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.)
Stray Thoughts 
This sounds quite interesting, really. When I first saw the title I thought it was going to have to do with decluttering but I like the approach and thoughts behind her book. I’ll have to check it out. Thank you, Barbara!
She does talk about decluttering, but mainly in one chapter. She even has a chapter on friendship, which seems a little odd for this kind of book. But she brought out some good points there, too.
I listened to this book a few years ago and then bought it to read too. Her podcast refers to these principles a lot. While I don’t follow all the principles all the time, it does help me think about what I’m really trying to do in a situation. Thanks for sharing!
I popped over from Joanne’s blog.
Thanks for visiting! I liked her emphasis that there’s more than one way to do most things.
It has taken me a long time to realize that every little doesn’t have to be perfect, and there are times I still struggle with it. I like the premise of this book, and will add it to my reading list.
Olivia
It took me a long time to realize that, too. I’d get so frustrated, wanting perfection in everything but never achieving it. I like her premise that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, but we can emphasize what matters most.
I enjoyed this book, too! I ended up giving at as a gift recently.
This sounds like a book I’d really like… I mean I think I’ve learned most of it by now. I used to be a real perfectionist when my boys were little and we were just starting out with owning a home and I have gotten so much better about letting little things go and trying to just focus on those things that really matter to me.
I am a recovering perfectionist as well. 🙂
I remember reading this book a year or so back, but I don’t recall any of the main points so I’m glad to read your review here, Barbara. I’m with you on enjoying a recap at the end of each chapter. I just finished Adam Grants’ book Hidden Potential and he had a bulleted list at the end of the book summing up ALL the points. That felt like a bit much, but it would be nice to have that as a PDF to review from time to time. 🙂
Yes–a list like that would save me having to make notes of all the main points. 😀
I probably have ea lot in common with the author, as I would agree with most everything she says here. But this book sounds like just common sense to me??? Again, maybe that’s because she and I are already on the same wavelength (guessing as this is the first I have heard of her). I had to smile about researching various ways to organize a pantry — I would never do that. It seems like something you’d just organize as you saw fit? I share your frustration with wishing I retained more of what I read in nonfiction books.
A lot of it was common sense, and some of it I had read in other productivity books. I liked her sense of balance. For a long time, books like this focused on one particular best method of doing everything (makes me thing of the Fly Lady from a few years ago. I never read her stuff, but I knew so many people who followed her teaching religiously). Now the pendulum has swung to the other side, as it usually does, and we have people touting a “Bless this mess” mentality, with posts that share “authenticity” by showing just how much they *don’t* have it all together. I like this book’s emphasis that it doesn’t have to be either/or.
Ha ha — I guess I’m not enough into that world to see the “bless this mess” stuff 🙂 I do remember FlyLady and very briefly subscribed to her emails (before I tired of being reminded every 10 minutes to clean my sink!).
This sounds like a great book! I’m one of those who over organized things and then gets frustrated when they aren’t maintained. I do like the idea of having a core selection of clothing that you like. I seem to stay in the same color spectrums most of the time. I may just be on the lookout for this book. Thanks for the review.
I like these principles. They remind me of some financial principles I read some years ago about defining what’s really important to you and consciously sacrifice for those values.
I’m a big Lazy Genius fan … especially Kendra’s podcasts. They keep me company during supper cleanup on Monday nights and I find her insight to be wise, straight-shooting, common sense.
In a recent podcast she talked briefly about her Christian faith and the fruit of the Spirit. It was brief, but a clear testimony. Good to hear.
As always, thanks for a thorough, thoughtful book review, Barbara. Always so informative!
Pingback: May Reflections | Stray Thoughts
I read this a few years ago and thought it was helpful then. I probably should go back and review at least some of those recaps. There are probably a number of things that I meant to put to use and didn’t. 🙂