Suppose you want to reorganize your pantry. You might research organizational systems, pull everything out, dust shelves and canned goods, check expiration dates, sweep, buy cute containers, make labels, and spend the better part of a day, if not days, placing items in just the right order. And then you get frustrated when that order is not maintained.
Or you might go the opposite extreme and decide nobody has the time and energy for that.
Kendra Adachi calls these the "genius" and "lazy" approaches. She proposes a happy medium: that we be geniuses about what matters and lazy about what doesn't. She shares thirteen principles for implementing this in her book, The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done.
For those of us who tend to make any small need into a major project, Kendra says, "When you care about something, you try to do it well. When you care about everything, you do nothing well, which then compels you to try even harder. Welcome to being tired" (p. 11. Kindle version).
On the other hand, "Little did I know you can be just as exhausted from not trying as you can from trying too hard. Managing apathy and survival mode takes as much energy as managing rules and perfection" (p. 15).
One of her premises is that there is no one right method or tool that will appeal to and work for everyone. If we're to be geniuses about what matters, that will differ from person to person.
She mentioned that she likes to make bread. She cares about it and puts a lot of effort into it. But it's fine if others have no desire to make bread and buy the bargain brand.
She likes comfortable clothes in neutral colors and doesn't like top spend a lot of time on clothing decisions. But she acknowledges that others like to pill out five different outfits before they decide what to wear, and that's fine.
That's why she comes back again and again to acknowledging what's important to you, not Instagram or the neighbors or whoever.
Some quotes that stood out to me:
I want to stop judging women who have it all together, assuming they have something to hide. I want to stop applauding chaos as the only indicator of vulnerability (p. 16).
You might think a routine is nothing more than doing the same things in the same order every day, but that's not the whole story. Routines are meant to lead you into something else (p. 74).
It's easier to clean up a cup of spilled milk than it is to mend a second-grader's hurt feelings (p. 89).
House rules are about connection, not protection. They keep the first domino from tipping and knocking over a lot more (p. 99).
The goal isn't to maintain control but to be in a better headspace to engage with what matters---namely, your people (p. 99).
You can celebrate where you are without being distracted by where you're not yet (p. 210).
You're tired because you're trying to overcome the world. but we can take heart because the God of the universe has already done that (p. 211).
Though this book is not advertised as a Christian book, and the author doesn't base her principles on the Bible, a few sentences like that last one are sprinkled through the book.
One thing I loved about the book is the recap statements at the end of each chapter. I get frustrated wishing I could retain everything I read from nonfiction. Having the key points collected at intervals helps me pull things together at the end of each chapter plus provides a quick place to review.
Kendra writes in an easily understandable and relatable way. Don't miss her footnotes---many of them are funny asides.
My only minor criticism is that the explanations and examples seemed perhaps a little overdone in places. But I suppose a wide variety of examples makes the book applicable to more people.
Kendra also has a Lazy Genius Podcast, but I have not listened to it yet.
This book was all the rage a few years ago. I kept seeing it mentioned everywhere. I was intrigued, but didn't get around to it. I'm glad I finally did.
(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)
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