The irony that Marie Kondo has now opened a store to sell you stuff isn’t lost on me. Of course, she’s playing the long con – convincing you that your stuff wasn’t good enough, and it should be replaced by better stuff – stuff from her store, of course.
In a way it’s related to George Carlin’s idea – your stuff is shit, and my shit is stuff. But I’d like to offer another perspective.
It’s all shit.
Related to George Carlin's idea – your stuff is shit, and my shit is stuff. But I'd like to offer another perspective – it's all shit. Click To TweetThat’s not a commentary on the quality of the things you own. It’s a commentary on what the things you own do to you. Everything you own creates a debt that you have to pay. That debt may be as minor as the need to keep that thing somewhere or dust it off once in a while, or it could be as major as buying insurance to protect it and spending time, money, or both to maintain it in good condition.
What has brought me to this opinion?
It was my to-do list.
I keep a to-do list on an app. It has recurring tasks, long-term tasks, projects, and just plain old stuff that needs to get done on it. I realized that there were a lot of tasks that just kept getting pushed out, so I decided that I’d put a bunch of them on a project list, print it out, and spend November trying to knock out as much of it as possible.
After I got through the first dozen or so tasks, I realized they almost all had one thing in common. The were related to maintaining stuff.
I had avoided the debts to my stuff too long, and now the debt collector was calling.
As you look at how busy you are, consider this – how much of that has to do with maintaining your stuff?
Would you have more time if you had less stuff?
It’s no coincidence that I’m publishing this the first week in December. As you prepare for the holiday giving season, think about this:
If I receive less stuff, will I have more time to spend with the people I love?
If I give less stuff, will I be giving other people the gift of their own time?