The Lazy Genius Podcast - #395 - How to Finish Last Minute Lists

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

December loves last minute lists, and they never seem to end. I’ve got some ideas for you to finish your last minute list without losing your mind. Helpful Companion Links Order my new book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Sign up for the Latest Lazy Listens email. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. 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

Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and stretch. Steep. Flip. Or that. And enjoy. Via rail, love the way. Hey there. You're 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 395, How to Finish Last Minutes. lists. Now, why oh why would this be a topic right now on this, the second week of December? Shocking timing, right? This is where last minute lists thrive. December loves last minute lists and they never seem to end. I've got some ideas for you to finish your last minute list without losing your mind. Okay, first, let's set the stage. Last minute lists by nature imply a sense of urgency, right? There's a deadline. There's also a lot at once, which makes the urgency feel worse. There's more to do in less time, and no time is that truer than in December,

except maybe when school is starting, and maybe when school is ending, or even leaving for a vacation. Like basically, when you're on the cusp of something big and unusual in its rhythms, you're going to have a last-minute list of things to do that are not normally on your radar. And don't forget, that list exists alongside the rest of your regular life. Be kind, please. You're not doing it it's just that there's probably a lot to do in a little time. And that squeeze is not a fun feeling. We're going to help release it a little bit. I'm going to suggest you listen to this episode with time set aside to stop and do the exercises that I share in real time with me. Or you listen once through to just kind of get the gist and then either listen a second time or skim the transcript and take

15 minutes to do these exercises. Basically, this will work best if you take the time to consider what I'm asking you to do and then do it. In total, that probably won't take more than 30 minutes if you have a ton to do and take time to process. On average, I'm guessing it's going to take about 15. I don't share that number as some kind of mark to hit. It's more that thinking through this isn't terribly complicated. It doesn't have to be detailed. It's more just like a quick pass at your list and your life, helping you look through a kinder lens as you decide how to finish your last minute list. So listen and stop or listen again later. But either way, let's jump in. Okay, today you are going to consider three E's like the letter E when it comes to last minute lists. Energy, execution, and enjoyment.

Okay? Energy, execution, and enjoyment. Let's start with energy. All right, I want you to imagine your last minute list. Maybe even pull it out if you have one like written down. Or maybe your list exists. in your head. The items aren't articulated. You just know that in general, you have a lot to do. You haven't gotten all the gifts and will only know what you don't have by checking it off in your head while you're standing in the target aisle. And chances are you'll double by for somebody anyway. You know, you might have a detailed list that you've been adding to over the last week and are overwhelmed by it. No matter what your list looks like, where it exists or if it's even like physical and real, I want you to think about all you have left to do in December.

What is the energy you're feeling around that? Are you overwhelmed, motivated and ready to roll, paralyzed because you don't know where to start? You're so over it already and completely unmotivated. Please remember this. How you're feeling now is not how you're going to feel forever. If you're feeling overwhelmed right now, you won't feel overwhelmed. during the entirety of December. If you're feeling totally motivated right now,

you won't feel totally motivated during the entirety of December. In this moment, whatever you're feeling as you examine your list is not how you're always going to feel about your list. And that goes in both directions. If you're completely empty of energy, don't assume that it will be that way the entire time that you're finishing your list. And if you're completely energized and motivated, don't. assume that you'll be that way the entire time you're finishing your list. How you feel now is not

how you'll feel forever. This is an important reminder and a deep breath, right? Just be kind and reasonable about it all. Next, think about your average energy level. We're still on energy. I want you to think about your average energy level during this season of life. How have you been doing? Are most days like really tough to get going? Are you working better on your own because of how much people stimulation you're experiencing and you're enjoying the break. Essentially, as you start making a plan to finish your last minute list, I want you to take a couple of minutes to name who you are and what you need right now in this season. For example, how do you best operate under pressure? Is it better for you to work toward the preferred task, like the favorite thing as

motivation and you do everything else that you don't like as much first? Like, do you need a carrot basically? Or is it better to get momentum from a task you like a lot and it will help you knock out a couple of less fun things afterward? Do you need to finish certain things alone? Do you need mirroring to help you stay on task? Notice the energy you have had available to you in the last week or so and name what you'll likely have from now until your list is due. How do you operate and what do you need to make that happen. These are broad strokes so you can name what matters to you about finishing a last minute list, about staying more or less on task with things that are generally not on your radar. How do you work? And what do you need? My personal answer to that would be I need some time

alone to either knock out some stuff or to fill up so that I can knock out stuff later. Without a couple of hours of silence and being alone, preferably in my own house, I turn into a shell very quickly. My motivation is low. I get overwhelmed. And I also resent all the humans in my house. So alone time is essential for me to get my stuff done. I'm also not much of a reward person. And I'll get to that in the enjoyment section of this episode. But as far as like the order of things, I don't need to start with the most fun thing or the least fun thing. It helps me if I start with the most efficient thing. It helps me feel like I've gotten more done than I actually have when whatever I choose to do first feels like more than it is. For example, a couple of weeks ago,

I had been homesick with Annie for several days throwing off all the plans and also keeping me from being alone for like a long stretch of time. So do you know what I did one of those nights after I put Annie to bed and the rest of my family that were still around for several hours, I figured out all the Christmas gifts. I listed and shopped and ordered. And now with the exception of like getting stocking stuffers and making some biscotti, the gifts are pretty much done. I had other plans to get that done over the next couple of weeks to go slower. It was a different plan. But because of the energy I had and the delay in my work and life lists because of a sick kid, I pivoted. I pivoted. I knew that getting all the shopping done would make the rest of the last minute list feel way more

doable. So I buckled down and I spent two hours getting that done. That was the best use of my energy, the most efficient use of my energy. But it doesn't necessarily mean it would be for yours. That's why you name how you work and what you need. What's your energy right now? How is your season of life impacting your energy to get your stuff done? Take a couple of minutes to make a broad broad stroke assessment. Want to go electric without sacrificing fun? That's the Volkswagen ID4. All-electric and thoughtfully designed to elevate your modern lifestyle.

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podcasts. Okay. Next, let's look at execution. Execution is like actually getting the stuff done. Okay. That is kind of important finishing the last minute list is the finishing. So now that you understand your own energy, that the way you feel now isn't how you feel forever. So you just need a good, reasonable assessment of what you need the next couple of weeks. Let's get your tasks into an order that helps you. Because last minute implies urgency, I would encourage you to group your last minute list two ways. First, group it by urgency.

And next, group it by type. You want to put your tasks in a loose chronology that makes sense. and then group similarly urgent tasks by the type of task it is so that you can batch them based on whatever energy you have. Now, before I get into the particulars of that, I am going to start with those of you who just listen to me, say that, and you fell apart on the inside. You might not have a brain that naturally triages things by urgency. You might not have the energy to figure out what goes together. You might think that because you're not organized in a normative way that you need to force yourself to plan better or be someone

you're not. That is not a thing here. If you are not a task triage person, don't make yourself be, especially when you're dealing with the pressure of a last minute list. That's the equivalent of learning to swim by being thrown into the deep end. And honestly, you don't have to learn how to swim the way you think everyone else does anyway. So if that's you, don't waste your execution time trying to systemize your list, don't try to be more efficient in a way that actually costs you time. You don't have to approach your last minute list in any way other than to do the next thing on it. You can be scattered and out of order and stay last minute, finishing everything necessary on Christmas Eve or whatever. And none of that means you're a bad person.

It just means you did things last minute. People do it all the time. You're allowed to get your stuff done in whatever way you want. There is no right or ideal way here. Now, if you would like to try your hand at some triage as you finish your last minute list, because it feels like it would help you, then I would start with urgency followed by type. Urgency is just there to help you know what needs to be done for real right now and what can wait another week or so, right?

I like using the phrase, now, soon, later, and never mind. Y'all heard me talk about that many times. Most likely at this point, you won't have any neverminds, but you'll have some now, soons and later's for sure. But because you're already in last minute territory, it might be good to break it up by week, right? These are the things that need to get done this week. These things can wait until next week and then these can wait until the week after that. That might help at this point in December where we have three weeks until Christmas. You could also use days or just say like first group, second group, third group, break it up

in whatever way you need so you're not overwhelmed by the entire list at one. as you're looking at your list, if you're struggling to name if something needs to be done now or later, or you find yourself saying, well, I mean, I need to choose the gifts now, but I don't have to buy them until next week. That means that whatever is on your list is too big. Looking at your list with a lens of urgency really helps you see what items are too big to do because they're made up of more than one thing. So let that be like a little trick to help you know what needs to be smaller. Okay.

Then once you have things broken up by urgency, maybe even, you know, you've written new lists, like either in your playbook, if you have the playbook, or on a piece of paper or in your to-do list app or whatever, I want you to group each small list that's now grouped by week or urgency or however you structured it, group each small list by the type of thing. or you could group it by the energy it requires, right? So this week, do you have multiple errands to run? See if there's a chunk of time where you can do them all at once. Brave the crowds in one go, right? Or maybe your stuff is grouped by computer stuff or baking stuff. Group the task by similar type. Or again, you can group them by energy. What is mindless? What requires some decision making? What is super fun?

You might want to spread those fun things out if that helps you stay motivated with the less fun stuff. I don't know. you can figure that out for yourself. There are multiple ways to execute a last minute list. But the point here is that you make it a little more efficient if you have the capacity to, and even if you don't, that's okay. But you make it more efficient by grouping it first according to urgency and then by the type of thing it is or by the energy required if that suits you better, right? And then you can also finish last minute list at the last minute.

And it'll all be okay. it'll all be okay. Finally, let's talk about enjoyment. One way to enjoy your last minute list is to give them a kind reframe. You're creating an environment for your family or yourself to enjoy the holidays, right? You're wrapping up joy that will last for like at least the five minutes after the gift is given. You're making cozy spaces to enjoy puzzles and fires and cookies. You're helping your parents host in a way that still feels meaningful, even though their own capacity has diminished some. Create a kind reframe around what you're doing. Remember that good is here right now. You might have to look a little harder for it, but it's there. Now, practically, you can add enjoyment during the last minute list or after. Some people I know

lover award. They save a show or a dessert or a long box from an entertaining friend to enjoy after. they have gotten some stuff done. You might be a reward person. I am not. I am a, let's enjoy this as much as possible right now person. So name if you're an enjoy during or after person. What works better for you? If it's during, listen to a great audio book or music while you're finishing your last minute list. Dance around while you're doing stuff at home. One of my favorite ways to make a task enjoyable during the actual task is that I wrap all the Christmas presents while I watch Lord of the Rings. I've done it for years. I've told you about it before. I cannot tell you how much I look forward to wrapping gifts because I also get to watch Lord of the Rings. It's my favorite.

So make the task enjoyable during or give yourself a little reward after depending on how you're wired. But once you look at your last minute list through those three things that start with a letter E, energy, execution, and enjoyment. You'll no longer see one big overwhelming list. You've now taken a few minutes to name what your energy is, how you operate, and what you need. You've named how you best execute tasks and have possibly broken your big list into several smaller ones.

You've also taken time to look at those tasks and decide how to make them enjoyable, either during or after. In short, you've just made your life. last minute list smaller. Not just in making the big list into smaller list, but you've made the energy of solving the problem smaller too. It's much easier to answer the question, what can I do that's enjoyable while I online shop versus how am I ever going to finish all of this? Right. That difference is nuanced, but it really matters. And that's how to finish last minute lists. Before we go, let's celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week is,

It's Mary Dudley. Mary writes, I do most of the cooking as the parent who stays at home and my husband does the cleaning. We make it a priority to eat mostly home-cooked dinners. However, cooking every dinner competes with another thing that matters a lot to us, resting and preferably on Sundays. Cooking dinner on Sunday is not restful for whoever cooks and cleaning up from it isn't restful for whoever cleans.

We also cannot afford to eat out on a weekly basis. I lazy geniused the problem and decided that rest on Sunday. mattered most and decided once that on Sundays we eat a frozen dinner. I systemized. Whenever I make something that will freeze well, I double the recipe and freeze the second portion so that we have a good stock to pull from on Sundays. And if there's nothing homemade, then we fall back on a pre-packaged frozen meal we always keep in the back of our freezer. Now my Sundays are more restful and I find myself entering the week feeling like myself. Mondays are darn near pleasant now. I love this so much. This is the perfect example of when you have.

have two things that matter. But on a certain day or during a certain season, one of the things has to matter more. Sometimes it just does. And rather than seeing that is restrictive, it's actually super freeing. So what a relatable example this is. Thanks for sharing Mary and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi, and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kenzie. The lazy genius podcast is enthusiastically part of the Office Ladies Network. Special thanks. Celia Jarvis for weekly production. Thanks for listening, y'all.

And 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. 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.