The Lazy Genius Podcast - #35: The Lazy Genius Holiday Game Plan

Episode Date: October 16, 2017

It's possible to move through the holidays without going crazy. Your stuff and family are safe from your wrath if we can holiday game plan now! After you game plan, check out How to Plan Your Holiday Calendar and get practical. And don't forget your game plan cheatsheet! 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, lazy geniuses. You're listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today's episode is episode 35, Lazy Genius holiday game plan. Yes, it is barely the middle of October, but as of the release of this episode, Christmas isn't exactly 11 weeks. That feels really soon with Halloween, fall related activities, Thanksgiving. Christmas and any other holidays that you celebrate, I don't want any of us to let another festive season pass us by and leave behind a residue of mostly stress. It's like tensile and stress. I don't like coming to the end of the year. Super glad the next year starting. So the pitch for today is that we can indeed enjoy the holiday season. We can be present and we can still do all the things we're hoping to. We just have to. to be intentional. So over the next 12 weeks, because we're actually going to go into the new year, I know I said 11 weeks, but we're going to go into the first week of January, all things lazy

genius are going to focus on experiencing the holidays the way that you hope to without feeling overwhelmed, without missing out on things you love, without wanting to burn your Christmas tree in angry effigy. So in our playbook today, we're going to create a game plan. And the foundation of that game plan is choosing what matters. By the end of this episode, you're going to have a healthy, personal, intentional perspective that will carry you through the end of 2017 and keep you from going crazy. Okay. If you're a visual person, I've created a lazy genius holiday game plan cheat sheet at the lazygeeniescollective.com slash lazy slash holiday game plan. So listen to the episode, you can get a feel for where you're headed, and then that cheat sheet will give you

kind of a direct path to uncraising your holidays and help you choose what matters. That's the main idea today. The next three months will overwhelm us if we don't start out knowing what matters. Think of it like a buffet. My husband is obsessed with Golden Corral, so think of it like Golden Corral. The choices are endless. And the eating, strategies are plentiful, right? Some people get excited over the first thing they see in line and then they forget to leave room for what they love. You know, their plates too full by the time they get to the end of the line. Some people try little bites of lots of things to see what they like and don't like. Some other people never try anything new and they only get things that they love,

right? And then some people, no matter what they choose, just choose too much and end up making like cart me out in a wheelbarrow kind of joke, you know, as they leave the restaurant. No matter how you feel about buffets or go to corral, it's not the point. The analogy is relevant to this time of year. The choices of how to spend our time won't go away. They are so plentiful. There will always be a party, a way to celebrate, a new tradition to start. And if you don't have a soulful, intentional perspective, you're likely to miss out on some

of the things you love most about the holiday season. And when I say, like, soulful, intentional perspective, I don't necessarily mean, like, the intangible, like, family and thankfulness. You know, those things are obviously very important. They're great things. I do mean the practical things, the actual boxes on your calendar. So let's look at all the things during this time of year and actually choose what we want to do with intention. We want to do. We want to be. We want to to figure out what matters before it's decided for you by default. Now, before we continue, I want to admit I'm not very knowledgeable about winter holiday traditions outside of traditional Western Christianity, like, aka Christmas.

So if you celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanza, nothing at all, something I don't know about, I do apologize that this episode is definitely not skewed your way in terms of like the terminology and actual calendar dates. I do hope, though, that the perspective and approach to this season is relevant for anyone, no matter what you're actually celebrating. This works for anybody, no matter what you're celebrating. Okay, so being a lazy genius is being a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't, right?

Let's think about that for a second. I say that a lot. It's become, you know, it's the tagline, but to really think about that, in order to be geniuses about something, We need to know what matters, right? And if we want to create space in a naturally busy time, we need to know where we can be lazy. In other words, we need to know what doesn't matter. And maybe we think we have an idea intuitively in our heads, but unless we name those things, unless we specifically identify what our focus will be, the holidays will swallow us up.

So let's name what matters. In the show notes, There's that cheat sheet I mentioned that lists out just about everything that might matter during the next few months. This process could be as simple as going through that list and crossing off stuff and circling other stuff. So for Halloween, it's things like trick-or-treating, participating in your kids' class party, throwing your own Halloween party, making a creative costume, decorating your house, carving pumpkins, being at your house to give out candy for other trick-or-treaters, participating in your church's fall festival pumpkin extravaganza fest watching your favorite horror movie making creepy looking food that looks like eyeballs that's just Halloween stuff right and Halloween's the

tiniest of all that's coming you can't do all those things we can't we just can't do all those things and if you magically figure out how you'll be so tired it won't matter no memories will stick and being present will be a pipe drain if Halloween crafts don't really matter if they don't truly serve a purpose in your life or your family's life. Spending time on Pinterest searching Halloween crafts is being a genius about the wrong thing. So pick what matters and be a genius about that. Let's not get stuck in defaults. Okay, so again, an exhaustive list of things to choose and un-chews is on the website at the lazy genius collective.com slash lazy slash holiday game plan.

but let's talk for a second about how to figure out something like if something does or doesn't matter right how do we even really know i have three exercises that you can try first identify your big three what three things about the upcoming holiday season no matter the actual holiday let's just say from october to december what three things make you pull Right? Like if these things didn't happen, January will bring in a lot of sadness. You will be so very sad. It could be a home that looks super festive. Like that may make you so happy. A big family meal that lasts all day. Spending time in your community, serving people who don't have as much as you do, giving gifts that are meaningful and personal to the people you love, taking part in an Advent calendar as a family. Don't choose things you think you. you should. Don't make your big three things that you wish would be your big three. Like choose what is important now. Don't necessarily choose what was important when you're growing up or what your best friend does or anything else. You know what makes you come alive. Identify your big three,

the three holiday activities, experiences, feelings that make the season come alive for you. Now, I'm not saying you can't do anything but these three. You know that this is the limit. That is super not true. But knowing what matters most will help you create ample room for them to actually happen, right? That is where the magic needs to happen. That's where you need to focus your holiday game plan attention on those three things. Okay.

So that's the first idea. That's the first exercise. The second one is kind of the negative side of that. Identify your biggest, your three biggest frustrations. So same thing. When you think about the upcoming. holidays. What stresses you out? It could be, ironically, it could be the very things I just listed. Like a big family meal stresses you out because you feel insecure in your cooking.

Or giving gifts that are meaningful and personal stresses you out because you're on an extremely tight budget and only have a few dollars to spend per person and you're not very crafty and you don't know what to do. We're all different. So we can't move through this time the same. way, right? Identify what stresses you out. What's your biggest frustration? And then you can do one of two things once you name those frustrations. You can be lazy about it. That's the first one. You can be lazy about it. If sending Christmas cards stresses you out, don't do it. Skip it. Like skip the official photo shoot and hours of surfing through all the layout options on Snapfish or whatever it's called. So you can be.

lazy about that frustration, right? Like just skip the actual cards or skip doing them the way that you've always done them or the way that stresses you out. Okay. So that's one way that you can handle a frustration is to be actually lazy about it. And then the second way is you can figure out a way to be a genius about that specific pain point. If a big meal freaks you out, but you have to host because your parents' kitchen's being renovated or something. Okay. Open your home, but do a potluck, right? That's a way to be a genius about something that's stressing you out.

Everybody brings her favorite side and you do the turkey or something. Like try to find what that frustration is in that pain point. And if you can't be actually be lazy about it, then figure out a way to be a genius about it. Don't let the stress drown you. Get on top of it and be intentional. all. By the way, when I just said, and you can do the turkey, if you're like, I'm terrified. In a few weeks, as part of our giant holiday game plan for the next three months, I'll be sharing my Thanksgiving turkey recipe. And it is so easy and it is magically delicious. So don't be scared of the turkey. I promise. I got you covered.

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So when you name the frustration, actively choose to be lazy about it and maybe ignore it altogether, or intentionally be a genius about it and find a creative solution to that specific frustration. Otherwise, we just kind of blindly move through these weeks. We encounter things that really do frustrate and maybe even scare us sometimes.

And then we have no game plan. It's like they sneak up on us. Even though we know that that kind of thing could frustrate us, it sneaks up on us and it can be kind of crippling and it can make all the things that are important sort of disappear in the blind spots of being stressed out. Okay. We have, you do have a way of. recognizing, I guess is what I'm trying to say. You have a way of recognizing why you're suddenly

so stressed out. If you find yourself, like in your kitchen, like freaking out in the middle of November, you can go back to be like, hey, you know what, I identify these frustrations. I knew that this was going to happen. I knew that this is the kind of thing that made me feel wonky. What was the solution I created for this? Like, let's do this before it actually happens, right? So naming your frustrations and the things that make you happy now will save you later when you start to feel a little squirly and you can know, oh, I'm feeling stressed because my sister-in-law just hinted that she's not sure if she can host Thanksgiving this year and I'm internalizing that as a tremendous source of stress because hosting big crowd scares me. Like name the fear, name the fun, name what matters and what doesn't now and make a game plan around those things. It makes such a huge difference. And then finally, a third exercise to kind of help you figure out what matters and what doesn't,

and it's a good reminder as well for the whole season, is to create your own holiday manifesto. You can call it whatever you want, a purpose statement, a Christmas creed, whatever you want. But sometimes it's so valuable to actually write words that direct you to what matters, like a reminder. We have a family purpose statement that applies to our time and our home. in general, like all the time. I think having one for the holiday season would be a delight. Keep it really simple and probably short so you can remember it. But if you have a kind of like a mantra of sorts to come back to that would help you

as you start to get a little bit distracted and feeling overwhelmed, do that. Create that purpose, that mantra that can, you can come back to you to help you remember what matters and what doesn't matter. Okay, so now your wheels are probably turning on what matters and what does. What do you really want these next few weeks to look like to feel like to be about? If you're having trouble thinking about all the specifics, again, I have a cheat sheet for you. Such a long list of all the things that might matter and might not. Use it to inspire your big three, your holiday manifesto to name your intention for this upcoming season.

As we talk about a ton of different things over the next 12 weeks, having those priorities at the forefront will be such a gift to your future self. It seems so simple, like, well, these are the things I really want to have happen. But if we don't do that, if we don't set that as an intention, it's going to get lost. Because that buffet, man, if you don't go in to Goal and Corral being like, all right, I'm getting yeast rolls, I'm getting fried chicken, and I'm getting frozen yogurt. And I might fill in, but those are the things I'm definitely getting. If you don't go in with that, you're going to be like, ooh, jello, ooh, macaroni and cheese. And then there's no room left on your plate for the chicken. That is sad.

There should always be room for fried chicken. So let's name our intention so that it doesn't get lost by default. Okay, now before we go, I want to tell you what's coming over the next 12 weeks. What we are actually talking about, it's going to be spread amongst the podcast, the blog, Instagram, and the lazy genius mailing list, which I hope you're on. Because honestly, those emails have all the most important things in them. I really like to honor those of you who, trust me with your inbox and I want to give you emails you love getting. So if you're not on that

list, I encourage you to join at the lazy genius collective.com slash join. So here are all the things that are coming. We're going to talk about planning your holiday calendar. That's actually on the blog right now. So you could go read that now if you want. Budgeting. Decorating your home for the holidays. Hosting Thanksgiving. Shopping on Black Friday. How to handle family relationships during holidays, maybe hard conversations and weird uncles, gift ideas, Christmas music, hosting a holiday party, wrapping gifts, holiday traditions, cleaning up, baking, looking back at the year. We are hitting it all. We're really going to go all out so we don't get overwhelmed. We can figure out how to be a lazy genius about these things. Okay. So make sure you're subscribed to the podcast on your podcast

listening app of choice. I think they're called podcatchers. I don't know how I feel about that name. I feel like it's too cutesy, but it also is really great, right? So find it, subscribe in your favorite podcatcher. You can get on the mailing list so you don't miss any post or information because I will always link. I took a survey a while ago of my, of lazy genius readers.

And it was like a shocking number of people, like something like 80% of people. found out what was on the blog and the podcast through the email. Like that was kind of like their RSS feed almost is the emails that I sent every week. So if you are not on that mailing list, or if you get on that mailing list, you won't miss a thing. I'll tell you everything that's happening. And then definitely follow me on Instagram at The Lazy Genius because I do a live video every Thursday, 1215, Eastern Time, that is specific to the podcast episode of that week. And I also do a lot of Instagram stories that are, I hope, like, help you out in your home,

and your soul. Also, hopefully, make you laugh. Some people say it's their favorite thing I do, which is so very kind. I do hang out there a lot, so please come play on Instagram. So if you're connected with me in all those places, you won't miss a beat. You won't miss a beat. And this holiday season will be one of rest and fun and relationships and eating delicious food and not getting overwhelmed by what doesn't matter. I desperately, desperately hope that the 2017 holiday season is incredibly life-giving for all of us. So let's start now with our intention. Okay, before we go, let's do our lazy genius tip of the week. We, um, okay, so we all have like those bits and pieces of dirty laundry that show up in our main living area, right? Like random socks.

We use cloth napkins, so we kind of have those always around. Dish towels. Extra dish towels that you use to clean up a spill, right? You know. know what I'm talking about, all those little things. I didn't like walking to the washing machine every time I created or found a single piece of dirty laundry, which I realize is kind of lazy, like, just walk to the washing machine. It's not a big deal. But if I was in like the groove, you know, of cleaning the kitchen or something, like walking back and forth just kind of got me out of the groove. So for a while, what I would do is make a little pile of dirty clothes in the corner of the kitchen. And then I would walk them to the washer in one trip every few days

when I started to get tired of looking at them. But then I'd have a pile of dirty clothes in my kitchen all the time. You know, I was creating another problem until I had a brainwave. This is the lazy genius tip. I found a cute little, like in my closet, it was like a cute little galvanized steel sort of bucket thing. I already had it. And I just put it in the same corner that I usually put my laundry pile. And now it catches those little bits of laundry without making my kitchen look dirty.

It's just like a little pale for the laundry. So if you have a, and I know that there are some of you who have that little laundry pile because I've talked to you about it. If you have a little laundry pile that fits in your life practically but not visually, get a little cute container for it. It makes such a difference. And that is true of a lot of situations. Some of our frustrations are from something practical and helpful being visually gross, right? Like it works, but it just looks bad. So find a way to make something helpful cuter

because the lack of cuteness is sometimes the only problem, sometimes. So that's the lazy genius tip of the week. Let's get a bucket in your kitchen for your laundry. Okay, thank you so much for listening and being here today. Remember to check out the show notes at the lazygeemiescollective.com slash lazy slash holiday game plan. There you'll find the cheat sheet to set your holiday intention as well as some other resources for your holiday game planning.

And I'll include a spot there as well for you to sign up for the mailing list so you don't miss a single beat during our lazy, genius, holiday extravaganza three months. I so appreciate you listening. I'm so grateful and I will see you next time. Until then, remember be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Bye, guys. Have 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.