The popular series on Netflix, 'Tidying up with Marie Kondo' became a cultural phenomenon when it launched in 2019. In this series, Marie Kondo, a Japanese organising expert speaks about the KonMari method of decluttering and organizing your home. She calls it the ‘life-changing magic of tidying up’. The interesting thing about the KonMari method is that it encourages you to tidy up your space by categories and not location. The categories are clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items) and then finally moving to sentimental items.

Isn’t the idea of a clean, decluttered space energising? Following the KonMari method can be a cathartic to bring in more happiness and productivity in your business too! Clearing up your business will not only reinvigorate your passion for the work you are doing, it will also make way for newer ideas and better decisions related to your business.

Here are six ways to utilise the KonMari method to clean up your business:

1. Be committed to tidying up your business
Implementing the KonMari method to your business requires you to be wholeheartedly committed to doing it. Get yourself totally motivated for the task ahead because once started, you need to follow each steps religiously to yield the best results.

2. Imagine your ideal business
Before you begin, sit back and imagine the ideal business life you would want for yourself and your employees. Envision your business post the tidying process. What do you want to achieve by decluttering? What are your priorities? Do you want your business to scale up or you want to be more efficient or maybe make the workplace more fun? Marie Kondo’s methods require you to be mindful, contemplative and more forward-looking. And only by doing this can you focus wholeheartedly on the decluttering process. 

Clearing up your business will not only reinvigorate your passion for the work you are doing, it will also make way for newer ideas and better decisions related to your business.

3. Discard things that no longer move up your business
It can be those extra stationary items that have been piling up or that one client you have been chasing after or even an outdated sales process you have been following. You need to get rid of anything that no longer helps move up your business. For example: you can give away the extra stationery to a local school or someone in need, instead of following up with one client for so long, you can invest your time and energy in building a new pipeline which will yield better sales and instead of following an age old CRM, get cracking to design a new one!

4. Tidy by category
Now that most of your clutter is gone, you can start the tidying process categorically. For example: you can start by organising your entire client list first. Finish this step before moving to the next category. Accordingly you can clear up your work space, equipment in your office or important documents. Doing things on the basis of category will give you a sense of accomplishment and take away the stress from your mind.

5. Follow the right order
As mentioned above, the KonMari method is clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items) and sentimental items. In business this may translate to important documents, clients, employees, equipment, processes and so on. Each tackled in the right order. As Marie Kondo suggests, you can save the hardest for the last. It could mean handling a client or an employee.

6. Keep what sparks joy for your business 
Marie Kondo cheerfully says in her series, “Ask yourself if it sparks joy!” This requires you to hold every item in your hand and feel its happy vibe. Does it make you smile? It could be your first ever business deal which motivates you every time you see it. In that case, keep it. And if it is some random flyer lying on your desk or a book that no longer sparks joy or you no longer have the need for, discard it.

During this process, you might also encounter some negative feelings about some objects. It could be a task that you dislike in your business. Get clarity on such emotions and discard things to make space for new ideas and positivity.

Lastly as Marie Kondo says, “Have gratitude for the things you are discarding. By giving gratitude, you are giving closure to the relationship with that object, and by doing so, it becomes a lot easier to let go.”

All of the above steps are incomplete without being thankful to the items that have served you well all these years. Before you discard an item, you need to say thank you for its service to you. This process helps you let go of things emotionally. Take out the time to appreciate your clients, employees and even suppliers and the all the elements that bind your business together and help it grow. Celebrate big and small wins and be grateful for how far you have come along in the journey.

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