The Lazy Genius Podcast - #278 - How to Manage Your Time This Fall

Episode Date: September 5, 2022

It’s Labor Day here in the US, and fall is decidedly about to start. We’re eager and excited, going up the hill of the first drop of the fall roller coaster and super pumped. But, once we crest that first peak, it’s over. All we’re doing is screaming and hoping we don’t die. So before we start screaming, let’s get some stuff in place so we can manage our time this season.   Helpful Companion Links The Lazy Genius Way (where the Lazy Genius principles live) and The Lazy Genius Kitchen Mildliner highlighters Get the Latest Lazy Letter 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

Hey 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 278. How to manage your time this fall. I'm so excited about this episode, you guys. So today is Labor Day in the U.S. So you might not be listening to this on the day it releases. But I think that at least here in this country, for a lot of y'all listening, fall really kicks off after Labor Day. Some of you have, have been in school for a month already, but pretty much everybody is back the day after Labor Day. And even if you don't have kids or have any real tie to the school system, you feel the transition of fall. I have said this before, but pools are closed. The pumpkin spice latte came out last week, y'all. And even seeing September on the calendar, it feels decidedly fall. The transition is real, no matter who you are. Now, I know a lot of you really love this transition, or at least love many parts of it. There is an energy and an eagerness around getting back into a routine, getting kids out of the house, getting to wear sweaters eventually. For a lot of y'all listening, I really think there's a lot

of safety and comfort in the transition into fall. It's not that summer is unsafe or uncomfortable, except for the heat part, but for the majority of you, I think while you enjoy the summer season, I think you find a lot of relief when the fall season, even if it's still 90 degrees, is finally here. Now, here's the problem. That eagerness and excitement, it often leads to big systems energy, right? We're so pumped to get into a routine. We're also remembering other fall seasons where we felt scattered or overwhelmed. And we're like, that's not happening to me again. And so we have January energy, you know, with new planners and plans. It is very easy to take our optimism about the fall and allow it to burn real hot as we create all the routines and all the systems.

We're picking our bag for fall, our place for backpacks for fall, our dinner queue for fall. I picked out a nail polish capsule for fall on Instagram a couple weeks ago. Like this is important work. This is good. So let that optimism and eagerness help you make some decisions. That's great. Let it help you decide once on things that could help you as you begin this next season. reason that matter to you. That's great. But that optimism, it burns hot and then it burns out.

You will not carry the excitement of the start of fall very far into September. It's like that idea that for most things you buy, you will never be as excited about buying it as you are the moment you buy it. So if you're not gung-ho on a purchase in the moment, the excitement will only wane. It will only go down. Our hormones just make it that way. We get a hit from the excitement of new things and new seasons and new routines, but that hit does not last. It will burn out. I know that there is a lot going on for all of you probably. You have jobs and hobbies and friendships and tiny humans and big humans with activities. You have meals to cook and houses to clean and holidays to plan for, which I know sounds crazy, but they sneak up fast, you guys. You have a lot of

lot to manage. And in order to manage it well, to get your stuff done, to feel like yourself, to invest in what matters, you have to be intentional. And you have to be intentional now. Like, I want you to be intentional now before things really, really take off. That's why we're doing this today in the beginning of September. So that's where we are, right? We're eager and excited. We're going up the hill of like that first drop of the fall season roller coast. you know, we're super pumped. Our arms are up. But once we crest that first peak, y'all, it's kind of over. All we're doing is like screaming and hoping we don't die. So before we start screaming, let's just get some stuff in place, you know? So here's what I want us to do. We're going to follow the five

steps that I lay out in the lazy genius kitchen of all places. That is a pretty rad book that I wrote if you want to check it out. But we are going to use the five steps to lazy genius hour time. Those five steps are prioritize, which is name what matters, essentialize, get rid of what's in the way, organize, put everything in its place, personalize, feel like yourself, and systemize, stay in a flow. Now, if you know that there is a specific area of your life, of the time that you manage, that really needs a good dose of lazy geniusing specifically, you can just apply those five steps to that particular thing. You can lazy genius anything.

And by using those five steps in their order, you really can find a great solution that works for your particular challenge right now in this season based on what matters to you. So my first suggestion is to just follow those five steps for something small if you have something small, especially if you already feel like you have a decent handle on a lot of things happening in your life. maybe you've been lazy geniusing things for a while. So a lot of your tasks and energy, they've already been batched or automated or built into the right routine or decided once or whatever. Like you already have a rhythm with a lot of things. So if that's the case, you can just use the five steps for whatever smaller piece still needs a rhythm. Now, if you're like, I don't think I have, I don't think I have rhythms

anywhere. Or you feel like starting small is really annoying advice, which it kind of, it kind of of always is annoying advice, even though it's one of the best lazy genius principles there is. And you need to start on a broader scale, right? Which is very real. That's a very real thing. So I want us to do that today. Like right now, we are going to start big, which is not usually how we start anything here. But sometimes we need a bigger start. We need a bigger picture before we start making smaller decisions. Okay. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to follow the five steps, but I'm going to give you some specific direction and how to apply them from a, like a time management approach, okay? And you will probably enjoy having some paper for this.

So step one is prioritize. Name what matters. We always start here. So I want us to look at September and maybe October, okay? When we're talking about managing our time, let's focus on the first half of fall before all the crazy holiday stuff might start for at least a lot of you listening so what matters during this time during september and october what is the priority it could be an actual task it could be a feeling it could be rest it could be figuring out how to manage being a sports mom hey Aaron moon without turning into a tissue paper thin version of yourself that is like one drop of rain away from disintegrating into nothing, you know? What is the priority for the next two months, not for the rest of the calendar year or the rest

of the school year or the rest of your life, which we kind of do that sometimes? What matters most about the next two months? Now, if you're like, I don't know, here's a reminder of how to name what matters. write down everything that could matter, everything that could. Like no rules, really. Just write down everything that could. Then I want you to cross out all the things that you're like, no, now that I see it all together, those things don't really matter.

And land on what actually does matter. What does? And then from those things, maybe you circle the one thing that matters most. You can still make a few things matter across the two months. But having one priority as the lead, it helps you make better decisions. So some examples. It could be what matters most is that you are not out of the house more than two evenings a week. It could be that you need to go to bed by 930 half of the week because you're trying to prioritize sleep.

It could be that dinner is crazy easy. And if crazy easy means very repetitive or a lot of takeout because of all the sports, and you only have like one home-cooked meal a week, that's what matters, right? So in this season for the next two months of all the things that could matter, name the two or three things that really do, and then highlight the one that matters the most. We'll be right back. Amazon Presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flame thrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk.

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You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Next up is step two, essentialize. Essentialize is to get rid of what's in the way of what matters and to make sure you have what you need to support what does. So have what matters and get rid of what does. Here's what this looks like when we apply it to time management. You're going to look at what you're doing, how you're spending your time. Because that's the point here, right?

We're talking about time management. We're talking about figuring out how you spend your time. So when you look at that, when you look at those tasks and appointments and commitments and commitments and rest and fun and all of that, I want you to try labeling everything with one of three things. Let it go, make it easier, or make it matter. Let it go, make it easier, and make it matter. So if you want, you can actually write down everything that you spend time on or are considering spending time on for the next two months in like big brain dump fashion, in no particular order, right? Just write down everything you spend time on. There will be big

categories like work. There will be tiny things like schedule flu shots for yourself and your humans. You'll put meal things on there and caring for yourself and homework and maybe specific errands and events that are coming up or projects you're working on. Even things like hanging out on Instagram or reading. Don't overthink it. Just write it all down. Now you might end up breaking a few of those things down further, maybe later in this process or even once you write it down in the moment, but for now, just basically just write whatever comes to mind. Okay? Then we're going to essentialize. You can use colored pens for this. You can use mild liners, which are my favorite highlighter, like three colors of it. You can use symbols. You'd use whatever you want. But with

some visual distinction, I feel like I need to say you can also use a spreadsheet for my spreadsheet friends. So many of you all love your spreadsheet. So this is a great, a great chance to build one. Okay. So I want you to choose some sort of visual. distinction, whatever it is. And I want you to mark all the things that you spend time on with let it go, make it easier, or make it matter. And again, this is for the next two months. That's it. Now, let it go. Let's talk about let it go for a minute. That could mean dropping something altogether. For me, I was very much considering joining the board of directors for the middle school band boosters because my oldest is like super in a band. I am thrilled with it. I am thrilled with

that and I want to help build up the boosters after a season of COVID, you know, that does matter to me. Like I want to be part of that. But when I looked at my calendar this fall and all the things that I have going on, especially for the next two months, things I've already committed to and knowing that one of my priorities is to be home minimum five nights a week, like that's one of my things is like no more than two nights a week out, like by myself. I couldn't commit to another thing.

I just couldn't do it. I had to let it go completely. I had to email the band director and say, I know I expressed a lot of interest in this. I know we've exchanged emails about the possibility of this, but I just can't commit this year. I had to completely let it go. Now, letting something go could also mean letting it go into the hands of someone else, right? An example of this in our house is laundry. I do not have a system for laundry because cause does it.

I would not write that down on my time brain dump list on my time list because cause does it. I used to do it. I used to have a system for it. I even have episodes about it. But once I started working more like here in this space and our kids got older with, you know, more things happening after school, which I'm handling because I'm the parent at home until dinner, right? Because he works until 5.5.30. It just makes sense to let that go into the hands of my husband. So letting go doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't happen at all. It just means you are not doing it. So on that list, on your time list highlight or mark what you can let go now in a different color or with a different symbol or in a

different column or whatever you want to do mark what you want to make easier maybe it's grocery shopping or meal planning maybe it's getting kids to do their homework maybe it's winding down at the end of the day instead of getting caught up in your to-do list after everyone else has gone to bed. What do you want to make easier for the next two months? Don't forget that last part. Mark those things down. And then finally, mark what you want to make matter. What gets your genius energy. What gets priority? What gets a little extra time? What matters enough that other things will orient around it. And if you have things on your list after that, after those three categories, that are not marked, that you're not letting go, that you don't need to make easier and that you

don't need to make matter, I think you've already systemized those things. That's my guess. Is there already in a flow? You don't need to necessarily give them one. Okay. So, now, quickly look back at your list of priorities. Like what matters in step one with prioritize. What matters most to you over the next two months? Okay. I want you to remember that. Remember those, one thing and then maybe the couple things that like do matter a lot and then look at your time list is anything missing is there anything you need to add to your timeless to support what matters to you if rest matters most to you like let's say that's your priorities like you need to rest but you have nothing on your time list that involves rest for yourself or your family that is

intentional that's intentionally restful you need to add that to your timeless if what matters is that you spend time with people intentionally, like socially, and you don't have that on your list of things you already do. You need to add it. You need to add it to your timeless because it matters. So before you move on to step three, make sure you have as much essentialized as possible, meaning you have things that you're not doing, that you can let go, or things you need to add that don't exist yet. But you still want to prioritize them now, right? Okay, so you're going to essentialize by brain dumping all the things. You're going to make sure you have everything listed that is required or helpful for what matters,

and then you're going to mark your things as let it go, make it easier, or make it matter. Now, step three. Step three is organize. Put everything in its place. We did a little of that, actually, with the three categories. We kind of put them in a like a little bit of a place. But we're going to really put things in their place right now. for things that you are letting go,

I want you to go ahead and do it. I want you to go ahead and let it go. Make a list of like the emails to send or the calls to make or the subscriptions to cancel of the things you're letting go. Or just choose mentally. We're not going to worry about that right now. And if you're letting things go into the hands of someone else, write down the task of calling a house cleaner,

talking to your partner or your teenager about taking care of this one thing, talking to your boss about changing a particular task that you have accidentally been given and are responsible for because someone from your team was let go and a new person was never hired and you're now doing the work of that person but it's not really yours and you're not being compensated for it and have that conversation right make the list of what you need to do to fully let go of the things you want to let go of and that list is likely pretty concise and specific. Like you don't need to figure out a system for letting something go. You just do it. It might take one thing, but you just do it. So make that list of the things to do to let things go.

Now for the rest, for the make it easier and make it matter lists, here's how I want you to consider organizing those things. Ready? I want you to put those things either in a routine or on the calendar. And here's why. Our default for a lot of things. especially things that might bring a stress that are very regular and repetitive, like meal planning or house cleaning or whatever, is to just do it when we have time or when it's too urgent to ignore. Right? That is why when you do have free time and you really want to spend it reading or going up for drinks with friends or going to bed early because you love sleep or hanging out with your people outside or whatever it is. You feel guilty for

spending your free time on those things because your free time is where all the obligations happen because you have not put them in a place yet listen to me no time is free all time gets spent so be intentional about how you spend it instead of having the default of filling in free time with a lot of your responsibilities put stuff either in a routine or on the calendar The other default we have towards tasks and responsibilities that are overwhelming to us is that we wait for them to become urgent before we tend to them. A lazy genius principle of time management is to tend to the important before it becomes urgent. Urgency is highly stressful. Now, some of us definitely get things done on a deadline better than without one, but for the most part, like living in a constant state of urgency is not how we want to live.

Urgency has no flow at all. and our goal is to feel like ourselves in the flow of a life that matters. Now it doesn't mean we don't do things we don't enjoy or that we're not ever busy or even that we're not ever stressed. But if we're in a constant state of stress because we're always responding to the urgent because everything sort of becomes urgent because we haven't tended to it yet, we will not get anything that matters done, nor will we rest, nor will we have fun, without feeling guilty, nor we will have the energy to be a grounded, connected person.

Waiting for things to become urgent is not the path you probably want. So if our default responses to our tasks is to do them when we have free time or to wait for them to become urgent, and we now see that neither of those approaches really work well, our alternative choices are to put it in a routine or put it on the calendar. and this this goes for things that we want to make easier and the things we want to make matter. We make things easier by putting them into a routine or putting them on the calendar because we're not overwhelmed by the dread of when we'll do them. And we make things matter by putting them into a routine or putting them on a calendar

because we're giving them priority in our day or our week. So the act of putting things in a routine or on the calendar, it works for both lists. So now, look at your list of things that you do, like the one you already made. What can you automatically, the things that are highlighted or marked as, you know, make it easier or make it matter, what can you automatically put on the calendar? I have a lunch hour blocked out every Thursday. It is a repeated event in my Google calendar. That way I can have lunch with people who matter to me or just rest and read a book on my own.

So what on your list can be easily put on your calendar? Just put it there. Give it a place. And remember, this is for things that you want to make easier and things you want to make matter. Now what about the rest? How might you batch those things? Are there any tasks that matter or that you want to make easier that kind of go together? and since they go together, can you try building a routine around that group of tasks?

And remember, a routine can be daily, weekly, monthly, whatever works. And if it makes sense, once you have named important routines, you know, these important tasks that are done together around the same time every day, you can even put that on the calendar. You can name the routine and put that routine on your calendar. Block out the time because remember, no time is free. I would say that that is a little bit more helpful if it is a weekly or monthly routine. So you don't forget about it. But you could do all of them if you want. But start small. One routine I really want you to consider. It kind of leads us into our fourth step, which is personalized, I want you to feel like yourself.

Now, there are ways to feel like yourself throughout the day, you know, and how you handle certain responsibilities. But for this conversation around time management, I want you to have a specific time every day where you feel like yourself on purpose. My guess is that a routine that might help with that is some kind of like evening decompression routine. You are not being productive anymore. No ma'am, you are instead coming back to who you are every single day. This is where you could group the things on your time list that don't really have a good place anywhere else in the day, like reading or watching a show you love or talking on the phone to a friend or taking a walk or working on your needlepoint or organizing a spreadsheet. But of something like

super fun, like a vacation you're about to take or like taking a long time on like really fun like skincare potion stuff you know create a decompression routine or an unproductive routine or a me time routine whatever you want to call it but feel like yourself every day make it matter i'm telling you now that you should make that one matter make yourself matter so you can be available and present for everyone else as well as for yourself during the rest of the day then step five after personalize is to systemize to stay in a flow there might be things on the calendar or in your routines that you just put together that you can apply lazy genus principles to some heavy hitter principle picks for time management are decide once start small ask the magic question and batch it

and also schedule rest that's like kind of obvious but please for the love do that okay that's a lot of words, but let's do a quick recap. You have a lot to do. Don't fall into the trap of letting early fall eagerness leave you out to dry in three weeks because you built the wrong routines and systems or you built them too big. Or that you fall into the unhelpful pattern of doing things in your free time, there's no such thing, or waiting for when they're too urgent to ignore. Instead, head. Prioritize what matters most the next two months, just September and October. Then brain dump everything you're doing so you can see it all in one place. You'll then essentialize by making sure you're doing things that support what matters and that you're letting go of what doesn't. You will do that

by marking those items on your list with three things. Let it go, make it easier, or make it matter. quickly take care mentally or logistically of all the things you can let go and then you're going to organize the rest by putting it into a routine or putting it on the calendar please make sure you're feeling like yourself through that entire process and in the actual application by planning a routine or something on the calendar where you are tending to your own itself then you can systemize this time management for the next two months by applying principal where they're needed. And that's how you manage your time this fall. Before we go, let's celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week, it's Kara Rosenberg Nichols. Kera shared this in my Instagram

DMs. Hi, Kendra. I wanted to share a proud lazy genius moment. A couple of weeks ago, I looked at our calendar and realized that we had seven, count them seven, seven, kids' birthday parties, ages three to seven. to go to in, you guys aren't ready, 10 days. Instead of stressing about a unique gift for each kid, I went to the dollar store and I purchased seven bags, seven generic kids' birthday cards, seven pairs of sunglasses, seven puzzles,

seven sheets of temporary tattoos, and seven fun towels. When I got home, I let my children sort out who was getting which items. We signed the cards right then and wrote the recipient's names on the envelopes. All seven bags are lined up by the door and ready to go as we head to each party.

deciding once saved me hours of headaches. Thank you, Kendra. Kara, first, props to you for going to seven kid birthday parties in 10 days. Good gracious. That is a feat in itself. And I love that you lazy genius, this gifting situation. You did decide once in that moment to get all the gifts and that is fantastic. I think this is an even better example of batching, right? Kara did so many things at once, buying gifts, organizing and wrapping them, signing the cards, all of it. I'm not sure how many of us will be in this particular situation with seven parties in 10 days, but I think it's such a great example of seeing when you're in a potentially stressful situation like Kara did of seven birthday parties and applying a lazy

genius principle or two to make it easier. She still had to do it, but she made it easier. So very good. Congratulations, Kara, on being the lazy genius of the week. Okay, y'all, that's it for today. If you are listening to this episode early in the week, this Wednesday, the latest lazy letter. That is my monthly newsletter. It is going to hit inboxes. So if you have any interest in getting that newsletter, you can sign up at the lazy genius collective.com slash join. Every month, I send a pretty lengthy email that people say all the time is their favorite email to get,

which is so kind. I love writing it. But I share a couple of more like thought out things that don't land anywhere else. They're generally fairly personal. things. I share all the reviews of the books that I read that month, any fun things that I watched or listened to or tried that I'm loving. And it's also a place where all lazy genius things you might have missed go. Podcast episodes, you know, interviews, other places, that kind of thing. This month, one thing that I will be sharing is the surprising morning routine that has

made my relationship with my oldest better. I don't like to put too many like super personal things on, you know, on the big internet. So the newsletter is where it goes. So if you're interested in getting that, you can sign up again at the lazy genius collective.com slash join. All right, guys, that's it for today. Thank you for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra. I'll see you next week. 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

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.