On a recent set of road trips from Seattle to Wenatchee to get our Covid vaccinations, my wife and I had the pleasure en route of listening to Marie Kondo’s audiobook Joy At Work.
For those of you who don’t know her, Ms. Kondo is a Japanese tidying expert whose organizational principle is to consciously exclude things from your life that don’t spark joy.
It’s a powerful technique and one which, oddly, overlaps extensively with David Allen’s organizational approach known as GTD (Getting Things Done), sa system I have been using daily for nearly a decade.
Both at their core recognize that having a personal discipline of organizational habits can unleash deep, creative freedom, and both recognize that small tasks (such as cleaning out the clutter of a desk drawer), are part of a match larger game–such as cleaning out the clutter of your mind.
It’s hard to say which one is better. I gravitate towards David Allen’s business-like philosophy, but even as a hardened GTD warrior, I have found myself enjoying the process of asking myself whether this item or this task or this project “sparks joy’” and if it doesn’t, disposing of it accordingly.
So GTDers, consider learning about Marie Kondo, and “Kondoites” (if that’s a thing), consider diving into David Allen’s philosophy.