The Lazy Genius Podcast - #267 - Find Your Summer Reading Rhythm

Episode Date: June 20, 2022

My goal is that you listen to these next twenty minutes or so and you leave with the following pieces of information: what matters most to you about your reading over the next two or three months, an idea of how to find things to read that make sense for you, and a simple - I mean, ridiculously simple - summer reading rhythm. This is not me telling you what I do, expecting you to take the same approach.     Helpful Companion Links Anne Bogel’s podcast What Should I Read Next? Episode 213: Create a Summer Reading Club My two books The Lazy Genius Way and The Lazy Genius Kitchen Download a transcript of this episode. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon presents Laura versus Fruitflies. Swarming your fruit and terrorizing your kitchen, these little freaks multiply at a rate that would make a rabbit say, yo. Chill. But Laura shopped on Amazon and saved on cleaning spray, countertop wipes, and fly traps. Hey, fruit flies, your baby boom ends here. Save the Everyday with Amazon. Hi there, you are listening to The Lazy Genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 267. Find your summer reading rhythm. Before we talk about what that means, y'all, I have a cold that will not go away. If you follow me on Instagram at The Lazy Genius, you know that my family has been battling this thing for over a week now. I am so over.

I kept waiting for my congestion to go away so that I could record, and alas, it has not. So I am actually recording this less than 24 hours before it releases for you, so we are cutting it close. Also, there are some birds outside my office door that feel exceptionally loud to me. So I'm just acknowledging the odd audio companions that we have today, my cold and the birds. Okay, so on to reading. First, let's start with our goal. for today's episode. My goal is that you listen to these next 20 minutes or so, and you leave with the following pieces of information, what matters most to you about your reading over the next two to three months, an idea of how to find things to read that make sense for you, and a simple,

and I mean ridiculously simple summer reading rhythm. This is not your standard approach to to summer reading where I'm going to tell you what I do or what I will read so that you can copy it. That's not what we do here. We figure out a way for you to name what matters to you and then make the best choices to support it. The through line here isn't pretty much all of our lazy genius episodes. Name what matters to you. The tangible result of that is secondary and it's going to be deeply varied from listener to listener from person to person. My summer reading rhythm will look different from yours. But the process of us figuring out our rhythm, it's going to be similar. We're going to start from the same place. We're going to ask the same questions and we're going to apply the same lazy

genius principles. Our results will be very different, but our mindset is the same. So we're going to be a genius about the things that matter about our summer reading and lazy about the things that don't. So let's jump in. Let's start with what matters about your summer reading. two considerations to begin. First, live in the season. Live in the season is a lazy genius principle from the lazy genius way, my book that I, the first book that I wrote. And the idea here is that the way you manage and experience your life is highly dependent on your season of life. If you are a working parent and your summer is spent getting everyone to their correct camp and then going to work and then getting everybody home just to figure out dinner and look at your children and be a

person and, oh wait, we have to start some laundry now. Like, it's a bummer, if not emotionally dangerous for you to think that somehow you can read four or five hours a day or read a dozen books over the summer or whatever expectation you might carry. If your season of life is full, you can't expect the same results as someone whose season of life has more opportunity to read, right? The same is true for, let's say, a parent at home with little kids. The likelihood that your reading routine will include a long stretch of time leisurely reading on the couch. That is as tiny as your humans are. Long stretches rarely exist in the life of a parent at home.

But spurts might. It's a season of life for spurt reading, not a long stretch, and that will likely impact the types of books you choose. You probably don't need to read intense books that take a lot of time and energy to sink into or get into. You need books that skim the surface or move pretty quickly, or maybe you need to read short stories or essays or look for books with short chapters. Does that make sense? Your season of life will greatly impact how you read. So you need to adjust your priority, that thing that matters most about your reading, to fit your season of life.

Otherwise, you're going to make an idealistic list of books to read that is too long, or not the right genre, or imbued with sadness, because they're the kind of books you used to have time for, but you just don't anymore. You see what I'm saying? Be honest about your season of life and live in it. Live in the season. This is imperative when figuring out what matters to you about anything and also about your

summer reading rhythm. It won't always be this way, but it is this way right now. Another thing to pay attention to before you name what matters are your frustrations around reading. Anne Bogle asks this question of all her guests on her podcast. What should I read next? And I will borrow that question right now. What do you want to be different about your reading life? What do you want to be different? So what's frustrating? Maybe it's momentum. Maybe you just can't get any. Maybe it's that you have this huge stack of books you want to read, but you can barely finish one a month. Maybe it's that you just can't get into the books you are reading or your only source of reading is a book club

that hasn't picked a winner in months. Maybe it's that you usually read before bed, but lately you've been so tired that you're falling asleep after only a couple of pages. What is frustrating about your reading? Or more positively, what do you want to be different in your reading life? Answering that question and acknowledging and welcoming your season of life, it will hugely impact your summer reading decisions. Those two questions will change everything. So the goal after you consider those two things, after you consider your season of life and what you'd like to be different, is to name what matters most about your summer reading. And even more so, the goal is to have that thing

be fairly small and specific. If you say, that what matters most is that you want to read more. That is beautiful, but it's also huge and kind of vague, right? You need to have something that is more specific and much smaller. Maybe it's, what matters to me is I'd like to ideally read at least five minutes every single day. That's small and specific, right? Instead of saying that what matters most is that you have fun reading, make it smaller and more specific by naming what specifically makes reading fun for you. Is it the actual book? Is it the length of time you're able to read? The setting or the environment that you're reading in? Name that thing and that will help you focus your priority

a little bit more. So instead of what matters is that reading is more fun, you can say, what matters is that I only read books that make me laugh. That's what matters right now. for this summer, for this season. So that is your background on how to name what matters about your reading. Consider your season of life, consider your frustrations about reading, and then name what matters and consider if what matters is a little too broad. Now, if you're like most people, you might have a few things that could matter. That's normal. We're very good at trying to make everything matter, right? And that includes reading. So if you're looking at a pretty hefty list of things that you want to matter about your reading, remember our path to narrowing it down to one thing.

It is just a simple process of elimination, right? Write down what could matter to you. Once you see that list, circle what really does matter, you know, what rises to the top. And then from those few things, what one matters most. The others don't want. get the boot. But only one thing can be the engine. Only one thing helps you make better decisions for yourself. I will use my own reading as an example here. Here are some of the things that do matter to me about my summer reading. First, I want to read a lot of books. I just love tearing through books. I have so many on my shelf and new ones to get on a wish list and a full Kindle. New books come out all the time. I just want to read as many books as I can in my lifetime. I'm obsessed with books, reading as my

favorite hobby. Now that's one thing. Okay, a second thing that matters is momentum. If I lose reading momentum, I'll find another hobby to fill my free time that isn't reading, which I don't really want to do. I love reading too much. It's my favorite thing, but I am a momentum reader. A third thing that matters is the kind of books I read, the genres and the styles. If I sort of like a book or think it's just okay, I don't reach for it as quickly and I have a greater chance of losing momentum. And that is true, generally speaking, of various genres and types of books. And then a final thing that matters is that my kids see me read and that they live in a home where

books and reading are just part of the family culture. Now, of those things, what matters most? For me, it's that I read the right kind of books for me. And let me explain why. If a book is too hard to get into or get through or even it's just okay, it impacts every other thing that matters to me. the kind of book I read impacts everything. It impacts my momentum. It impacts how many books I actually read and get through. And it impacts whether or not my kids see me excited to read because of what the book actually is. The kind of book I read is the most important thing about my reading life. It matters most, especially this summer. So that will impact everything else. And the same is true of you. So what matters most to you. Think about that for a bit, and then we'll talk about creating a summer

reading rhythm around that. We'll be right back. Aw isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dacker Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of awe. A special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Okay, now we're going to use our five steps to lazy genius anything, the same five steps that are in my most recent book, The Lazy Genius Kitchen. We have already done step one, which is to prioritize, or name what matters. Next is step two, essentialize. When you essentialize, you get rid of whatever is in the way of what matters. And you also

need to make sure you have what you do need to support what matters. So for me, what's in the way? Books that don't fit my reading vibe right now. I quit books all the time. But that happens less and less because I know what I like and I rarely pick up something that doesn't seem right up my alley. now in my season of life, I don't want to think too much when I'm reading, at least in fiction. Nonfiction's different. So I consistently get rid of books or even skip reaching for books that aren't my current reading vibe. I let go of historical fiction and family sagas. I let go of books described as moving, epic, gripping, heartbreaking, or painfully beautiful. no thank you. I have no doubt those books are all of those things and somebody else's favorite.

But I am essentializing my reading, which means I am getting rid of what's in the way of what matters to me in this season of reading. So those are words and genres that are not for me. But another step in essentializing is making sure that you have what you do, need. I've spent years, years putting words and feelings to my reading life. I like propulsive, cinematic, atmospheric books. I like great stories. I like quick writing. I like to laugh. I like to gasp. I like a good downfall of the patriarchy. I love when I say out loud, I have no idea how they're going to get out of this. I have words and genres I look for that I know will be at bare minimum a great read for me, if not a favorite book. I look for words like fast-paced, atmospheric,

dark, quirky, funny, propulsive. Those are my favorite words. I love books with those words in the description. I also, these are some weird ones, but it's true. I love. I love. I love books set on college campuses and at circuses. I don't know. I love magical realism. I love sci-fi, especially if there is a mystery involved. I love thrillers. And I love a dark fairy tale.

Like, I love dark fairy tales. Good golly. Now, knowing those genres and those words, especially, are so helpful to me. maybe there's a novel that's technically literary fiction or historical fiction, which I usually don't do, but they're described as fast-paced, atmospheric and dark. I might actually pick that up. Those words really matter. So this is a way that you too can essentialize your reading, assuming that whatever matters most to you has a little bit to do with the kinds of books you want to read. You can name words or genres that are and are not right for you right now. If you don't know

what those words and genres are, you can look up a few of your favorite book titles that you've already read that really capture what you love to read and then check out the descriptions of those books. Notice the words that you see. And if those words resonate with your reading or not, Maybe even you can write them down somewhere so you know what to look for. It's like you're gathering intel on your own reading needs, and now you're even more prepared as you look for what to read, particularly this summer. Now, one other thing I essentialized a while ago, but is worth mentioning, is that I got read of the pressure to finish a book if I'm not into it.

If I want momentum, if I want to read as much, many books as possible. A slog is never worth it. Even for a book that might be for everyone else. I quit often. I said that already, but I'm saying it again. I let go of the pressure to finish every book that I start. So based on what matters to you in your reading life, especially in this upcoming summer season, what do you need to get rid of and what are you missing? Now the next step is to organize or put everything in its place. This can be for your actual books, for your time related to books, for your TBR list of what's coming up, what you want to read, how you log what you read. You can organize or put just about anything in its place. Now maybe you need like a singular little stack or a

basket or a bag a place that has the books you for sure want to read this summer. Maybe you need to choose when you will read and put those reading minutes in their specific place. Put them in your lunch break in the morning when you first wake up while you're drying your hair. Or listen to an audiobook instead of a podcast when you take a walk. Maybe you can never keep track of what books you have on hold at the library or the one you're going to borrow from that friend that you keep hearing about. So you could put a list of books that are probably coming your way on a piece of paper on your fridge. or in a notes app or something, what do you need to put in its place so that you have what you need when it's time to read? For me, and we are doing this for the whole family, we're going to have

a summer book basket. Whatever books we're wanting to read during the summer, they go in the basket. That way all of us know exactly where to go to find our next book instead of being overwhelmed by an entire bookshelf, which is easy to do in our house. We have a lot of books. Also, I'm going to talk about kids summer reading in next week's episode. But just so you know, it's not like I have a bookworm gaggle of children who are like staying up late with flashlights. There's a decent bit of teeth pulling to get these kids to read. But it's still worthwhile in our house to encourage them to. But just so you know, next week, I will talk about the children. dread specifically. Okay, the fourth step in this process is to personalize. You have named what matters.

You've gotten rid of what's in the way. You've put the rest in its place. And now you need to feel like yourself. I am not sure that there is a more unifying and then simultaneously divisive topic than books in reading. People can be really passionate about their own reading likes and experiences, including me. And it's easy to feel like whatever we choose to do for ourselves isn't enough or that it's weird or too different or not smart enough or not current enough. There is a lot of pressure or can be when it comes to our reading. And that's why we personalize. That's why we personalize. That's why we seek to feel like ourselves. If you need to read in the same chair with the same candle and the same blanket to really get the most out of your reading time, do it.

If you only want to read super literary books because you're with toddlers all day and you want to read something that makes you feel like a grown up with a brain, do it. If you only want to read audiobooks this summer because you're still working and commuting and it's even busy. than usual because of the different routines of your kids during the summer compared to when they're in school, do it. If reading itself makes you feel like a shell of a person because you just don't have time. So you have just one novel you plan to take on vacation in July and that's it for your summer reading. Do it. You need to feel like yourself. So however, whenever, wherever, whatever you read should help you feel as much like yourself as possible during this next season, even if those things are not for everybody. And the fifth and final step is to systemize.

You want to keep things in a flow. If that is important to you to have a reading rhythm, as opposed to bringing a single novel on vacation, which again is perfectly lovely, then what lazy genius principles can you use to keep that rhythm going? Let's talk about a couple. You can decide once. I am only reading from this stack. I am only getting books from the library. I will read from 12 to 1 every day.

I will set one 20-minute timer to read every day. I will whatever the thing is. Decide one time, one thing about your reading, them this summer, just this summer, and keep doing it until it doesn't serve you anymore. That principle can keep you in a flow. Another principle is to build the right routine. Let's remind ourselves about a lazy genius routine. It is not a certain number of steps in a certain order every single day.

A lazy genius routine is an on-ramp to a particular feeling or experience. what are you wanting to feel or experience when you sit down to read when it's time to choose your next book when you remember what you've read this summer what do you want to feel or experience build a routine that takes you there but the great thing is that you don't have to do seven steps to get there you could some days but you could also just do one thing One reading routine I have all year round has to do with evening reading. My longest stretches of time to read happen at night. I work during the day and I usually read during my lunch break,

but the majority of my reading time with a book in my hand happens at night. But evenings can distract me and be a time suck, right? That's true for all of us, I think. things like if the main part of my house is messy, I'm going to tidy it. If the TV is on, I'll watch whatever somebody else is watching. If I'm using my phone to scroll Instagram, which is totally fine and normal, it's hard to extract myself from that momentum and read. So here's where I want my routine to take me. I want to be excited to read after Andy goes to bed. The boys are still up for a while, but they don't spend as much time with me as she does.

So once I leave her room, I want to practically skip to my book and sink in. Okay, what can I do to help that happen? What routine can I begin to practice that will take me to that feeling? Well, if I skip into a messing living room, for me, the skipping stops. that means that part of my routine at the end of the day is to tidy. And honestly, I make my kids do it since it's their stuff anyway. They have screen time while I cook dinner, okay? At least on summer days when we're not at the pool for dinner. And before they're allowed to start that screen time, they have to tidy. It's one of our house rules. So once we start dinner, the main area of the house is tidy. Now, they rarely make a big enough mess after dinner that warrants a huge tidy. So most of the time

when I'm heading back with Annie to start her bedtime routine, there's nothing to tidy. And if there is, it's like a random book or sock or something, just line around and I yell for a kid to come get their thing. But I usually walk into a tidy living room after Annie is asleep, which matters to me. It does. It's okay if it matters to you and it's okay if it doesn't. But tidiness matters to me, not cleanliness, but tidiness. I want it to feel tidy and cozy and welcoming and like home as I sink it to my reading. Now another thing is the lighting in the living room. This might make me sound more intense than I already am, but I don't mind. Lighting matters to me. I don't love overhead lights, so I will usually have all the lamps turned on before I take Annie back to bed. They're actually

probably already on, if I'm honest, but walking into a room that's lit in a way that I find personally inviting, it helps me. It helps me sink into that reading. So that's part of my routine too. Now, what about the actual reading? The singular thing that I can do that gets me into that sinking into a book at night feeling is reading while I'm in Annie's room waiting for her to fall asleep. She likes to have me with her while she goes to sleep and I don't mind. It's really sweet actually. She falls asleep pretty quickly and it gives me a few minutes to begin my reading. I bring my Kindle in there with me and I read and then I keep reading. I walk into that probably tidy. warmly lit living room and I sit down and start reading. It's an easy on-ramp to that feeling.

So for you, what is a super simple way you can start small in building some kind of summer reading rhythm that matters to you? Put the book by the bed or in your pool bag. Set a reminder on your phone. Have a family reading hour or half hour at home. Take a family reading hour. Take the kids to the library and read your own book while they browse. Decide once to read while your tiny kids take a nap or while you're on your lunch break at work. Pick one small thing to help you prioritize whatever matters most in your summer reading. Now as we close, this feels important to say. Reading only has to matter if you want it to. Some seasons are not. suited for reading. Some people don't love to read books. It's okay if you don't. There is nothing

wrong with you. But if you do love it and you aren't reading as much as you'd like, hopefully these five steps will help you figure out what you need. Okay, before we go, because I'm having trouble breathing, let's celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week it is Catherine, whose last name, I do not know. I'm so sorry, Catherine. But Catherine sent me this. And Catherine sent me this just as my neighbor started revving his motorcycle engine. So we'll add that to the birds in my voice. I'm so sorry, everybody. Okay, so this was Catherine's message to me. My LG moment. I have two very young girls and their bows were always everywhere and never made it back to their rooms. We had to go upstairs as we were running out the door to grab one every.

time. I now have a pretty bow bowl on my entryway table and that is just where we keep them. Everyone knows where to find them and where to put them back. Easy to grab as we head out the door. I love this, Catherine. This is putting everything in its place based on what matters to you. If having the bows by the door matters, if not being rushed leaving the house, if that matters. Storing the bows in a bowl by the door, it makes way more sense, way more sense than keeping them in the girls' bedroom or in the bathroom or where people normally store bows. Again, I really love the simplicity of all of these lazy geniuses of the week. There's such simple solutions that make a huge difference. And that's what this life means, y'all. We don't have to build a big machine.

you just notice what's annoying you and you put a bowl of both by the door done congratulations katherine on being the lazy genius of the week that is it for today everyone thank you so much for listening for your patience with my voice hopefully it would be better next week we'll see but until next time be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't i'm kendra and i'll see you next week if you ever felt like you were living just a b or b plus life It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life,

you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves.

Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.