Tidying works wonders

Marie Kondo is famous for showing people that tidying up can bring joy. Based in Japan, Kondo wrote a bestselling book in 2011: The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up. In 2019, she began hosting a Netflix show, Tidying up with Marie Kondo. And on 7 April, Kondo released a new book, Joy at Work, co-authored with Scott Sonenshein, an organizational psychologist and professor of management at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Kondo bases the organizational philoso phy of her new book on Shinto spirituality. Tidying up becomes part of a larger effort to bring a kind of mindful meditation to one’s work.

What are some of her main points? “I advise beginning with small steps,” Kondo told the Financial Times. You should focus on what you are grateful for. Find positive meaning in your work. And, each day, add an activity that brings you happiness, such as reading your favourite language-learning magazine.

Those working from home might benefit from tidying up, says Kondo: “If you feel that burgeoning feeling, you should do it.”