39. How tidying your space helps you organise your thoughts! Meet Alice Bauer
Alice Bauer was born under the zodiac sign of Virgo and she is an orderly and organized type of person by nature. She is curious, inquisitive and likes to develop herself in all areas of life. Her interests are wide-ranging, including yoga, travel, art and music, but she is particularly fond of interior design. Already in her childhood she was constantly browsing through her mother's home magazines only to rearrange and reorganize her room afterwards. In 2007 she graduated university as an interior designer.
In spring 2017, she had a very enriching, life-changing experience decluttering her life by listening to the audiobook "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. While she had a wonderful, beautifully decorated apartment and had accumulated all sorts of possessions from the various decades of her life so far, she still always felt like she was living like a student, not like an adult. She wanted to live the way she had always dreamed of: like a lady. She decided to give her apartment a drastic detox. Within two weeks, she took every single item she owned into her hands and examined it for its importance in her future. She has parted with half of her belongings and it still feels great! She wanted to give others this revelation of satisfaction and order in their lives and therefore she completed the KonMari Consultant Trainee Course in Los Angeles in 2017. She is now officially a Certified Master KonMari™ Consultant and is working in Switzerland and Austria.
TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:
Tidying is an act of self love. The process of tidying can support you to figure out who you want to be and what brings you joy in your life.
Tidying can be a form of meditation.
Most people do not ask themselves how they want to live in their space. Create a vision to help you stay focused and motivated to get through the tidying festival.
The KonMari Method™ is simple but not easy. It follows 6 basic principles: Commit yourself to tidying, start by creating a vision, declutter first, tidy by category not location, follow the right order and always make the decision based on the question does it “spark joy?
Tidying helps you to get to know who you are. In order to love yourself you need to embrace all sides of you, the good and the ugly.
Tidying can be freeing and empowering.
If you need support, hire a tidying coach!
Sometimes chaos is needed for a creative process. But sometimes we need to tidy in order to organize our thoughts. Understanding where the balance lies for you is the goal.
Only keep in your home and in your life what “sparks joy”, let go of all the rest! Life is too short!
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
konali.ch | Alice on instagram
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Atomic Habits by James Clear | The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron | Bullet Journal by Ryder Carroll
Messy - How To be Creative and Resilient in a Tidy-Minded World by Tom Hardford
Join the Unleash Monday Community
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello and welcome to Unleash Monday, where we talk about the brain, especially the gifted brain and how does it affect our thinking and experience of the world differently. There are a lot of stereotypes and stigma around giftedness, and I'm here to challenge dose. I'm here to raise awareness and to have a conversation around this topic of what does it mean to be a gifted adult common experience among gifted folks is that they feel out of place.
They don't quite fit in. They are too sensitive, too intense, too emotional, too, over excitable and too deep thinkers about the world and about themselves. So if you have been called too much of about anything, then this show is for you. My name is Nadja. I'm too loud, too colorful, too bodily, too bossy. And I love to talk too much.
So welcome to my world. And I'm so happy you are here. Welcome and happy new year. I hope you arrived, safe and sound in 2022 for today's episode, I thought about how I can support and inspire you to embrace this new year and use it as an opportunity for self-growth self-love and more happiness in your life. So before we dive into today's conversation with my amazing friend,
Alice, I would like to share a few things beforehand. So first of all, I would like to know, did you write down some new year's resolution this year? How's it going so far for you? Are you like me and gave up altogether? Because every time you do, you don't stick with it and feel like a failure. Like why do so many people fail to stick to new?
Year's there's a solution. Anyway. So apparently the reason is that they are focused on the outcome. We want to lose 10 pounds, but it's the outcome, not the practice that we focus on. So it is much more sustainable to really understand your why, why do you want to lose 10 pounds in the first place to lead a more healthy life and to feel better and more energized?
I is too, but this is not yet the core, the best way to change a behavior to change a habit. According what I have read, because I'm not an expert on this myself, but I will put all the resources that I came across in the show notes. So you can go and have a look. So the best way, according to what I have read is that we need to focus on our identity if we really want change.
So who do you want to be? You don't want to be just a person wearing to running clones. You actually want to be a runner. So if you tell yourself I'm a runner, even before you got into your first run, then your actions defined this identity. So it's like casting a vote for you. Sometimes you run sometimes just stretch. Sometimes you take a day rest.
It is the majority of those votes that you cast every single day for your identity, which will get you closer to your goal. So basically really focusing on who you want to become. And then every day with little actions, casting votes, my favorite book for habits and changing habits is atomic habits. By James clear, it's very famous and popular, but I really embraced this book.
And I think there's really some really amazing nuggets. If you want to have some habit changes in 2022, I can highly recommend, and I will put the link in the show notes, but how can you then motivate and keep yourself accountable when the going gets tough? There are two practices that I really love, which I also want to mention here. And if that's something you want to pick up in 2022,
so one book is called the artist's way by Julia Cameron. It's a 12 week program, and it's about how writing morning pages and going on a date with yourself with your creative self every week will help you unlock your creativity. And basically this practice of journaling really helps you to understand who you are. And the other resource I really love is bullet journaling. And I use this,
especially in my day job to really have one single notebook, which contains an agenda daily to do list a monthly overview and other incredible things. So all you basically need is a notebook. And the method is really simple. I will also link down below the resources and the person who came up with this, this writer, Carol, and he actually has ADHD.
And he came up with this method, which helps him really keep himself accountable, keep his thoughts on point, not going all over the place and really have a space instead of having post-its all over, but really have a space throughout the day where you just, when a thought pops up, you have a page where you just write it down and then it's as a reflection tool.
So I can highly recommend. So yeah, these practices really makes you reflect on how every single day is going and having an honest dialog with yourself basically. But sometimes it's really difficult for us to figure out who do we want to be, especially as gifted and to be adults. We are more often than not. Multipotentialite we have a thousand ideas, 500 projects,
and we get overwhelmed and don't know how to allocate that precious time, which we have each day, 24 hours are simply not enough. And one profession, one career is usually not enough. One hobby and only a handful of interests are not who we are, right, but who are we? And who do we want to be? And do we want to focus down and really hone in for a certain time of our lives to be,
you know, somewhere specific for me, a very emotional and freeing journey started when I discovered the Marie Kondo method in 2018. And this is a tidying method developed by Marie Kondo, the Japanese Titan guru, if you haven't heard of her, she's very famous, has her own Netflix shows. And for all the non-native English speakers, tiding really means putting away your belongings in contracts.
The meaning of cleaning is basically focusing on dirt and that sends means confronting natures, but tidying really, you confront your own things, your belonging, your stuff, and it means confronting yourself. So when I came across the Marie Kondo book, the life-changing magic of tidying up, it was so eyeopening and transformative that I decided instantly to attend her first European seminar in London in 2018.
And I became a certified KonMari consultant. I went through the certifying process and along the way, made incredible friends. And after discovering the topic of giftedness and neurodiversity, my focus kind of shifted a little bit. Then I let go of being a Marie Kondo consultant with gratitude. Obviously the teaching is still something I practice and I love and I love to share,
but I'm no longer an active member of the worldwide KonMari consultant community. And just for trademark purposes, I need to really state this. So I'm not a consultant anymore. And all of what I'm and my friends are talking here are our own opinions and do not reflect on KonMari Inc. So just that we have this disclaimer here. So because this method is so transformative and life changing,
and I thought the beginning of the year is the perfect time to use this opportunity and to invite my friend, Alice, who is a mark on the consultant. And as I later found out is our gifted adult. And when we first met Alice and I back in 2019, how was it? I knew we lived in the same city and we actually got in contact and we scheduled to have coffee.
And when I went to meet her for coffee, I stood at the bus stop in front of my house. And then Alice was waiting at the same bus stop. So it turns out we're actually neighbors. And we didn't know until this point. So we then still went with the bus to a coffee shop and went back home on the same bus. It was really funny.
So Alice Bauer is a certified master KonMari consultant, but also a multipotentialite. She has lots of other professions and interests. And that is why I invited her onto the podcast today. So she can share her story and how tidying changed her life and how learning about giftedness empowered her. So here's Alice. Welcome. Alice. It's so exciting to have you on this podcast.
Thanks for having me. So we've known each other, not for a very long time, but for a couple of years. And we met through Marie Kondo, but the funny thing is we're actually neighbors and we didn't know. Right. So when we met, I think it was 2019 and we just hit it off right away at the time, I had no idea about giftedness or neurodiversity.
So we met and we just, I think we became friends instantly, instantly, instantly, and like me, you have a thousand ideas, 500 projects going on. And so just to showcase a little bit for the listeners, why I bring you onto the show today, would you like to share a little bit about yourself and all your projects? And I think you have even two university degrees as I remember.
So do you want to share a little about who you are and what you're doing up until now? And then we talk about the Marie Kondo method, obviously. Okay. So as you already told, I also did the con Murray cause I did it in 2017 in Los Angeles and I was so interested and knew right away. I want it to do this.
Tidying is really my passion. I would not say that I a tidying fanatic, but tiding has always been a big part of my life. So I tie-dyed, as a, as a child, I always tied it, my closet, I kept my t-shirts in a row sorted by color. And I think that my mom thought I was weird. He's just a weird kid.
She's tidying. She's what's wrong with her. And what that wrongness, I think was a big part of my, of my younger life. And I finished my a levels in Austria. Everybody of my class was completely happy. I was the only one crying because I did not know what now to do. I had no plan. I was really overwhelmed by a thousand interests,
a thousand possibilities. And that it was very hard for me to, to just make a choice and then live with the choice that I decided, okay, this is a job and I will do it for the rest of my life. This is something I could not imagine. What did you decide to do at the beginning? At the beginning? I honestly did not really much.
I worked for, for Austrian airlines in Vietnam and then decided, well, this is absolutely not what I want to do. And then I started a short career for two years in an office, which I really loved. I worked with India and Russia and it was much more interesting. And all the products from electric insulating materials were fascinating and new and inspiring.
And then 2003, I decided that I'm going to do a very big step and I moved to Switzerland. And firstly, I worked as a waitress in Zermatt. I decided to go to summit because there's a lot going on in summit all the time. And I love snowboarding and the nature and go for walks and plus started my Swiss career and Zermatt and moved to,
to Interlaken and then lived in Zurich for a short period of time. And then I decided to just to move to Basel and Along the way you picked up to a university degrees or somewhere Exactly. Somewhere. So what did you study? I did study interior design in the first round and then the 2013, I decided to go for the Bentyl of primary education as well.
So You're a teacher and an interior designer. Absolutely. And now you're also a professional organizer and helping people tidy their hopes, as you just said, you already tie-dyed as a kid, you love tidying. I think that's what really separates us. I was the opposite. I grew up being very, very untidy and it was only when I read Marie Kondo's book that I realized I'm not alone.
And I, I always felt really stupid. I was like, if I'm so smart, why can I not keep my, my room tidy? How can I not keep this, you know, in a way that people like to come over. And what I realized through reading Marie Kondo's book is that she says, you know, a lot of people don't actually learn how to tidy.
It's usually self-taught your parents tell you, go to your room and tidy it up. And either you come up with a system that works and apparently you seem to have this inmate flare for your room and how to tidy. And I was totally overwhelmed. I had too much stuff. It didn't even fit into the drawers. So growing up, you said tidying really sparked joy for you.
You'd really like that. Yeah. But did it also do something else? I'm leading the question here a little bit, because I know tidying is so much more than just having a beautiful room. Why, why does love for tidying? I think that while you're tidying through that motion of going one step to the other step, just moving things around, you do also clear your inner state of mind.
I think this is, this is the domain reason. And from, for me personally, it is very, very satisfying to see what I have done to instantly see results. Yeah. And it's really interesting that you say that by organizing your own room, probably already as a child, it gave you inner clarity. It's sorted your thoughts. Yeah. I think for me,
the room reflected my inner state as well. It was very chaotic. And I think that was my, my inner world as well. It was very chaotic. Somehow. I always knew where my things were. Like, even if it's messy, I know exactly where my things are. I don't have to search for them. But once as an adult,
I learned how to tidy. It really helped me sort my own thoughts. And it's still to this day, when I'm stressed in my insights, it reflects in my room. And as you can see, luckily this is a podcast and people can see, you can see my room every flex, you know, the last state of the year, like there was so much going on and it piles up.
So when you're stressed, does it also reflect, or is basically tidying something that really calms you down and helps you and the more you're stressed, the more tidy you are or does your room get untidy? Sometimes It depends. But of course, if I am stressed and I get home late, I'm absolutely not in the mood for tidy. And I think tidying is a thing I do when I need a solution for something it's kind of meditating a little bit.
Cause it's so easy. You don't have to think a lot and just put your things away where they belong. It's so easy because you know where their home is, you know where to put them. You don't do not even think about this. And therefore I think I get this, this calmness and this meditative state then. So we just jumped right in and talked about the tidying aspect and how it helps the inner peace.
Do you want to share a little bit about the KonMari method in general? So people know what we're actually talking about and why the KonMari method is different from other methods and why you fell in love with KonMari being even on top of already being tidy as a child, you still decided you wanted to do this Konmari-ing training. Do you want to share a little bit about the conversion method?
Yeah, of course I was in a really difficult point of my life when I just searched for an, for a nice audio book somewhere in the internet. And I then saw the life-changing magic of tidying up and that instantly spoke to me. So just click the button and started listening. And I loved the voice of Emily Lucila. So I just went for it.
And I think about 20 minutes after I started the audio book, I found myself taking every piece of my clothes out of the closet, piling them up and just start with the metal that was really a strong desire to do it. That was so motivating and I loved it. And I think the, the main reasons why I am so convinced about the method is that it's so easy.
You just have to follow a few steps, stick to these six simple rules and you will be successful. And honestly, it's not easy. So it's a, it's a very big thing to do. So do not expect any results in the short run, but in the long run, because I think the most important thing is really to, to first de-clutter everything,
everything, and then decide where to put it. And for me, the method is, is very helpful because you get an overview. What you actually have normally after we started, people are completely overwhelmed. How much, for example, clothes you have. And I think that's impact is preventing them from buying more, buying thoughtless, being more aware of what I buy,
why I buy it, being aware of yourself, how do I behave? How I am, who I am. I was always a person. I was convinced that I'm, I'm made to Sue and I have a nice seeing machine and I have a lot of garments and everything you need. And during the KonMari methods, I really, I'm not the person that sues.
I am the person that would love to Sue, but I'm not doing this. So why do I keep all that stuff? And I think that brings me nearer to myself. So I really saw who am I? What do I want? What do I need? And what are my likes dislikes? Yeah, it's, it's really taking deeper. Who are you?
Who you want to be, who you want to become through a simple method of tidying. So as you said, it's simple rules, but the act of actually tidying is not that easy. So the rules are very simple. As you said, it's confronting everything to ask yourself, does it spark joy, and only things that you really love you keep.
And then you make a wishing for yourself, how you want to live. Then you tidy by category. You declutter first and you do it in one, go do not stop. Did I miss anything? Is that these are the things That's you need to, you really make a contract with yourself. I'm doing it. It's like losing weight. You really have to be completely committed to do it.
And then you already said you should tidy by category. Should we mention the categories for your listeners? Yes. Let's. Let's mention the categories quickly. You start with clouds, then you move on to books, everything, paper and paper related kimono in Japanese, and then with your, with your memories, Your sentimental items. Yes. And what's interesting is that the profession of a Mari consultant,
basically you help people go through the process and you accompanying them, but there's other professional organizers. You can hire, they come to your house, they tidy your house for you. They, they rearrange it. They folded nicely. You come home and everything is perfectly done, but it doesn't have this life changing effect. No, basically hiring, as you just said,
like a personal trainer and you have to do the pushups when you work with a KonMari consultant, because it's the act of deciding what you keep. And it's very, it's a very personal journey as well. Absolutely. Tidiness is a completely personal thing because for one person it's tidy when nothing is on the floor and for one person it's tidy, if there is just a pile in the corner.
So it really depends. Yeah. And, and letting go of this Instagram Utopia. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's unreal And learning. Yeah. I think for me, the Marie Kondo method was really one of the first steps to kind of start living a more authentic self. I think you and I, as you said, we both have so many different projects.
We do so many things, but learning to really listen to yourself to really ask yourself, is this what I want? Is this what I want to keep? Is this something that supports me in my life and my vision. So should we talk about the vision part of the method? Because I think the tidying is one thing, but it's why people come.
People usually come to, I would say KonMari consultants to have a tidy kitchen. That's usually, is that for you to same? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They always come with, with the project we need, we have a garage as a, we have a garage, but we cannot use them. Can you help us? So this is, this is just a normal question.
Yeah. So they want one part of their homes tidy. But once you understand this is a wholesome project and it's not your partner, that's at fault. People usually point a finger at their partner and say, He's doing that. He leaves his socks and he's the problem. No, we start with ourselves and really, really started understanding who we are and who we are as a person in a relationship who we are in our daily lives.
I think this is because you're just dealing with your own stuff. While during the KonMari method, you're not caring about the stuff of your husband, your kids, your dog, your horse, it just responsible for your stuff. And you're clearing what you want. It's all about you. Yes. The very, very first step, which I must admit before I went to the seminar,
I actually skipped. And I think a lot of people skip it. And I think you did too. When you said you listened 20 minutes, and then you went into your, your drawers and took out all of your clothes. The first step of the combining method is to actually have your own and to really sit down and listen to yourself. Do you want to share a little bit what,
what that, what the first step is? And so that's maybe something people can even do before they tidy for 2022? Yeah sure. I have not known that you also skipped The first step. Oh, I was completely new To me. Well, I can share that story. I was basically at home sick. I had a prong hightest in 2018,
so way before COVID and I self isolated for two weeks and it was a viral infection. So as a biologist, I knew the antibiotics won't work. So I just need to stick it out, sit at home and I didn't feel well. And so around me stuff started piling up. And once I started recovering, I felt a little bit better. I was sitting in this mess surrounding me on my couch.
And I found somehow, I don't know how probably through Facebook ads or something, I found a video of Mari Kondo and I watched it. And within five minutes of watching that video, I was in my sock drawer. And I didn't, I didn't read the book. I really started with, with the clothes as well. I started doing by category and I was like,
oh, you start with the clothes and you sub categorize it. And then I had this emotional experience. And only once I read the book, I was like, oh, it's not just me. It is life changing. It's very emotional. Yeah. So, but then I really skipped the part of doing the vision. However, once I moved into a new apartment together with my partner,
I then sat down and created this vision for myself. So I did it just a little bit later on and I had to declutter to a second time just to fit our belongings together and have basically it at joint life. But do you want to share a little bit, like how can people create a vision what's important in your vision and any tips and tricks from your side?
I think The clearer, the vision, the easier it is for me, I can just imagine my vision. And I'm happy with that. What I really can recommend is to make a vision board and cut out pictures and articles and words that speaks to your heart, that you want to use on your vision board, and then just stick them, stick them on the paper and hang it up somewhere where you can see it all day long or all year round.
And what should people focus on? Like if you say vision, what, what kind of vision, what, what do you need to innovate? How would I like to live? It's not all about furniture. It's about who is that person that lifts in that apartment? What is that person doing? What are the routines that person implemented for her life or his life?
What are the habits of that person? So if yourself basically, what do I want to have in my life? What, what habits I want to create Exactly. And what does it take to get the person I want to be? So I think to mention that many steps is a, is a really big challenge. It's like a sub category it's easier to achieve.
And then you have a new starting point. And from there you, you start to move on. So by that, I mean, if you'd like to lose, let's say 20 pounds, it's probably a good idea to give yourself a goal in between or a few steps. Let's say four times, five pounds. And to reach that five pound goal four times then to imagine,
oh, a 20 pounds, that's a lot. And I think that keeps you motivated. Yeah. I completely agree. Mini steps is the thing and being kind to yourself, but having a nice daily routine. And I think you, you mentioned previously to me that you grew up having these daily routines in place, and now it became very trendy to have a morning routine,
to have, you know, a daily routine. But at the time I think you didn't even have a vocabulary for it. You just stated, how does your routine, maybe you want to share how it looks like and how does it set you up for success compared to not having a routine? I was really amused by the word routine. Do you have a morning routine?
I had no idea. That's the thing I was doing. They call it routine and it did not came to my mind that not everybody is having a routine. I thought this is how a human being is functioning. Yeah. I think that getting up early is a good thing. I always was an early bird. So I get up about four 30 to five.
It depends a little bit. And then I'm making myself a cup of coffee, go to the bathroom, go back and continue my coffee while I am having my coffee. I'm making myself a list for the day. Normally the main key points are already noted down from the evening before, because when I write down things in advance, my brain is like completely empty.
And it's a pleasure just to sleep without any sorrows, without nothing just being calm. So just to interrupt, when you say you have coffee in the morning, what kind of milk do you use? I think being a Kamari consultant that we take things now for granted, but I think the listeners here, they really don't know or understand what the conversion method means.
So the KonMari method really means to surround yourself with things that support you, that spark joy that make you happy. And that's why when you say I take my coffee, my first thought was like, what's your favorite mock? My favorite mark is a turkeys. I would say Moroccan style muck, which I really love. I mean, I'm only surrounded by things I love.
So I love my slippers. I love my toothbrush for everything she's doing. I love my tails for keeping me dry after having a shower. I really only own things I love or I highly, highly appreciate so that I can say that I love them. And you said you're creating a list in the morning. So I also imagine, you know, your favorite notebook and then my mind already goes in five different ways.
Like, oh, does it have dots? Is it a white page? Is it like, does it have lines or is it a grid? And that's a dotted page. I love dotted notebooks. And it's always started normally I'll ride with, with a dark gray felt pen, which I really love. And you do calligraphy as well. I remember that's also something you'd like to do.
So you really have these aesthetically pleasing habits. And I just wanted to get the listeners to, to have this vision. When you have your morning routine, it's not just, you know, a boring routine, but it's actually a very colorful mug. And it's, it's, it's really something where you really enjoy sitting down using your pen. And so what,
what do you do after you have your list for today? I think every morning then is a joyful morning. When I have the list of my day, I am normally I a sip of coffee. And then I go to my bedroom and put on the clothes I prepared the evening before to make it more easy, to be quicker in the morning. Normally after that I put on some makeup,
probably I'll make one of the other call and then I'm just leaving the house. So when people think about like, okay, my vision it's still is, sounds very abstract for 2022. Okay. Maybe making lists the morning is not what I envisioned myself. How do you guide your clients to kind of like, okay, let's sit down, cut out.
What you would you like, but is there like any other mental tips you give them to like w w what to really look for? Like, I think you're looking for awareness awareness and slowing down everything, because it gives you more time when you need exactly what your next step is. I need exactly. Let's say 15 to 17 minutes to get completely ready if I am in a hurry.
But normally my focus is on not being in a hurry to enjoy my mornings because my mornings are mine. I am preparing myself for the day. And how I prepare myself for the day is exactly how my day will be. Because when I'm already stressed out at five 30, I cannot imagine what happens at seven 30 then. And it personally gives me more flexibility because I know exactly okay.
If I, if I'm in such a hurry, that I cannot even make my bed, which I do in the morning every morning, I forgot that I get up and jump in my favorite slippers, open the window, and then just let in a little bit of fresh air for about half an hour while I drink my coffee. And I heard about people just jumping out of their beds,
jumping in their clouds, and then leaving the house In a rush. I think I could not survive just one day like that. Yeah, I think that's really me. I think we were really the two opposite ends of people. You meet at a Kamari seminar. It's on one hand, people like you who were always tidy and loved routines and loved having things in order.
And then there's people like me who were really like thriving in chaos. I never made my bed as a child, as a teenager, living by myself, like making my bed. I thought it was a waste of time. It's like you do it every single day. Like these couple of seconds is lost. It it's completely useless. And funnily enough,
my stepdad, he wanted me to do the bed in the mornings for him. It was important that you make your bed. Even if the rest of the room looks horrible, the bed is made. And if I didn't make my bed, he flipped the mattress over so that I really, yes. It's time to do it. So that's kind of like,
I was basically quote unquote, forced to make my bed. So my mattress wouldn't get flipped over. And then it takes more time and evening to go to bed. So, but as soon as I moved out and lived by myself, I didn't make my bed. And it was only when I discovered this KonMari Method, that, that I understood the power of making your bed,
the reasons why you should make your bed and how it changes your routine, how it changes your day making as something simple as making your bed. It's really funny, but it's, I think somebody famous once said, it's, it's the first, when in the morning, if you make your bed, you already have a win. So it's kind of like winning your day.
Yeah, I think so. I think so. And I, I think making the bed is it's not about making your bed. It's about the power and the attention you're paying by making your bed. It's that awareness to be in the present moment. It's not that I just take my pillow and my cover. It's about calming everything down, preparing it for the next time.
I'd like to use my wonderful bed, appreciating everything. It's the gratitude practice, right? We're grateful for this, but we're appreciative. We kind of really connect with our surrounding, with our bed, which is basically, I think important thing to know about the KonMari MKonethod, really to appreciate your space, appreciate your home getting supported, because that's where we recharge.
Our energies is the space that we recharge and a bed, especially at night, it's where we'd be charged. So we care for the bed. We treat it with love and respect. And I mean, You do treat yourself with, with more love and respect then as well, because you're paying more attention onto yourself. What do I need, when do I need it?
What I'm interested in. When would I like to do that? You appreciate the time you have. Yeah. Do you see other transformations by working with clients? Like how does tidying affects other aspects of their lives? It's every aspect is touched by the method because your focus is on yourself and you are not watching what everybody else is doing. Your attention is completely on yourself.
And therefore you taking the energy and use it for yourself instead of just spreading it around with moody face and without nagging, he's putting his socks always here. And my daughter is always doing that. She's always doing that. And she's untidy. I think that is really, really one of the main points that the situation comes completely down. For example, in a family,
if the mom is always complaining, that gives a lot of tension to all of their relationships between mom and kids, kids, and husband, husband, and mom. So if you are a couple, and there's always a lot of tension, because one person is not tidy and the other person is completely tidy. And the tidy person is always complaining about the untidy person,
the potential for a fight or for a conflict, or for a misunderstanding is very likely. And if you just focus on yourself, you're taking this energy and use it for yourself so that the situation can relax. The tension can just move away and everything comes down. This is what I really observe every day. And people are happier. I mean, I have clients with,
with smaller children. And what happened to me was that a client just called me just to let me know that her five-year-old daughter took one of the kitchen drawers, had a look and said, oh, mommy, Alice will not be happy. What a mess Do you think does going through to method, what you observe with clients, tidying their homes. Does it affect other parts of their lives outside the home?
Like career change or marriage Often, very often. Cause you, you get to know yourself much better. I mean, I, I saw split ups. I saw changing their jobs. I saw people moving without planning to move. I think every aspect of your life is really touched by the method because you change your mind. It's all about the changing mindset.
And when I first read this title, you said it spoke to you, the life-changing magic of tidying up. I thought, oh my God, how corny? I thought, oh God, no. And then I, I read it anyway. And after once I was like, oh, this title is so important because it's really life changing. It is somehow magic.
And it's just by simply tidying and confronting yourself through touching your own stuff. I think that's the biggest difference between the KonMari method and just normal tiding is that if you tied it the KonMari way, you will do it just once in your lifetime. This is not a daily tiding routine. This is a de-clutter marathon. I would describe it. Yeah. And that's a different,
It's a festival as she calls it. Cause the festival lasts several days. It's not just a party, which is really Several months, Several months, but don't be discouraged. Good things. So don't be discouraged also when you mentioned people splitting up or, you know, moving without wanting to move at the first place. But I think you really get to the core of who you are and starting leading a more authentic life.
And I think, yeah, especially for gifted people and people who are masking, you know, just kind of putting on a persona for society in your own walls, in your space, you can be who you are like at the bottom of who you are. And sometimes we don't even know who we are. We we've been trying to please everybody around us.
So we actually never really sat down and really try to figure out who we are. And then there's the simple method, as you say, simple, but not easy of tidying up. And it gets you really closer to understanding who you are. Yeah. And, and to understand how many roles you do play every day. How many different masks you have a friend of mine told me whenever he comes home,
he just takes off his mask and hang it away. And I think this is really, really good picture also to see you do play so many roles, you are a daughter, you are a partner, you're a biologist, you're a friend. You do have so many roles with every role. Society has different expectations on you. Exactly. And I think therefore it's so difficult to be authentic,
to live an authentic life and to be clear with yourself, to know yourself. Yeah, you do not have only good sides. You also have bad sides, dark sides, and you need to accept and appreciate these parts of yourself as well. Otherwise you do not love yourself. Otherwise you're always criticizing yourself, but I mean, nobody's perfect. So why should you should be Wow,
thank you. Is telling me this. So is there anything else you wish people knew something you wish you knew earlier, something you wish people just know about tidying or anything else? I think does this two things, try the KonMari method, try tiding and you will live a happier life. And I think the other thing is a text of a song.
The song is called. We are family by sister sledge and they do sing, have faith in you and the things you do Well, thank you. Where can people find you if they want to learn more about you? Where can they find? Well, I do have a homepage. It's KonAli.ch I'm on Instagram. I'm on Facebook.
So I think they can easily connect. Thank you so much for sharing your insights are coming for joining. It has been a long time do because we connected. And obviously once I discovered that topic of gifted adults, you also were like, that's something you're still a little bit embracing. Yeah. I'm happy to add something. I mean, I would have never thought that I will find myself here in that interview for a podcast for gifted people.
Cause I never thought that I am gifted in any ways. So that was really hard to say your idea, that I could be also gifted because you do surround yourself with people that are like you. Exactly. So when I told you Alice, I found this topic, I think you might be one of us. What was your first reaction and how did you then explore this topic?
The first reaction was, are you sure? Really? That was the day we went on the walk. Do you remember? I remember when you took the book with you and I was like, no, do you really think so? And then we just had a little glimpse in the book and you read out two or three points and examples. What gifted means.
Cause gifted to me was always, oh yeah, that's a very high IQ or a painter or an actor or some, somebody like that. Me never, ever, no. I really found that out. I think through, through the book and through debt, key points they mentioned. And I think my biology definitely reflects who I am because I have always done a lot.
I'm interested in nearly everything. I always felt like a misfit in my life. I always had the impression that people do not understand what I mean. And I always felt completely unhumorous because I do not laugh about the same things other people are laughing about. So I always felt like an outsider and I have never thought about being normal. It was always completely clear to me that I am different,
but I have not known in which way I am different. And since I know that I am a highly sensitive person enter dime, multi talented or gifted or however you would like to name it. It feels different because it feels like there are people understanding my problems. I'm not the only person. And that feels really it's like, it's completely different. Cause it's,
it has so much to do with self-esteem. And now that I know who I am, I feel much better in myself. It's empowering. Isn't it? It is. Well, I'm so happy to have also let you're on this path of self-discovery on top of the conversion method, finding out what makes you happy, but also finding out sometimes also why certain things make you happy.
I think the why part is only answered once you dig into the giftedness. I think that the wire part is the, was the biggest sign for me because I was not the person answering a question. I was always a person that asked why, but why it has to have a reason. Tell Me more questions. Yeah. And I'm Not that superficial was my conclusion,
but the dime just gifted. No, that never came to my mind. And I think you you've mentioned before now. I just remembered that conversation as well. Like you also loved to talk as a child in the classroom. Like me, I was always tall and it was always reflecting badly on me. I was always scolded by teachers, but nobody ever asks,
why does kid talks so much? She used the chat, the book she's chatting all the time. Okay. So yeah, we just sent here out of the room in front of the door. Yes. Thank you so much. I spent half of my younger childhood in front of the door. That's how we got punished in Switzerland. You get sent in front of the door.
Thank you, Alice. It was such a pleasure talking to you. And I think people got inspired for 2022 to take action, even in a situation where we're still dominated by this pandemic, but your own space is something you can really take charge of. You can really make this space, your own. You can be on top of things. You can really make a difference.
You can go and declutter your closet if you're inspired and if you need help, you can reach out to Alice. And if you're not trying it, you will never know how it is. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye-bye bye. So as you see, there's so much to talk about and this topic and we only scratched the surface.
There's so much more to this method and I hope I inspired you to get yourself a vision for 2022 to really hone in who you want to be this year and also to try out like, don't take it too seriously. It's also a little bit of kind of like, yeah, trying out and see what works and take what, what you like from this episode and let everything else go.
So sometimes we also do need a little bit of chaos in our lives, especially when we want to be in a creative state. So only being in a steroid environment is not really helpful. And a bit of chaos can be very inspirational. So my favorite book is called messy. How to try in a tidy minded world by Tim Hartford. And I will also provide the link in the show notes.
So if you want to figure out like, okay, when is chaos actually something that is positive and when can being in a tidy space, be supportive of my needs, I can highly recommend this book. There's also an audio version available and it's just very entertaining. I laughed out loud so I can really highly recommend the audio version of this book and the topic of tidying and creative messiness inspired me to write my essay actually for a university course,
I took a couple of years ago and I see if I can also link that onto the show notes here. And the reason I love the Marie Kondo Method is because it's not about living in this space, sterile household, right. It's really, unless you really want to. And that sparks joy for you, but it's really about choosing intentionally what,
and also who you want to surround yourself with and to make decisions based on your personal choice factor. So it's really choosing what you want to keep in your life and then letting go of all the rest. So yeah, I really encourage you to figure out what sparks joy for you, how you want to spend your days in 2022. And if you're a gifted or a twice exceptional woman,
or I identify with the women experience in society, then I invite you to join our private Unleash Monday community. This community is hosted on MIT networks, which means it's a way from social media. So free from advertisement and free from other distraction, it is a safe and somebody mentioned brave space. I really love that. So it's a safe and brave space for personal development and to find like-minded women on your journey to discovering who you are and who you want to be as a gifted twice exceptional adult.
And yeah, we cover topics every month and we meet on zoom. So it's really small, but very, very amazing community. So the link can be found on the website at unleashmonday.com. And if this episode inspired you or helped you in any way, please subscribe to the podcast on apple podcast or wherever you listen, rate and leave a written review, or even shared with a friend who you think will get inspired as well.
So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this episode and I see you in two weeks. Bye.