If you haven’t heard of the KonMari Method or the hit Netflix Show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, you are certainly missing out on a cultural phenomena that is going to leave Goodwill Stores across the national bursting at the seams. Much like the Atkins Diet of years ago, the KonMari Method has piqued the American instinct to slim down. Only this time, Marie Kondo is challenging us to trim our clutter rather than our waistlines.
I must admit that I was skeptical at first, but everyone is doing it, so why not tackle my closet first. There is an order in which you “tidy” in the KonMari Method, beginning with clothes. The basic process is this:
- Take all of the clothes you own and put them in one ginormous pile
- Look at the pile and feel terribly guilty or overwhelmed or both
- Hold each article of clothing and only keep those that Spark Joy in your life
- When something does not Spark Joy, thank it and let it go to a new home
That’s a bit of an abridged version, but it’s the basic premise. I followed the steps right down to holding each article of clothing. It was difficult and slow at first, but there are some items that clearly I didn’t want so I started there. Then, it became easier, and I felt lighter. I felt much lighter. I felt almost giddy by the end. I might have done a happy dance. My closet was tidy, but so was my brain. What the heck?!?!? Did this work? Could this work beyond physical things?
By happenstance, we were having a strategy meeting here at Harvest a week later. We had a list of contacts printed. I glanced down the list. Some names brought me joy. Some names brought a different feeling - a feeling I hadn’t experienced in the closet cleaning. What was that icky feeling? Oh, it was frustration. It was dread. It was negativity.
Light bulb moment - my contact list is filled with emotional clutter. It’s not that the people eliciting these feelings are bad people. Quite the contrary. They might just be busy people, people with no interest in my services, people that KonMari’d me a long time ago. I don’t know, but I know that continuing to see them on my prospect and contact lists day after day is cluttering my brain and preventing me from spending time with the contacts, clients, and partners that do spark joy.
So, today I did something drastic. I wrote each name down on a Post-It. I held it. I said thank you, and I let them go. Then, I deleted them from my digital space. I let them go into the ether.
Life is short. I don’t own my own business so that I can feel frustrated and negative everyday. I own my own business so that I can do what I love with people that spark joy. My intention for 2019 is to be more intentional with the parts of this business that spark joy. I will let the rest go. I will clear out the contact list clutter. Now, just don’t look at that stack of papers on my desk.
