Does it spark joy?
Marie is a happy mess, The evolution of self-help, Valentine's and decluttering, Netflix being a mess (intentionally), Earn from heartburn...
Happy Saturday, everyone!
I hope you’re enjoying your chaai and not spilling it (literally and figuratively), because that will be messy, and nobody likes mess except Marie Kondo- she loves it!
Before you start wondering what I’m talking about, here’s a little context :- Marie Kondo is an organizing consultant- she helps people remove clutter from their houses. No, she’s not a cleaning lady. Decluttering and cleaning are two different things. She teaches people how to declutter and tidy for a living, and boy-oh-boy is she famous!
Now that we have some context, let’s dive in!
Today’s edition is all about … *dramatic music* DECLUTTERING
Marie is a happy mess
Recently, Marie Kondo admitted that her home is messy. It’s like Greta Thunberg admitting that she has embraced the plastic lifestyle.
In 2019, after her Netflix show ‘Tidying up with Marie Kondo‘, she became synonymous with tidying up so much so that it became a verb- they called it “Marie Kondoing“.
The rise of Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo has sold over 4 million copies of her bestselling self- help novel “The life-changing magic of Tidying up“. She has been helping people declutter since she was 19. Kondo also got her KonMari Method (of tidying up) trademarked, and the central idea is stupid simple- If something sparks joy, keep it. (Who knew generic life lessons could be intellectual property?) She gained popularity for attacking mess with lean principles that are derived from the Japanese manufacturing industry.
The vulnerability of Marie Kondo
Now, Marie is not bothered by mess at all! A woman who once suggested ways to dramatically change lives by decluttering, is now embracing clutter!
She admitted that her house was messy- she owned up to it and was vulnerable in front of the whole world. People are going all gaga about it- but mostly, people are pleased as they can see the queen of cleaning finally come to terms with the messed-up reality (quite literally). Many mothers can relate to the mess and are supporting her.
As for Marie, giving up on something that she preached her whole life- the very foundation of her million-dollar decluttering empire, makes me wonder- Why are people not practicing what they preach?
The evolution of self-help gurus
We live in a world where everyone is unhappy, unhealthy and/or unproductive. Now that we have established the problem, let’s also talk about the solution.
The multi-billion dollar self-help industry.
Which brings us to the next important question- how did we get here?
Well, lack of self-control, patience and will-power. Thanks to smart phones and their features and apps- our basic needs are fulfilled in the blink of an eye! We are now mostly dumb beings using smart devices- and then we wonder why things are not getting any better.
Hence, we now have hundreds of thousands of self-help channels on YouTube. There are people earning millions just because they managed to be more “self-aware“ and disciplined; thanks to the platforms that enable self-publishing and self-broadcasting.
Before pandemic, people bought perfection- it used to sell like hot cakes.
When pandemic hit, there was a new wave of “being real”- and self-help gurus admitted that they stopped practicing what they were preaching, or they found it difficult to practice what they preached. Now, perfection is not a thing anymore.
Be vulnerable, admit your mistakes- tell a compelling story: the more extreme it is, the better- so people can relate to you and empathize with you- then go on to question the idealistic solutions of the past and then come up with simple solutions; but at the same time, be confident and comfortable in your own skin while trying to improve :- there you go- improve in public and be the most credible preacher of the post-pandemic era!
As for me, I have stopped being accessible to external noise just so I can be accessible to my internal voice that directs me towards my improvement- that’s “self-help” for me.
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Earn from Heartburn
Business idea that takes my breath away
32 percent of India’s population lies between the ages of 20 to 39 years. Which means, shaadi! The estimated value of the wedding market in India is $0.5 trillion!
But , have you ever wondered that if the wedding market is so huge then how big is the break-up market?
This is genius, wait for it!
All you have to do is nothing new!
If you’re a dietician or a personal trainer, sell a revenge body kit or plan.
If you’re into baking (CAKES), sell break-up cakes!
If you love organizing and managing events, help people throw divorce/break-up parties!
StressMeter for this business is MEDIUM as you might need to innovate a bit in terms of categories, products and/or marketing campaigns. You might need upto 5 cups of chaai on an average.
If you do none of the above, start an initiative where you take all the gifts that are to be thrown away and resell those on OLX, or even better, give it to some charity at a discounted price! Help people get rid of things that “do not spark joy anymore“. All you need is a landing page! It will require excellent operational skills and might be more stressful than the above-mentioned ideas.
Which brings us to the golden question: is it scalable or not? That’s not clear.
But talk about some extra side income- sure, why not?
Mistake or Marketing?
A follow up: The bizzare protocol posted by Netflix to avoid password sharing
The weird set of new rules was all over the internet! Recently, Netflix admitted that they “mistakenly “posted new rules around password sharing that was only meant for Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.
Many breathed a sigh of relief, but here I am wondering if this was a calculated marketing gimmick of being an “accidental mess“ or if Netflix is ,in fact, a little messy?
Valentines and decluttering
It’s the second month of the year and I am sure many of us want to do certain things this year on a personal and/or professional level. But if you haven’t promised yourself to get rid of energy-sucking parasites, then you SHOULD add it to your to-do list right away!
MARIE KONDO (get rid of) those people who do not spark joy!
I am not a big fan of Valentine’s day, but, this is a gentle reminder that we cannot pour from an empty chaai-ka-pateela, hence love yourself first before you love anyone else- do justice to yourself and your loved ones.
Say goodbye to people who do not spark joy in your life- life’s too short to be miserable!
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Alright then!
Thank for reading! Let us know what you think about today’s edition here.
See you next week!
Haha very entertaining! Keep it going!
This is refreshing !