Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Notes to the Reader

Introduction

1 | Why Tidy?

How Tidying My Workspace Changed My Life

Why Tidying Up Improves Work Performance

Are Messy People Really More Creative?

The High Cost of Nonphysical Clutter

Tidying Up Helps You Find a Sense of Purpose

2 | If You Keep Falling Back to Clutter

Visualizing Your Ideal Work Life

Tidy Up All in One Go and You’ll Never Rebound

Choosing What to Keep

Create an Environment Where You Can Focus

Let Your Tidying Festival Begin!

3 | Tidying Your Workspace

Books: Discover Your Values Through Tidying

Papers: The Basic Rule Is Discard Everything

Divide Komono into Subcategories

Sentimental Items

Desk Storage

How Tidying Up Can Change Your Life

Mifuyu’s Life-Changing Experience

From Tidying the Physical Aspects to Tidying the Nonphysical Aspects of Your Workspace

4 | Tidying Digital Work

You Don’t Need a Lot of Folders for Your Digital Documents

Use the Desktop to Delight

Don’t Let Email Take Over Your Work

Fewer Apps on Your Phone Means Fewer Distractions

5 | Tidying Time

Activity Clutter Disrupts Our Days

The Overearning Trap

The Urgency Trap

The Multitasking Trap

Make a Task Pile to Find Out What Your Actual Job Is

Evaluate Your Tasks to Make Your Job More Joyful

Don’t Be So Fast to Say Yes

Add a Daily Joy

Create a Clean Space on Your Calendar

6 | Tidying Decisions

Most Low-Stakes Decisions Don’t Deserve Your Time and Energy

Create a Pile of Medium-and High-Stakes Decisions

Sort Through Your Decision Pile

Tidying Choices: More Options Aren’t Always Better

Good Enough Is Good Enough for Most Decisions

7 | Tidying Your Network

How Big a Network Do You Need?

Evaluate Your Contacts to Identify Joy-Sparking Relationships

How to Make High-Quality Connections

8 | Tidying Meetings

Imagine Your Ideal Meeting

Gather Your Meetings

Separate Messy Meetings from Irrelevant Ones

Going to More Meetings Doesn’t Make You More Valuable

Anyone Can Bring More Joy to a Meeting

Run a Tidy Meeting

9 | Tidying Teams

Visualizing Your Ideal Team

Make a Teams Pile

Evaluate Your Teams Pile

Don’t Create Messes for Your Teammates

Trust Keeps Teams Tidy

Disagreements Don’t Always Make a Mess

Clean Up Personal Conflicts

Big Teams Are Usually Full of Clutter

10 | Sharing the Magic of Tidying

Let Your Tidying Inspire Others

Show Care for the Workplace

Treasure Your Coworkers

11 | How to Spark Even More Joy at Work

Caring for What We Keep Improves Work Performance

Adding More Joy to Your Workspace

Should You Change Your Job If It Doesn’t Spark Joy?

Enjoy the Process of Creating a Joyful Work Life

When the Fear of Others’ Opinions Holds You Back

Make Time for Honest Self-Reflection

Ways We Tidy Up Work as a Couple

Your Work and Your Life Are the Sum of Your Choices

Maintaining Work-Life Balance

Joy at Work Sparks Joy in Life

Acknowledgments

Discover More

About the Authors

Also by Marie Kondo

Also by Scott Sonenshein

Notes