Disorganized, messy, and downright filthy individuals from all over the world have over the past few years looked to the Japanese cleaning powerhouse Marie Kondo to, as she puts it, “spark joy in their lives” through her ethos of organization and turfing unneeded belongings (detailed in bestselling books, not to mention her hit Netflix series). But Beijing-based superfan Pioda Wang took that affinity for neatness to a whole new level, becoming mainland China’s first, and currently only, certified organizing consultant through that Japanese tidying guru’s training course (Wang is pictured above right with Kondo).
Below, Wang tells us more about the virtues of cleaning up clutter, both for your home and for your soul.
Pioda Wang went from Marie Kondo fandom to joining the tidying guru’s army of official organizers
I spent most of my life living in a disorderly environment. Eventually, I began feeling all kinds of unhappy. Then I came across Marie’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I was surprised someone could make a living writing about this!
I tried her method with 100 percent belief, organizing my apartment throughout a winter night. And in the end, I wept silently.
I realized I didn’t have any clothes that “sparked joy” for me, as Marie says after I decluttered and threw many unwanted items away. And that’s when I knew I was not being true to myself. That minute was the turning point, where I really wanted to live a life with things that sparked joy.
I wanted to attend Marie’s seminar in China, but my parents prevented me from going. They considered it the work of a dustman, or a nanny. It was a long struggle, but eventually, I convinced them.
One year later I made plans to take her [Kondo’s] seminar in the US or London. But I knew the language barrier would be a huge problem. I researched American English and found it to be too fast to hear clearly. So I booked a spot at her London conference.
Before reading Kondo’s book, Wang felt like she was “living in a disorderly environment”
I studied British English for two months after that and did my very best. When I began my trip it was my first time going abroad. But I didn’t feel I would have trouble. I felt there could be no trouble in pursuing my dream.
After I became a Marie Kondo consultant, I realized I was one of the few. That’s because other Kondo consultants in China learned the job sometimes required going abroad and speaking in English at seminars. So all of them quit, and now I remain.
Quitting is easy. But pursuing your dream is what brings you happiness.
Wang thinks China in particular can benefit from Kondo’s method
Marie’s method has great potential to help Chinese people. That’s because the main problem for Chinese is their purchasing power has increased rapidly but their living spaces remain very small. Also, many of us Chinese don’t have enough education about how to properly tidy up. These three points – purchasing power, small living spaces, and a lack of education – make a strange triangle for Chinese people, until they feel firmly trapped.
So I want to educate Chinese people about how to tidy up – what they should keep and what they should let go, and how to classify what they own.
Through this process, I became a healer! No one is truly trapped by tons of things, they are trapped by the complex interpersonal relationships they have with those things.
I’ve actually helped many women solve marital problems, and helped parents and children mend their relationships, by addressing their ties to their clutter. By making better use of their space, they were able to get along better. To be honest, that surprised me.
Wang says the organizing classes she teaches around China don’t just offer tidiness, but also inner peace
I ask people at my seminars a key question: what life do you want to live? If you want to be a CEO, dress like a CEO. If you want to be a nanny, dress like a nanny. And then get rid of the things in your home that don’t match this self-image.
To respect your image is to get rid of the biggest obstacles. If you can respect your image, you will know how to deal with other things in your home seriously.
I loved meeting Marie Kondo. She is a little lady with a pinkish glow. She has a small voice that is almost silent, but she speaks with huge power.
Marie treats life seriously. She has her beliefs, and she believes in what she says. She says that her dream is to organize the world. What a big dream!
Chinese speakers can follow Wang’s cleaning escapades on Weibo here.
READ: 24 Things I Stopped Buying to Go Zero Waste
More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
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Photos courtesy of Pioda Wang