The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

Kondō instructs readers to visualize the ideal lifestyle they want to achieve through the process of tidying. Goals should be more precise than simply wanting a more ordered home. Individuals should develop a clear image of how they want their home to look and identify how this will facilitate their favorite activities and happiness. For example, one of Kondō’s clients wanted to transform her cluttered home into a more serene space where she could comfortably practice yoga, listen to classical music, burn aromatherapy oils, and drink herbal tea. This advice elevates tidying beyond aesthetics into a tool for life design, making the process personal and motivational: The decluttering and organization are anchored in clear outcomes rather than vague intentions. Kondō’s approach also aligns with established visualization practices in psychology and coaching.

The next step is discarding, and it should be completed quickly. The author emphasizes that although the aim of this process is to dramatically reduce one’s possessions, readers should not focus on disposing of as many items as possible. Kondō recounts how, after reading The Art of Discarding, she became so fixated on finding items to discard that she could not relax in her own home. Exhausted, she heard a voice instructing her to “Look more closely at what is there” (47).