This guest column is part of our Organize the World series, in which we feature KonMari Consultants from the many countries (58 and counting!) where they’re changing lives through organizing. We’ve asked them to give us their unique insights into living a more organized life. 

Amanda Jefferson’s work proves exactly that: As a KonMari Consultant, she has applied the KonMari Method to everything from digital tidying to productivity to accepting that life is rarely black-and-white. She was one of the first Consultants to graduate from the KonMari Consultant Program, and today, she’s thriving with a bustling, multifaceted career that includes running a podcast: Good Enough-ish, co-hosted by her best friend — and organizing expert in her own right — Brooke Forry.

Together, they share insights on adopting systems and habits that streamline busy, joy-sparking lives while embracing the beauty of imperfection and “good enough-ish” results. We asked them for their insights on how to get comfortable with the unexpected, the KonMari way.

Here are Amanda and Brooke: 

Two years ago, over a plate of nachos at our favorite small-town hangout, we had an idea. What if we turned on a couple of microphones and talked about how we were coping with our hectic lives while running businesses and running after little ones? Would anyone listen? Would they relate? And what would we call it? 

We landed on Good Enough-ish, and it turns out, yes, people do listen. We have found ourselves a fast-growing and devoted audience who laugh and nod along with our stories, struggles, and successes.

The phrase “good enough-ish” has become shorthand for us, and for our affectionately-nicknamed lisheners, for what it means to handle what life throws at you with humor, grace, and a good dose of “done is better than perfect.” Good Enough-ish is a philosophy that marries productivity with self-compassion. We believe in:

• Looking for some joy in even the most mundane (or dreaded) tasks
• Accepting the tough times and making room to wallow when we need to… and then moving on
• Bribing, tricking, and rewarding ourselves to do what we need to do when we just can’t get moving
• Accepting failures with a good ol’ chuckle
• Creating fun & easy systems that our future selves will thank us for

Perfection is not the goal — instead, we encourage our lisheners to remember that life can be hard, and embracing the concept of good enough-ish can make it all feel just a little bit easier. But how?

While the KonMari Method focuses on sparking joy and decluttering physical spaces, kurashi extends this to the broader way of living. By identifying and cherishing what truly matters, we each can craft a life that reflects our values. This concept goes hand-in-hand with Good Enough-ish, where we get honest and vulnerable about the challenges we face as busy moms and business owners, identify and hold firm to our personal values, and find ways to say “no” to those things in our lives that don’t spark joy. We prioritize making room for the things and people that light us up (plus a little extra room to care for ourselves.)

Life is more of a juggle than a balance, as our priorities can shift, evolve, and completely change course at any moment. (Sometimes our lives feel like a bucking bronco!!) Our good enough-ish approach to juggling all that life dishes out is to remember an overarching goal of balancing work, self-care, loved ones, and our homes. These four broad categories are also at the root of Brooke’s Balance Bound Planner, and keeping our priority “buckets” front & center serves as a visual, easy-to-remember guardrail for staying — or getting back — on track.

As high-achieving, recovering people-pleasers, learning to say “no” to anything can be a challenge for us. Saying “no” and not feeling obligated to give a “why” can feel downright impossible… but as we grow older, more confident, and more empowered by our good enough-ish approach to life, we’ve worked to embrace the fact that “no” is a complete sentence. We don’t owe any explanations for choosing to leave more space for all the resounding “hell yes” joy-sparkers that help us inch towards the lives we want to live.

One thing we love saying “no” to is the friction that makes everyday tasks — and, ultimately, our lives — feel super frustrating. You know that cheap dustpan that makes sweeping super annoying when the kids or dog leave a trail of dirt? It’s time to replace it. That end table that you stub your pinky toe on three times a day? Reconfigure your furniture, so it stops constantly jumping out at you. Often 10 minutes of effort or $10-$20 spent on a replacement item can pay off in dividends. Do your future self a favor by noticing where friction exists in your everyday life and then, most importantly, figure out what steps you can take to remove that friction, for good.

When we spend too much time doing things that: a) we hate doing or b) aren’t very good at, we expend a lot of energy that could be going to much better things. We are living in the Land of the Shoulds, the land where you are supposed to just “suck it up,” and the land where you bang your head against the wall a LOT of the time. 

We believe in questioning the shoulds. We believe in getting a little bratty. We ask ourselves — what do I LOVE to do? And what am I actually pretty GOOD at? What if I spent MORE time on those things?

We lean into what is “fun & easy” to spend MORE time doing the things that really light us up and spend LESS time on the things that drag us down. 

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Marie Kondo asks: “What if every decision you made, every goal you set and every aspect of your life was guided by what sparks joy?” 

In a world that often demands perfection, we invite YOU to embrace imperfection, say “no” to anything that isn’t a “hell yes,” adopt systems and life philosophies that keep burnout and friction at bay, and focus on what’s most fun & easy in the pursuit of a good enough-ish life.