21 days of Tidying Up
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One of the things I struggle with is being disorganized/messy at home. I do have a lot of clothes, books, make up and etc. I would clean and then suddenly everything will become a mess in a matter of few days.
In 2022, I do want to become more organized and have clean workspace and home. I like the idea of Marie Kondo’s tidying up, and I’ve bought the book yesterday to learn her ideas.
I don’t know how my goal of tidying up would translate into more specific, tangible results. I’d love more input/advice on that:)
Ahahaha! Love it!
And I love Marie Kondo’s book – I also bought it but I’ve never fully implemented it and DREAM of the day that I’d “Marie Kondo-ize” my house to have everything neat and orderly with fresh open space!
Cool.
And… you beat me to the punch: HOW/What will be the steps to that.
I don’t want to interrupt the process as Kondo lays out an entire process IN her book.
How far are you into the book? BC that will help you lay out the process.
That being said either by reading the book (maybe that’s the first step…?) OR through your own brainstorming, DO name SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable steps with specific Times for completion!
Answer those questions; pitch in other’s challenges and let’s get a start on ROCKING 2022! <3
Odmaa M! Where’s you update for today!? Remember: the challenge asks for daily, public accountability to set you up for success! Only 4-8% of people actually keep their New Year’s resolutions (https://www.rocketcitynow.com/article/news/8-of-people-stick-to-their-new-years-resolutions-whats-yours/525-46821443-35a8-41b4-a32d-c5aab2a8ed43 )
I know from years of doing these that people who follow the parameters of the 21 Day Challenge nearly triples the amount of people reaching success.
Looking forward to reading your progress!
Hey Mark,
To be honest, I haven’t made any progress today.. hmm maybe if you count watching Marie Kondo’s series on Netflix haha
Anyway, I thought about reading the book in the morning since the first step is actually to read her book. But, I wanted to enjoy and take it easy as today is the first day of 2022.
My goals are:
-Finish reading the book
-Have maybe 2 bags of clothes and a box/2 boxes of book to be donated
-Go through my belongings and de-clutter the closet space
-Decide on 30 book I want to read for the year and put it in a box.
By the way, I bought 2 storage cases today from IKEA. I guess I have made some progress today 🙂
Day 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Daily accountability moves mountains to motivate action!
Do you mind process for a bit? That is, rather than what is your outcome… would it be helpful to follow along with a little of my thinking about setting your goal up for success for yourself?
If so, read on (if not ignore everything below here!):
A few pointers, then a few questions, followed by one possible suggestion of ONE way you might structure your 21-Day Challenge:
First, taking your list as-is, may I suggest a slight rephrasing (again, ignore this if you don’t want suggestions):
- Read =>13 pages a day of Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” (224 pages/remaining 18 days)
- Finish Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” on or before Jan. 21, 2022
- Pack one or more bags of clothes and donate them by Jan. 21, 2022
- Pack one or more boxes of books and donate them by Jan. 21, 2022
- Go through my belongings and de-clutter the closet space
- Decide on 30 book I want to read for the year and put it in a box.
Right? Because simply setting the end point, rather than actionable steps, *sometimes* disempowers us. No goal gets done simply by “Get X done.” For everything, from getting a master’s degree to building a marriage, the goal is comprised of discrete, steps – each of which, if met with success, equals the eventual goal.
But I have a question: Having read Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” I know that Marie sets out a precise plan *for* tidying up; a plan that’s hard to implement the Marie Kondo way (which is part of the Marie Kondo magic) unless you’ve already finished the book.
So, is reading the book simply *one step along the way* of tidying up your own way? Or is the book *pivotal* to HOW you’ll clean up? To be clear, even is this 21 days is YOUR way of cleaning, that doesn’t negate the purpose of learning the Marie Kondo way… but I ask because I *does* change the structure (at least of how I’d suggest) you DO the challenge. Post your answer/thoughts if you’d like me to run with them.
Even so, much of your list remains simply outcome oriented, rather than my typical suggestion to clients that they focus on 1) actions; and 2) steps TOWARDS an outcome.
Making 2 assumptions – 1. that you intend on actually USING the Marie Kondo way IN this Challenge; and assuming you agree it would be more empowering to focus on actions steps – (again, ignore if not helpful) I would further finesse your list:
- Read =>25 pages a day of Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” (to finish the 224 page book in TEN days, allowing a little more than a full week to actually implement the ideas in it)
- Finish Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” on or before Jan. 13, 2022
- Set out a bag TODAY to begin placing clothes to be donated (allowing you to begin putting clothes in today, even before using the MK way).
- Donate whatever clothes I’ve gathered in my donation bag by or before Jan. 21, 2022
- Set out a box TODAY to begin placing books to be donated (allowing you to begin putting books in it even before using the MK way).
- Donate whatever books you’ve collected by or before Jan. 21, 2022
- Begin implementing the Marie Kondo method on or before Jan 14 using as much of the method as I understand at that point (allowing this to be an independent step regardless of how far you’ve gotten with ANY OTHER steps!)
As for “Decide on 30 book I want to read for the year and put it in a box” -although infinitely valuable… I’d leave that OUT of *this* current challenge! To the degree you focus on and hone your attention, energy and outcome on ONE outcome… is often to the degree you reach it.
No matter whether you find these suggestions helpful or a distraction, YOU CAN DO THIS and I’m imagining your space will feel SO much more empowering, lighter and full of life once you have that it will imbue nearly everything else you do with energy!
Here’s to your success. I can’t wait to follow along on your daily posts!
<3
Thank you Mark! This is helpful! I am gonna go with the second one, which means I got a week to finish the book.
To be honest, I’ve been swamped with work and feel a bit depressed with COVID and winter in Seattle. Sometimes I got no energy to do anything after work and all I want to do is to have a nice dinner and watch TV with hubby 🙂
Checking in! Which of the suggestions did you implement!? First thing today, BEFORE you get tired, implement one (or a few) and dedicate 10 minutes to starting ONE of the projects! <3
I’ve made some good progress so far. I finished reading up until the encyclopedia pages which show how to fold clothes from tops to dresses in pictures and store them nicely. It doesn’t make sense to finish reading the whole book first.
Another good news is that I finished all of my clothes. I folded them how I should fold using Marie Kondo’s method and kept only the clothes and shoes that spark joy in me. I got a bag of clothes to donate and another suitcase of clothes that I’d like to sell. Those clothes I want to sell are good quality and from known brands so I want to sell them if I could.
The next category is books which might be a bit hard for me because I love holding onto paper-based books. We’ll see 😎
Absolutely brilliant progress! Nicely done. Post a photo (if you’d like) of your neatly folded clothes or the pile of donations!
Meant to add that you picked the right month for this Challenge: Jan 13 is “Clean Off Your Desk Day” and Jan 14 is “Organize Your Home Day”! 🤣
So… *when* are you starting on the book!? 😉 Enquiring minds want to know (aside from the fact that effective goal-setting requires a date and deadline! <3
Day 21, Odmaa! Where do you stand? What remains still to be done!?
Where’d you go, Odmaa? Did you complete your Challenge to your specifics? What were the results?
Look for the directions for the end of Challenge report – it’s not just a hoop to jump through, but actually meant to help YOU distill what worked for you, what didn’t and how you continue your momentum and success for ALL of your life!
Looking forward to hearing how the end of your Challenge went and reviewing your Challenge report!
Hi Mark,
I got distracted with life and haven’t posted for a while. The problem with books is that I don’t want to throw them away or donate them. At the same time, I don’t know how to sell them. I don’t want to sell them for a buck a book..
Sorry for the late reply. Regarding selling books for a dollar: agreed. In fact I’ve come to this conclusion about most of my clutter.
When I was young I would take great delight in doing yard sales; took great delight that I’d often sell everything.
I enjoyed decluttering, enjoyed meeting and selling to new people and appreciated the money.
But later I realized, with the amount of work it took selling things, combined with the small amount of money it brought in… it just wasn’t worth it. I later ran into the suggestion to simply donate the clutter and write YOURSELF a check out to celebrate, lol.
I’m with you: I have a TON of clutter than needs to go. So that clearing it remains a goal, but accomplishing that will have to be organic.
But it feels SO good once it’s cleared yes!? And brings fresh air in space, thinking and energy.
Appreciate you sharing this journey with all of us.
If you had any thoughts on how you’d do it again – for those of us needing to do this – what would you recommend?
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