“Mari Kondo” Is Not a Verb
God, we really know how to destroy the good. Japan is sending us its charismatic organizational expert, but what are we Americans doing? We destroy it by turning it into a verb.
Maybe she’s partly to blame. (As Americans, we also love to blame everyone else.) We’ve already come to love her KonMari Method through her book . The thought that we could simplify our lives by clearing away an item that no longer caused joy was inspiring, even though we kindly thanked him for his service.
But our admiration turned into an obsession when she dropped an entire season of her TV show on January 1st, the day we are most vulnerable to any suggestions that we might create a good year for ourselves. We watched the binge and then threw piles of clothes on our beds. We hugged that old college sweatshirt, took a long, deep breath, and tried to feel our feelings about the sweatshirt. The coming year depended on it!
We felt so victorious that we moved on to our books, our kitchen cabinets, even our basements and attics. By the time Goodwill began to bend under the weight of our donations , we had become addicted. We needed the following fix. We started asking: “ I wonder, what else could I have“ Mari Kondo ”? “
And that’s when things got bad.
We are Marie Kondo in everything from money to personal relationships . Of course, at some point most of us will have to end our friendship. But studying ” How Mari Kondo Is Your Friends ” seems … inappropriate.
Marie was no longer just a guru who could help us clean up and simplify our homes by cleaning clothes, books, papers, souvenirs and other items. No, we involved her in every aspect of our lives, demanding nothing more than pure, genuine joy everywhere, from our smartphone apps to our inboxes.
But you absolutely can’t ” Marie Kondo your LinkedIn network in 4 steps .” No matter how many steps you take, LinkedIn is never a joy. If anything, it is infuriating. Don’t put that much pressure on Marie. She has done enough.
So let’s get our language in order here. Let’s dispel our expectations. Let’s get Marie Kondo how we use Marie Kondo.