big your house is and how much stuff you have, but some people only take a week's vacation to set aside time to get organized, or some people might say, "clean every other weekend and it can take two." months in total, but half a year is the maximum.

Do you have any suggestions on how to organize the workspace if you have too many items but very limited space? Sorry, what about I have a studio? I'm a food stylist and I have a studio. study and there are so many, like kitchen items and bowls, and it's like thousands of things so how should I really throw away, save things that I never used, but what if I have some customers asking me about something and I need the item? Just to get back to your first question, in terms of cleaning your desk area and workspaces, in my experience, it usually takes about three two-hour sessions, done at three times, so basically the same cleaning principles. from your home also apply to the workplace.

And you're a food stylist, so that's very specific, but in terms of the things you use for your work, I'm sure I think it's best to take a day and really focus on identifying your categories, so I'm sure. They have our kitchen utensils, measuring utensils, etc., so I think I'll do it by category. Specific categories will be very helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Unfortunately, we are running out of time, so this should be the last question. What if you need to declutter because you're moving or traveling and you're left with a lot of items that spark joy?

But you still have to make it smaller. You mean when you select the things to take before you leave? Yeah, like a really big trip because you're moving to another city or another big country. Ideally, what I recommend is that before you go on a long trip or move you really finish decluttering your house so that you really hone your sensitivity to your joy once you hone your sensitivity to joy by cleaning your house, and you've experienced and really You have understood what brings you joy and what types of items bring you the most joy. Once you have decided to travel, that The same principle, and thatSensitivity will also work for you when packing.

Thank you very much, good question. Thank you so much.