Spark Joy at Work; Adopting the Marie Kondo Approach summary

Let’s say you’ve never heard of Marie Kondo or her KonMari method – meaning you’re not one of the 40 million people and counting who’ve bought her book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and you’ve never watched her Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. Here’s what you need to know: 

Marie Kondo is a renowned Japanese organizing consultant, who developed the KonMari philosophy of cleaning and decluttering. Essentially, KonMari encourages us to organize our living spaces through focusing on items that "spark joy." As part of the process, we’re asked to assess our possessions one by one, discarding those that no longer serve a purpose or bring joy. The remaining items are then neatly organized into designated places, where they are “at home”. KonMari aims to create more intentional and harmonious living spaces.

Sure, a neat desk is nice to look at. But the benefits of having a well-ordered workspace aren’t merely aesthetic. As certified KonMari consultant Amanda Jefferson observes, a cluttered desk is a drain on our time. Paper builds up when we don’t deal with it. An accumulation of paper is a symptom of delayed decision-making. Worse, those piles of paper are exacerbating our tendencies to procrastinate. Simply looking at an overly-cluttered space taxes our mental resources as our brains continuously grapple with the chaos – we become overstimulated and it's impossible to decide what to deal with first. 

To tackle paper clutter, Kristyn Ivey, a certified KonMari consultant, proposes a straightforward approach: classify paper into three categories—those requiring action, those needed temporarily, and those essential for the long term. Keep these categories well-organized, perhaps under headings like 'Active Projects,' 'Administrative,' or 'Reference Materials.'

Before embarking on a mission to declutter your workspace or streamline your digital life, it's essential to clarify your motivations. Consider the pain points: Are you spending more time navigating a sea of emails than actually accomplishing tasks? Does your to-do list induce anxiety rather than motivation? Understanding your intentions will serve as the anchor that keeps you committed to your organizational journey.

With your desk, and inbox, free from clutter, you’ve freed up some valuable mental space.You can focus on your work – even better, you can focus on optimizing your work experience, by identifying aspects of your working life you’d like to improve and setting goals to actualize those improvement.

Tidying up isn't just about decluttering individual workspaces; it also extends to enhancing organizational dynamics. From decluttering and redesigning your office building to assessing how well different roles are organized and assigned to employees, applying the KonMari philosophy at an organizational scale can bring a host of benefits.

Hina Jamelle, a senior lecturer in architecture, underlines the impact of well-designed office spaces on efficiency and productivity. A thoughtfully organized workspace can foster a sense of calm and inspiration. Her own firm's office exemplifies this concept, with a soothing white palette and strategic placement of functional elements behind minimalist cabinets. Creating an environment that sparks joy and promotes creativity is especially crucial since most individuals spend the majority of their waking hours at work. In particular, Jamelle states that a well-designed workspace can uplift employees' mood and positively influence their body language.

Marie Kondo captured the world’s imagination with her unconventional organizational approach – specifically, her rule that our living spaces should only hold objects which ‘spark joy’.  A KonMari cleanout involves picking up every item you own – from your blender to your toothbrush – and asking yourself if it sparks a feeling of joy in you. Can this translate to the workspace? Certainly not every email you receive or project you’re assigned will make you feel overcome with happiness. But paying close attention to workspace joy when it does arrive can help you carve a pathway to a job you genuinely love.

Tricia Fidler, a certified KonMari consultant, suggests that what sparks joy or triggers discontent can offer valuable insights for career development. By continually asking why certain tasks or commitments do or don't resonate, you can pinpoint the parts of your work that either energize or deplete you. This introspection allows you to uncover areas that genuinely inspire you and enables you to navigate your working life in the direction of these areas. How do you do this? By saying yes to the tasks which energize you and, as much as possible, declining those which don’t. 

Okay – we’ve spoken about the importance of pursuing work that sparks joy. But let’s be totally realistic here. In our careers, we often encounter situations, colleagues, and tasks that fail to ignite our joy. How can we apply KonMari to these? Well, Marie Kondo doesn’t just suggest that we surround ourselves with things that spark joy. She also suggests that we deepen our relationship with the objects in our living spaces by cherishing and cultivating gratitude for them. The more we engage with our possessions and appreciate the functions they perform for us, the more we can find joy in them. Applying that same philosophy to the workspace, we can learn to appreciate all the experiences, even the challenging ones, that our jobs bring.

If you’ve ever worked a tedious job, or had to deal with a challenging manager, you’ll know that difficult workplace experiences rarely spark joy in the moment. But they might bring joy down the road. Reflect on the lessons you’ve learned from annoying or frustrating work experiences – has clarifying what you do want out of work ultimately brought you more joy, as you move away from those negative experiences? What about now – what lessons are you learning from your current challenges, and could they, perhaps, bring you joy in the future?

Now as you know, Marie Kondo is all about tidying, andIt’s great to be tidy… but in the workplace a degree of disorganization is inevitable – it might even be beneficial.

 Research by Eric Abrahamson from Columbia Business School suggests there are instances where maintaining a level of disorganization can actually enhance productivity. For example, temporarily tolerating a small mess on your desk related to an ongoing project can be more efficient than constantly stowing away and retrieving materials. These minor messes tend to find their place once the project reaches completion.

The KonMari philosophy might be designed for home organization but its key principles translate with surprising success to the workplace. Decluttering your individual desk and digital workspace can bring about renewed focus and mental clarity. At an organizational level, thinking through workspace organization, both in terms of office space and workflows, creates spaces that are inspiring and fulfilling for employees. Paying attention to work that sparks joy can guide your career journey. And learning to cultivate gratitude for the trickier aspects of your work life can clarify your next professional steps. Finally, don’t tidy everything away – a little bit of mess can be productive, too!

We hope this article has left you feeling inspired to declutter and streamline your professional life – and maybe your personal one, too! Whatever part of your life you’d like to tidy up, we recommend turning to insights and inspiration from Marie Kondo herself. 

Begin with The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the book that started it all. This Blink will walk you through the Kondo method, from committing yourself to tidying up to learning how to identify which objects spark joy.