Notes: Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

by M. Kondo.

• tidying marathon is best.
• tidying is just two things: deciding whether or not to dispose of something and deciding where to put it. If you can do these two things, you can achieve perfection. 
• storage myth
• tidying must start with discarding.
• tidy by category, not by place.
• tidying is a special event. Don't do it every day. 
• Examine each item you own, decide whether you want to keep or discard it, and then choose where to put what you keep.
• You only have to decide where to put things once. 
• tidy in the right order. Do not even think of putting your things away until you have finished the process of discarding. 
• secret of success is to tidy in one shot, as quickly and completely as possible, and to start by discarding. 
• visualize: think in concrete terms so that you can vividly picture what it would be like to live in a clutter-free space. 
• We should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of. Take each item in one's hand and ask: "Does this spark joy?" If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it. 
• Gathering every item in one place is essential to this process. 
• Best sequence: clothes first, then books, papers, misc, and lastly, mementos. 
• Urge to point out someone else's failure to tidy is usually a sign that you are neglecting to take care of your own space. 
• You'll be surprised at how many things you possess have already fulfilled their role. Discard those that have outlived their purpose. 
• Out of season clothes -- "Would I want to wear it right away if the temperature suddenly changed? Do I want to see it again?"
• Don't downgrade to lounge wear. Only wear clothes you love. What you wear in the house does impact your self-image. 
• Clothing storage: By neatly folding your clothes, you can solve almost every problem related to storage. Act of folding -- an act of caring, an expression of love and appreciation for the way these clothes support your lifestyle. Therefore, when we fold, we should put our heart into it, thanking our clothes for protecting our bodies. 
• Folding is really a form of dialogue with our wardrobe. 
• How to fold: key is to store things standing up rather than laid flat. Goal is to fold each piece of clothing into a simple, smooth rectangle. 
• Arrange your clothes so that they rise to the right. Heavy items on the left side of the closet and light items on the right. As you move to the right, length of clothing grows shorter, material thinner, and color lighter. 
• By category, coats would be on far left, then dresses, jackets, pants, skirts, and blouses. Clothes slope up to the right. 
• Storing socks: Never, ever tie up your stockings. Never, ever ball up your socks. Shoebox is perfect divider. 
• Books. Goal -- bookshelf filled only with books that you really love. 
• Sorting papers: discard everything that doesn't fit into one of these three categories -- 1. currently in use; 2. needed for limited time; 3. must be kept indefinitely. 
• filing method: divide into two categories ... papers to be saved and papers that need to be dealt with. Make sure keep all papers in one spot. 
• Only need three categories: 1. needs attention; 2. should be saved (contractual documents); 3. should be saved (others). 
• Reduce until you reach the "clicking" point. 

Storing

• Designate a place for each thing. Existence of an item without a home multiplies the chances that your space will become cluttered again. 

Notes: Where You Go is not Who You'll Be

by Frank Bruni.

*on the whole anti-Ivy kick, and any anti-Admissions Mania, and the Track (prep, brand college, soulless job, etc)

• It's not where you went to school. It's how hard you work.
• But too many kids get to college and try to collapse it, to make it as comfortable and recognizable as possible. They replicate the friends and friendships they've previously enjoyed. They join groups that perpetuate their high school cliques. 
• College needs to be expansive adventure, propelling students toward unplumbed territory and untested identities rather than indulging and flattering who they already are. 
• the alumni of elite institutions were less clear about why they were at Harvard and what they wanted from it. For them it was the next box in a series that were dutifully checking over the course of their lives. 

[for me, it was the Ladder. Put a ladder in front of me and I would always climb it whether I wanted to or not, whether it had meaning or not. Some call it the Track; I call it the Ladder.]

• St. John's College (New Mexico and Maryland) -- [part of the Colleges that Change Lives book Need to look that book list up. I have actually heard of St. John's. But too Euro centric? Western canon based?]
• The world only cares about -- and pays off on -- what you can do with what you know (and it doesn't care how you learned it).  It also cares about a lot of SOFT SKILLS-- leadership, humility, collaboration, adaptability and loving to learn and re-learn. 
• How you use college. What you demand of it. 
• Excellent Sheep, W. Deresiewicz, and his essay, "Disadvantages of an Elite Education."
• There's ideally more to higher education than a springboard to high-paying careers, and an elite school composed almost entirely of young men and women who have aced the SATs or ACTs isn't likely to be the most exciting, eclectic stew of people or perspectives. It doesn't promise to challenge extant prejudices and topple old expectations. And that's largely because there's a surfeit of students who traveled to their elite destinations on an on-ramp of familiar perks and prods. 
• College: What it Was, Is, and Should be, Debanco. There was "germ of truth" to charge that elite colleges bred self-satisfaction and he wished they "encouraged more humility and less hubris."
• "I don't think it matters that much where you go." -- John Green, novelist. Went to Kenyon.
• It's not necessary to get into a highly selective school in order to be successful. What's necessary is to understand what you want and how to do it well, and to be a self-starter.
• College president rued a propensity to be very LINEAR in too many of today's overachievers. 
• I don't know people who've been successful who've worked in a straight line. 
• Fire over Formula: "If you are extremely smart but you're only partially engaged, you will be outperformed, and you should be, by people who are sufficiently smart but fully engaged." -- hedge fund CEO.
• What mattered most in the end was a true, deep attachment to whatever you're making, whatever you're selling, whatever you're doing. Intensity and stamina. Sheer determination. Synonym for HARD WORK. 
• We know that people are often defined as sharply by setbacks, and their responses to them.