[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
MARIE KONDO: Hello, everybody.
My name is Marie Kondo.
Call me KonMari.
I am a Japanese organizing consultant.
I usually visit client home, give her one-to-one organizing
lesson.
SPEAKER: So first of all, let me start how I usually
work with my clients.
So she is-- the lady who lives in this room, she's in her 20s.
You already see in this picture that she has full of stuff
from her bed.
Actually, that's actually her bed, but you might not see it.
And she also had a lot of stuff on the floor.
And she first told me that, don't you
think the bedroom is just like a storage?
So when she comes home after work,
she never, ever feel relaxing in her room.
MARIE KONDO: But however, after my lesson--
voila.
It looks so neat and clean.
Of course, nothing is on the floor.
SPEAKER: So my job is to consult how to organize.
I've been doing this job for more than 10 years.
MARIE KONDO: My client never go back to the mess
because they have been transformed to the organized
person.
Today I'm going to tell you how to make
your house in order in a way that
will change your life forever.
SPEAKER: But before I start telling
you what to do, let me tell you how I start my job,
how I discovered this method.
I was only five years old when I got very interested in how
to organize things.
So I was always picking up every single issue
of the magazine that my mother was subscribing,
and the magazine was about how to organize the house.
So when I turned 15 years old, I start at a serious consultation
to how to organize things.
There was a bestseller book in Japan--
technique to get rid of things.
And I read the book and I discovered the method.
You would probably wonder what I started-- how I started
researching organizing things.
First, I started reading every single book published
in Japan on organizing, and I also keep organizing thing.
I worked every single day organizing things.
MARIE KONDO: Today my own room.
Next day, my brother's room.
Next, next day, my sister's room.
Followed by the kitchen, living room, bathroom,
my friend's room, friend's room, friend's room,
my classroom, classroom, classroom over the school.
And again, return to my own room.
So safe to assume that I am a crazy, tidy fanatic.
[JAPANESE]
SPEAKER: So you were perfect to think
that I'm a fanatic organizer.
MARIE KONDO: Tidy in one shot, as quickly
and completely as possible.
SPEAKER: If you think you have to tidy around you every day,
gradually, little by little, that's completely wrong.
Because you need a shock that change your mind
into tidying your thing.
So you want to finish it in a very short period of time.
So the first important thing is to set
the deadline of organizing.
Of course, you can set the deadline in one
week, assuming that you're going to do that every day,
or you decide to do every weekend
and set the deadline in three months.
MARIE KONDO: [SPEAKING JAPANESE]
SPEAKER: So the number two item in KonMari method
is how you're going to do it.
MARIE KONDO: Sort by category, not by location.
SPEAKER: It's very common to make this mistake
if you try to organize things in a specific location.
It never ends if you try to tidy up
in just one portion of the closet
or one portion of the living room.
The right way to do is to organize by category
and do it quickly.
For example, if you decide to organize your clothes first,
take out all of the clothes in your house in one spot.
Make a big pile of all the clothes you have in your house.
So just in the same way, if you decide to organize your books,
take out all your books from your bookcase
and pile them up in one location in the house.
I know it looks hard.
It's really messy.
I'll tell you why you need to do this.
If you bring out all your stuff--
books, clothes in one location, you visually
realize how much books, how much clothes, how many clothes,
how many books you have.
On the daily life, we rarely understand how much
stuff we have around us.
So it is a great opportunity, if you bring out everything
in one spot, realize how much stuff you have,
how many books you have, so that you
can decide which one you want to keep,
which one you really need to keep,
and which one you can get rid of.
MARIE KONDO: [SPEAKING JAPANESE]
SPEAKER: So from this point, the next step you have to take is
to sort them or separate them between the things you need
and the things you don't.
The criteria I recommend in my method is a little bit unique.
That's number three of KonMari method.
MARIE KONDO: Selection criterion--
does it spark joy?
SPEAKER: Does it spark joy?
This is the key word.
MARIE KONDO: [SPEAKING JAPANESE]
SPEAKER: I know I definitely feel weird air in this room
right now.
MARIE KONDO: Don't worry.
I used to the reaction of the audience.
SPEAKER: This is a really common reaction in my seminar.
What I mean by saying spark joy, I
can explain exactly what it is.
So if you look at one thing, you should question yourself
if that thing makes you happy.
Does it make you impressed?
Many people always think first which one to get rid of,
but it is much more important to think which one to keep,
which one you want to keep and live together from now on.
So I will tell you how to make a decision.
Make sure you touch it.
Take every single item you can think of in your hand.
Imagine how your body reacts to that moment, how you
feel when you touch the item.
So spark joy-- this is the reaction
from your body, the reaction you feel from your body
when you touch the item you should keep.
MARIE KONDO: [SPEAKING JAPANESE]
[LAUGHTER]
SPEAKER: Just like that.
MARIE KONDO: [SPEAKING JAPANESE]
SPEAKER: So if you feel every single part of your body
faces up when you touch the item, that's the right feeling.
So on the other hand, if the item doesn't give you
any inspiration--
for example, this one.
MARIE KONDO: Zzz.
SPEAKER: You started feeling down.
I know you are skeptical, but if you really try to do this,
you realize how your body really reacts.
After the seminar, when you go home tonight, try part of it.
So let me go over my three basic methods.
Do it quickly in short amount of time, and sort by category.
And find the item--
if the item sparks joy.
So this is my book, and if you need to know more about it,
if you'd like to know more about it, please pick up this book.
[MUSIC PLAYING]