I recently picked up the book by Kendra Adachi called The Lazy Genius Way, recommended to me by a friend. I found myself very intrigued by the title wanting so badly to figure out what being a Lazy Genius meant. Sounds like something I could get on board with. Although “lazy” usually has a negative connotation, I looked at it more as referring to the simple life. Think lazy Saturday mornings, lazy couch snuggles, lazy strolls, etc. You get the picture. Time for more of that. The title had me hooked.
Fast forward to finishing the book, which by the way, a totally lazy genius thing of me to do was to listen to the book on audio. I really want to talk about how this book and the principles within it that make up the Lazy Genius Way, changed my approach to simplifying life. I am all about a good hack or simplifying tips & tricks. Tell me how to make things easier and I am all ears. Thank you, Kendra, for writing this simplifying manifesto. She will never read this, but if she ever does stumble across my post…my Lazy Genius heart would explode. In order to entice you to read this book for yourself, I want to cover the ONE principle that blew my mind.
Decide Once
When I heard her say this, my jaw dropped. What do you mean decide once, I thought. Now that’s lazy genius. Finding myself thinking about all the tiny decisions that I have to make everyday and feeling overwhelmed at just the sheer thought of that. Decide Once? We can do that? Let me clarify. You know those decisions that come at you like a fast moving train? What to gift for a friend’s birthday? What to cook on Monday night when you have a full evening of activities? What to gift for teachers or daycare workers on those holidays that seem to creep up on you? What to wear? The list goes on.
Deciding once means identifying the pressure point or thing that stresses you out and making a hard and firm decision on it…ONCE. Let’s take a couple of the aforementioned questions for our examples:
Gifting: I always stress out when it comes to what to gift for a friends birthday, so I decided to Lazy Genius hack this by deciding once. A book and a cute coffee cup filled with my favorite things. I like this loose guideline because it allows me to customize it based on my current favorites and what I know that friend will love, but it provides enough structure to ease my stress around this decision. Sorry, friends that are reading, you now know what you will be getting. You can apply this to any gifting situation. Deciding once what you will gift for ________ gift. Insert any gift-giving situation and put the lazy genius spin on it.
Dinner: It’s no secret, I love cooking, but figuring out what to cook on busy nights makes me want to pull my hair out. And we’ve already got enough hair falling out over here, so let’s not do that. Mondays. Mondays are the day when almost everyone in our house goes back to school and work and our routine starts back up. This can feel hard. So I have decided to make Monday nights my Roasted Chicken Night. I know. I know. This doesn’t sound simple. But as Kendra says, “Decide what matters to you, and ditch what doesn’t.” And Food, my friends, matters to me. Our life revolves around it in a way. Roasted Chicken is one of the most simple and delicious meals I make. And I promise, it’s easy. Pre-prep all the chopped veggies and season up the bird and throw it all in the oven right when the kids get home from school so that we have time for the stuff that matters: each other. Monday dinner…decided once and handled. The Lazy Genius way.
The trickle down effect of deciding once is what really gets me. Making these small decisions (once) will save you so much time and headache in the future. You have now saved yourself wondering what to buy at the store. Saved countless hours of planning, prepping, and talking yourself out of things. It’s really a revolutionary, yet easy principle to apply.
Kendra is the queen of her philosophy “Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done” and for that I am grateful. Even though I am just dabbling into this way of life and principle, I feel like it’s given me the right mindset and shift to prioritize things and simplify areas of my life. I hope this will also help you in your journey to simplify. Now go read her book and embrace the Lazy Genius way.
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