The Lazy Genius Podcast - #432 - 10 Things I’ve Learned in 10 Years of the Lazy Genius

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

We have been a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don’t for an entire decade! We are a fourth grader. It’s amazing. Today, I’m celebrating this ten year mark with a top ten list of things I’ve learned along the way. uld I Read Next podcast Get on the Latest Lazy Letter list to get the newsletter once a month! Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. 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

Hi there, you're listening to the Lazy Genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi. This podcast isn't about hacking the system to find more time or hacking your energy to get more done. Hustling to be the best or to make the most out of every opportunity is exhausting and unsustainable. So here, we do things differently. On this podcast, we value contentment, compassion, and living in our season. We favor small steps over big systems. Here we are lazy geniuses, being a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And I'm so glad you're here. Today is episode 432. 10 things I've learned in 10 years of the lazy genius. Y'all, the lazy genius collective as a business is 10 years old tomorrow. Can you believe that? We have been a genius about the things that matter

and lazy about the things that don't for an entire decade. We are a fourth grader. It is amazing. So today I'm going to share with you 10 things I've learned in those 10 years. Some are personal, some are business-related, some are just random. But I'm looking forward to celebrating this 10-year mark with the top 10 list. We'll also have a little extra something at the end of the episode in the form of another top 10 list, specifically my top 10 favorite characters from books I've read over the last 10 years.

You guys, I know, what a big ask. I spent capital T time on this just so I could have it. And it was really fun and I thought it would be fun to share. And of course, we will end things with the lazy genius of the week and then a mini pep talk for when you're pulled in too many directions. As a quick reminder, there is still some time for you to get your fall playbook before you get too far into September. The fall cover is this gorgeous deep navy. The pages are white and thick. The type is clean. The pages are dot grid and the questions to help you name what matters for the fall and spaces for lists and seasonal ceremonies for the fall and the pages to help you triage your tasks for the fall. They are all super helpful and will make your actual planner that you can still use alongside

the playbook work better for you. I'm at the point where I only use my playbook along with my Google calendar and then the occasional like daily sticky note. It organizes my time and priorities exactly the way that I personally needed to. So I don't even use a planner anymore, but that doesn't mean you can't. So the fall playbook, it covers September, October, and November. So if you kept forgetting to order one the last couple of weeks because of all the energy that August brings, you can hop over now to the lazy genius collective.com slash playbooks. I wouldn't tell you about them if I did not think they were awesome and they are incredibly, incredibly awesome. Plus, there is a QR code in the inside cover that gives you access to some

tutorial videos and a private Facebook group where people are sharing all kinds of ways that they are using their playbooks with like photos and ideas, things that I never even imagined. They're so cool. So if you try a playbook, I hope you love it. Okay, let's get to the episode. Here are the 10 things I've learned and 10 years of the lazy genius. Number one, steady is better than viral. there was a time where I spent a lot of time trying to maximize all of my content channels. Like, how can I create Instagram content that people want to see? How can I title an episode in such a way that a lot of people are going to want to click and listen and it will rise to the top of the podcast charts?

What media outlets can I pursue to help me catch fire? There was like a lot of that for a little while, especially in the early days. I thought the only way to do this work was to have some viral. moments and then build on them. However, it did not take long before I realized that was wrong, as well as unsustainable, and honestly not even in line with what I care about. I am a good is here right now person. I'm a contentment person. I'm a let's just do what we can with what we have based on what matters in this season of life person. I mean, I love excellence, but not at the cost of my own energy or quality of life. And y'all, that is not a person who wants to pursue

going viral as part of her job. Like, it just doesn't even really matter. I've only had one Instagram post go legit viral. It was in June of 2024 during the Olympics. Maybe you saw it. I posted this reel. It didn't even have my face in it. It had no like words. It was just I had the tiger. It was a short video of me holding a carton of Ben and Jerry's in front of the TV showing someone doing a floor routine during the Olympics and I say, welcome to my favorite time of the year when I watch athletes make magic with their bodies while I eat ice cream. Y'all, that thing, it got 3 million views and it didn't take very long for that to happen. Like, it for sure went viral. But did it do anything for me, like for the business? Not really. Out of 3 million people, I got 901 new followers.

I just went back and checked. And then like a week later, I lost over 700. Like, whatever. You Like they came and they went, which happens. It's also so funny. Like y'all, y'all know my personality. You, you know, you probably saw it and it tracked as me. But it wasn't like it was some, you know, perfect picture of what I do every day in, in this business. You know, no one would know what a lazy genius is from that real, just someone who watches the Olympics with ice cream, like, as intended. So depending on my stuff to go viral, that, that. That left the conversation a long time ago for me, thankfully. Instead, I prioritized doing steady, dependable, excellent work for the people who are already

here and listening. And that's you. So thank you for keeping this business going by sharing episodes with friends and family. That is like grassroots growth. And that's the kind of growth that really matters to me and actually works. Okay. Number two, I have to write out ideas in order to find them. typing just does not cut it. So I'm such a fan of like finding what works for you and doing it

rather than trying to make someone else's way of doing something work. It's kind of like trying to wear a jacket that just doesn't fit, you know? So finding my ideas, breaking podcast episodes, working out Instagram content, mapping out my books. None of that can happen on a computer. None of it can. I need no books and whiteboards and giant sticky notes that hang from the wall. I have to use my hand to write the thing down. That is true for my work. It is also true for my life. When I plan out a week, when I plan out the meals, I cannot do any of that on a computer.

I have to write it down. That's why I have so many dry raceboards around my house. And it's why the playbooks are paper. They're for people who need to write like me. I remember a time when I was helping plan this big event at my church with a friend of mine and we were both on our laptops, like making notes and trying to come up for the ideas and stuff. and it's like my brain would not function properly. We were, like, down the hall, we were at the church, down the hall from her office, and I finally was just like, hey, girl, I'm going crazy. Can you go get me

some paper at a pen? This is ridiculous. So she did, and I started to write the exact same things I was typing, and it was like everything made sense. Like ideas came faster. I spotted categories more quickly. I just need to write it down. I can't type things in the beginning. Ideas do not work for me that way. The early processes of like planning and creating, they have to be written in order to work. I sort of knew that a little in my regular life, but it wasn't until I was having to be creative as part of my job day in and day out that I realized the necessity of a no book and a whiteboard. And now I don't even start anything on a computer. It's like a waste of time. Why would I even do that? For example, like this episode, I could have jotted down lessons that I've learned on my

computer. I got to typed them out. No, no. I wouldn't have gotten more than two before my brain just short-circuted. So I wrote them down on paper. I edited and ordered them on paper. And then I put them into the computer to actually write that thing. It is just necessary for me. And now I just lean into it, you know? So if that's you about paper or honestly about anything else, isn't it so great to just know how your brain works? And then you just always do it that way. You know, it's kind of the best. Okay, the third thing that I have learned in 10 years of doing the lazy genius is that my problem solving instincts are good. So early on, especially when I was trying to get up the courage to do a solo show without interviews because I started out. The first 10 episodes were interviews.

I wasn't sure if I had enough to talk about. Like I didn't know if I could lazy genius more than like a dozen things. I wasn't sure if I could help people solve problems in a way that actually worked for them, you know? Well, 10 years later, I have learned and I truly believe that my problem solving instincts are good. I love putting together compassionate systems and ways of viewing everyday challenges. I love office hours episodes where I get to help y'all solve small problems. I love answering your questions and DMs and comments when you ask them. I love doing live events with a Q&A. Mully, I live for a Q&A. I have problem solving skills. But more than that, I think I have problem

solving instincts. I just trust that the thing that comes to mind is the thing to try. I have been gifted at seeing what the problem really is under the surface. I can find small solutions that might just make that thing a little better. Believing that to be true of myself is a long way from where I was at the start of this business. Unsure if I could come up with any ideas about anything. thing. And here we are 10 years later. In fact, I value my problem solving instinct so much that we talk as a team about how to integrate that skill into our content more. Like we might start having more office hours episodes or doing single office hours segments at the end of regular episodes or just doing more problem solving live on Instagram. I used to do that more back in the day, but I stopped when

Instagram became too overwhelming for me. But I want to leverage that. natural problem-solving ability in a way that helps you guys. That feels really valuable to me. It's also helped me see and value my problem-solving instincts in regular life. Like, I have more confidence in sharing solutions for things in places where my feedback is asked for. I promise I'm not just solving like random problems every time I see them, completely unsolicited, because that would be crazy. But I feel more confident in using that skill when it is called upon in other areas of my life. Okay. No. number four. I get a lot of joy from casting books. Okay. So y'all know I read a lot of,

I read a lot of books. I read a lot of novels. And in many of the novels that I read, I cast the characters, or at least ones that like come to mind pretty easily. I still get DMs from people asking for my casting for Throne of Glass, which is like, it's four images of nine pictures each. It's like so many people in that series. I make casting photos just for myself, you guys. Like my photo app has so many random collages of celebrity faces because it's like so much fun. It's so much fun. So years ago, I went on my friend Ann Bogle's podcast. What should I read next? A terrific podcast. And she helped me name how cinematic my reading is. I imagine. I love to really see it. And it makes sense that part of that means seeing the people, hence the casting. I have like a whole

process of how I do it. Sometimes a person will just come to mind when I'm reading and I read the book with that person as the character in my mind until it just doesn't make sense anymore. Like I'm reading this fantastic, oh my gosh, this fantastic sci-fi book right now. It has gone through three different castings for the main character. Things just keep happening where the person that I started to imagine didn't really fit. Now I have landed on the correct person and it's like the whole book, like went up three enjoyment levels for me. I just love casting books so much. And the point is, I don't know that I would have been able to pinpoint that love without regularly talking about my reading in the monthly newsletter. But I'm so glad it happened, which reminds me

of something very exciting coming. So as you recall, we did a survey last month to help us make better decisions for you moving forward in this next year. And one of the things that we learned that was legit, kind of hilarious, was that there was a part of you, there was like a pretty decent percentage of you, that what you wanted the most of was books and reading. And then there was another percentage of you that wanted less, that was the thing you wanted less of was books and reading. So it's like, that's what you want the most and that's what you want to the least. So we have made a decision that I think is going to be fabulous for everybody. So currently, the monthly newsletter, which is called the latest lazy letter, it has among other things. My book reviews for everything

that I read that past month, which is usually like 10 to 12 titles, I read a lot. Some of you listening to this podcast would say that that is your favorite part of the newsletter. And then others of you listening are like, it is my least favorite part of the newsletter and you skip it all together. So we are going to separate the book reviews into a separate newsletter. It's still going to go out on the first Wednesday of the month. The latest lazy letter will go out in the morning like it always has and then the book list will go out in the afternoon. This allows us to take more time and space for like ratings and reviews. It keeps the book stuff in one place and it allows me to share casting pictures. So the latest lazy letter is already so long and adding more images to it

during the book reviews. It would break your internet. So this way, the book people get the book stuff and then the non-book people don't have to, and now there's room for casting photos. I am so excited. So we will have a link to sign up for that in the next latest lazy letter that goes out next week, next Wednesday. So if you're already subscribed to that newsletter, you don't have to do anything except just like click the book list link in that newsletter. We'll make it very obvious.

And if you would like to sign up for the newsletter, now that the books are going to be gone, or you would like to sign up for just the book list, because that's all you really want, we will have specific info for you in next week's episode. We're still getting everything kind of set up, but it is almost ready for you. We're really excited about it as a team. And now I'm going even harder into my castings because there's room for them in the book list. So it's a good, it's a good day. Okay, so that's number four. I really love casting books. Number five, I have learned that I can trust the process. So I am not typically a process person, anyone who knows me, knows that, knows that. I'm absolutely a results person. Waiting for something to happen is kind of

the worst. Like, I hate waiting. I hate waiting. I also typically hate the process because processes by nature are not perfect. You have to go through some real messy stuff before you can find the end that works. And I do not enjoy that mess. This is why writing books has traditionally been so challenging for me. When I wrote my first book, The Lazy Genius Way, I assumed I would write it from start to finish, like chronologically, and it would mostly be great writing, like the whole time. Like, I would know what I was doing. I did not know that you have to stare at white pages and vomit up words that make no sense so that you have something to edit. And you write out of order and you change your mind and all the things. I did not know how messy it would be.

Eventually, a book came out of the other end, but it was so hard for me, not just with the writing, but like on an emotional level. It was bad for so long. before it started to get good. And I did not like sitting on a bad book for months and months. Then when I wrote my second book, The Lazy Genius Kitchen, I had to write that book in 10 weeks because of some publication logistics. And I don't even remember those 10 weeks. You guys, 10 weeks is insane. That's ridiculous. So the process of writing a book was like hit with rocket fuel. I don't even know how I ended up with a coherent book, let alone one that I genuinely love. so that feels like a wash. But then by the time I wrote the plan, I had like a better idea of what

the process entailed, right? I knew that I would have to write garbage for a while, but it was still really hard. I still wanted the writing to be more linear and for the process to be less messy. But I trusted it way more than I did with the first two. And now I bet that when I write another book, it'll be even easier still. I'll trust the process. I'll trust the mess. I'm not going to be thrown by thousands and thousands of mediocre words just so I can find the good ones. That's just how it goes. That muscle memory has also shown up in my regular life. I can see it. I have become more comfortable with the middle and the mess and the unknowns than ever before. I trust that solving one small problem at a time works better than a big system. I trust that living in my season and tending to

just the next couple of weeks or the next few days or even just right now is better than trying to avoid. the process by fixing it all right now with like big black trash bag energy. This job has taught me to trust the process and I'm so glad. So in 10 years of a lazy genius, I have learned that study is better than viral, that I have to write things down on actual paper, that I can trust my problem solving instincts, that I am obsessed with casting books, and that I can trust and maybe even enjoy the process of anything. Now before we get into the last five, and before we take an ad break, which makes this episode free for you to listen to. So thank you sponsors. Here's your quick reminder that we send out a podcast recap email every other Friday.

It is called latest lazy listens, and it summarizes the episodes, shares the lazy genius of the week, as well as other segments that we might have on the show. And it has a little extra note from me to help encourage you through the weekend. So if you would like to get that recap, head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens. Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and sip. Play.

Post. Taste. View and enjoy. Via rail, love the way. 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. All right, let's look at the rest of the things I have learned in 10 years of The Lazy Genius. Number six, I can share my life without it being my life. So Instagram is a bear, y'all. You know that from personal experience. When your business, is based partly on you as a person like mine is. Sharing life is kind of part of the deal. But the hardest thing for years was realizing that every single part of my life could be content, everything.

Every decision I made, every like sweet tender family moment, every system, every struggle, every item I bought a trader Joe's. Everything in my life could be content. And that possibility, it left me paralyzed for a bit. It took some seasons of stepping away from Instagram completely, of not sharing anything personal, of finding new and different ways to think about what I would share before I got to a place where I can share my life without it being my life, without it just being all encompassing all the time. Now, I don't take a ton of pictures or videos just by nature. I'm not a big poster. I never have been, even before this business. In fact, my lack of natural inclination to

record my life. It made every choice feel so heavy and overwhelming when I chose to record. It felt like that's all I did. Even if it was just a little bit, it felt like it was so much because it was so much more than I already did. Now, people have different capacities for this, right? There are some folks that you all follow on Instagram that I follow on Instagram who share stories throughout the day and it seems really easy for them. And that's great. It's just not me. It's not easy for me. I can't do that and stay a grounded person. So I have to be more thoughtful about when and what I share so that it doesn't overwhelm my life. And I think I have found that place. I feel good about what I'm posting and how often it happens. I feel good about my rhythms of

responding to comments and DMs for a set amount of time during a day and then putting my phone down until the next day. I don't feel obligated to document every. everything, even things that would make good content, because I know that there will always be something to share. I'm just a lot more relaxed and serene about sharing my life without it being my life, and that is such a valuable, peaceful place for me to be. Okay, number seven, a separate office is a game changer. This is not, this is not new, this is not a brilliant take, but man, having your own office, good gracious. So I used to work, like many people, who were from home, we used to work at the kitchen table. I would work on my bed. I would sometimes

leave the house to go to like a coffee shop or whatever to work on episodes or books. But that was not a sustainable thing, especially during COVID. And especially when Kaz and I realized that this job of mine, it was an actual job and not just like a cute side hustle. This is my consistent job that pays the bills. And I will be doing it presumably for a long time. That means I need an office. So a few years ago, converted half of our garage into my office and it really changed everything. I could record in there or in here, which is where I am instead of in my closet, right? I put up a giant whiteboard in my office so that I could map out episodes and book ideas because I need to write things down. I have art in my office that I love that cause doesn't love so much. I made all the design decisions

based on what I wanted without worrying about what everyone else wanted. I have. I I can go out there, I can go down the driveway to my office and be separate from my kids while still being just like a walk back down the driveway if they need me. It has been huge. It has been a huge thing for me to have a separate space. It's just mine to do my job. It took me a long time to prioritize that. But once I did, I was like, girl, what took you so long? Okay, number eight, I am so grateful for the people who know me and love me best and that they are just totally unimpressed by me. My kids know what I do, but they don't really care, right?

Occasionally a commercial will come on TV and one of them will look at the person in the commercial and be like, Mom, don't you know her? And I shake my head in shock, realizing the answer is yes, yes, I do. It's so bizarre. But they're not really impressed by me. Cause isn't either. Like he's ridiculously proud. he values my work, but he's not going around saying he's married to the lazy genius or anything.

Some of my closest friends have never read a thing I have written or listened to a word I have said on this podcast and I kind of love it. It's nice to be Kendra to some people and not the lazy genius. Now, I think the same is true of some of you and just different roles that you hold, you know? It's nice to go somewhere where you're not mom, even though you really value being a mom to your kids. it's nice to go to someone's house for dinner and not cook anything or worry about the food even though you're like a really good cook or you might even do that as your job. It's nice to go to a party and enjoy it without someone commenting on how they should have hired you since you're the best party planner or whatever. We all just like being ourselves where we are. That doesn't

dismiss or negate the roles we have or the value that we give them. It's simply a chance to just like take a deep breath and be the purest version of yourself. without roles. It's the metaphorical version of like taking your bra off at the end of the day. I really like that my friends and my family are unimpressed by me. They just like and love me as Kendra without any of the other stuff. And that is such a gift. Number nine, value is not the same as fame. Man, have I learned this in some tough ways. So I don't want to be famous, but I do want the content to have legs. You know, I want more and more people to. to experience the freedom and the kindness of living like a lazy genius. And that means I can sometimes

get in my own head about how to measure that. And if I should measure it at all, right? It is so easy to equate value, how much value you are offering the world with fame, with numbers, with accolades, with connections, with all kinds of things. If I'm not at the top of the podcast, charts or I'm not a best-selling author, I'm not steadily or even quickly growing in numbers alone, my work isn't valuable. That's the lie. And it's a really convincing one, to be honest. Most of us live some version of that lie in our regular lives. You know, we equate being like an organized person or someone who is rising in her job, a parent whose kids behave and achieve, a cook who can make consistent dinners that are delicious and also healthy and cost-effective

and seasonal and all the things, like whatever. We equate that kind of excellence with value, right? If we're not excelling, are we actually doing anything valuable? If we're not getting better or chasing that finish line of greatness that time management and productivity experts keep pushing on us, are we even doing anything with our lives? because isn't life about getting better and better and managing and manipulating all of its aspects in order to have something that we're super proud of by the time we die when we're 98 or whatever. Y'all, that's just not how life works. That's not how I want my life to work anyway.

Value is not the same as fame. Value is not the same as greatness. Value is not the same as visibility. I just finished reading Middle March, the enormous classic. by George Elliott. The audiobook was 34 hours long. It was fantastic. But the last line of the novel is maybe one of the most perfect things I have ever read. It says, the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts. And that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs. Listen. Value is not fame.

Value is not greatness. Value is not visibility. Value is faithfully living a hidden life if that's what you've been given and recognizing that it is essential to the growing good of the world. And finally, number 10, I am very content with my life. I have learned this. It's taken me years to learn this. But now that I have, it's like the best feeling.

I am so content with my life. I don't feel a pull to earn more or have not. nicer things. I don't worry so much about my kids achieving. I just want them to be like kind, grounded people. I don't look at the difficult circumstances of my life, of which there are many, as an indication that something is wrong. It's just life. And I can still be myself in that life. I can be content with today, with what I have to offer or not today, with how organized or chaotic things might be today. I just feel a greater serenity towards my work and my life than ever before. And I really think doing this job has been a major part of that. It's hard to not feel the impact

of starting small, living in your season, being kind, and naming what matters when you talk about it literally every single day. It's hard to not teach from what I am living. I believe this stuff. I believe in kindness and smallness and contentment deep in my bones. I don't know if this is like a chicken or egg thing. If this perspective came from this job or this job came from this perspective. But either way, it's where I've landed. And I'm so grateful. So I have learned that study is better than viral.

That I have to write things down on actual paper. That I can trust my problem-solving instincts, that I'm obsessing. with casting books, that I can trust and maybe even enjoy the process of things, that I can share my life without it being my life, that I need a separate office, that I'm so glad the people who know me best are unimpressed by my job, that value doesn't equal fame and that I'm genuinely content with my life. If that's what came from the last 10 years, man, am I pumped about what kinds of things might come from the next 10 years? And those are the 10 things I have learned from 10 years of the lazy genius. All right, now to a different top 10 list. Those were not in order.

This one will be. Today, for a little extra something, I'm going to share with you my top 10 book characters from books I have read over the last 10 years, not ever, just the last 10 years. Now, if I had gone back another 5 or 10 years, it would be a different list, but we are going to stay true to the 10-year theme. Okay. First, though, I was really surprised when I went through my book list at how few of these characters that I chose come from my all-time favorite books from the last 10 years. I mean, these are all, like, beloved books for me. But sometimes character just gets you in a way that, like, the full story or setting just doesn't. So I went through my book buddy app, which holds everything I've ever read. I went with my gut writing down characters

that really stuck with me. Like, I can still see them and remember how they made me feel. And these are these are those characters in reverse order. Okay, are we ready? Here we go. Number 10 is Rice from A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Moss. Roll your eyes if you want. This dude is fantastic. He is the heart and soul of the whole series to me and he will always in my mind be Jamie Dornan. I know Jamie Dornan is not tall enough, but I don't care. Rice is Jamie Dornan. Okay, number nine. Nina Riva from Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reed. So Nina in that story, is an older sister trying to just like hold her family together. And I still think about the scene when she confronts her dad. Like I liked that book, but I loved Nina. Number eight is Stu Redmond

from The Stand by Stephen King. I love a quiet guy just trying to like do his best for everybody and that is Stu. What's wild is when I read the book, because you know I loved casting books. I imagine Gary Sinise as Stu, like immediately. And then I learned that Gary Sinise was who they cast a stew in like the movie version. I am not sure that a casting moment ever made me happier. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm right. It's, stew is totally garries to me. So number eight is stew. Number seven is Dorothea from Middle March by George Elliott. I just finished this book. I will share my thoughts in the book list next week. But Dorothea is a remarkable character. She starts out like blindly dedicated to her duty to the point of unhappiness. She's like very Eleanor Dashwood from

sense and sensibility in that way. But she transforms into this like full. fuller version of herself, who still stays true to responsibility, that is also like super generous and selfless and focused on helping people in a way that women of her time didn't seem to concern themselves with, or we're not given the opportunity to concern themselves with, at least in like, you know, the upper class. She's like the best part of that gigantic story, and I loved her. Okay, number six is Eleanor Oliphant from Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine. I listened to this book on a long drive and I was crying at the end as Eleanor came to terms with some of her baggage from her childhood, her mother's abuse towards her.

I just loved her from the jump. I loved her directness and her adiosyncrasies and her obsessions. She was just so tender and dear and strong. And I was always rooting for her in ways I don't normally care about in fake people, you know? I loved Eleanor Oliphant. Number five, Irene from the Throne of Glass series. That's the nurse in like the second half of the series that takes care of kale when he's hurt. She has always felt like a rooted oak or something.

She's like an oak tree. And I love like a quiet, strong woman. I cast Zendaya as Irene, and it was the correct choice. I stand by that forever. Number four is Manon. Manon, manon, manon, manon. I kind of want to say it in like a casual way, but then it always sounds dumb when I do. But she's also from Throne of Glass.

That's the witch who ended up joining the good side. Listen, out of the gate, she got me. I loved her easily my favorite character from that series, and there are a ton of characters in that series. I cast Alexandra Dadario in that one. I'd still believe that was also correct. Okay, number three is Piranesi from the book Piranesi by Susanna Clark. This is one of my, like, weird little books that I've done.

love. It's about a young man who lives alone in a world of ruins and water. And he's so, like, peculiar and tender and factual and full of wonder. That book would not work. It's too weird. That book would not work if the reader did not care about Pyrannessie. And I still care about Pyrenecée. Like, years later. Number two, Hannah Coulter from the book Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. So my favorite Wendell Berry book is Jaber Crow, but my favorite Wendell Berry character and the number two character from the last 10 years is Hannah Coulter. I've always had a strange relationship with traditional femininity, and Hannah was a really healing character for me. I also read that book around the same time that my daughter, Annie, was becoming a little person, going to school and having opinions and also being a vehicle for healing around my ideas of femininity. it was just kind of the perfect marriage of like character need and time i i just have such a tender spot

for hannah colter and my favorite character from books i've read in the last 10 years maybe by a country mile to it's severo from red rising uh several severo one's all things severo is an underdog and snarky and wounded and hilarious he is smarter than anyone else he has more to fight for than anyone else. Once Severo entered the story about a third of the way through that first book in that trilogy, I was like all the way in. He is peak favorite for me forever and always. Like I still think of Severo. And I read Red Rising 10 years ago. I can hear my voice. I love several. So there you go. There's a little extra something today in the form of my 10 favorite book characters from the last 10 years. Okay, so before we go, let's celebrate the lazy genius of the

week. This week, it is Elizabeth Louise. Louis, Louis, Lewis, there's no E. Lewis, Elizabeth Lewis. Elizabeth writes, a big trouble spot in our home has been our entry from the garage. It's a narrow hallway with the laundry room door on one side, the coat closet and powder room doors on the other, and the garage door at the end. It was always getting congested, especially when our family of five were all trying to get out the door at the same time. I've been trying to genius my way, and to fixing the whole hall, but never came up with a good solution. So I started small and tried to narrow down the worst sticking point. It was the closet and garage doors opening into each other and not being able to have them open at the same time. So I removed the closet door. My son

popped it off the hinges in about five minutes and we haven't looked back. It's been such a game changer and has nearly eliminated the traffic jams in our hallway. As a bonus, the closet is staying tidier now that we can see it all the time because we aren't just throwing things in. It was so simple once I made the problem smaller. I am loving these lazy geniuses of the week solving small problems. I will never not be excited about it. Solving small problems is the best way that you can eventually have a home that flows. It does not eliminate stress or mess. It never does. But solving small problems, one at a time, absolutely makes your home feel like it runs a little more smoothly. So I love this idea. Get rid of the door, man. That's all it took. Great share, Elizabeth,

and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. Okay, as we close our episode for today, let's take a minute to acknowledge the feeling when you're pulled in a lot of directions. I know I need a little pep talk for that, so I'm going to assume that you do too. So the other day, I had like the longest day. The longest day. I felt like I wore 20 different hats with like 100 different people and I wasn't doing any of them well. Now part of that was my own perfectionism, rearing her ugly head. Part of that was regular seasonal fragmentation because of all the things that are just going on as we move into starting school. And part of that was because I had not rested all day. It was a constant day of caring for a sick kid, refilling food stocks that had been

emptied, answering work emails in the cracks. I was fighting a headache. I was praying and caring for three different friends who had all had someone they love die within days of each other. I was making dinner for a family that was not mine and on and on and on. So the two weeks before school starts are always just a little messy. At least they are for me. It's just a lot happening. And I was pulled in so many directions due to things outside of my control. And I didn't get to stop until almost midnight on that one night. Having teenagers who suddenly want to talk to you at 1030 at night, will do that. Anyway, I had the shortest moment of stress and even a little resentment on that day. I thought about how much I just needed everybody to leave me alone, how much I needed life to just

like stop for a minute so I could catch my breath. How I need my kid to sleep through the night instead of waking me up in the middle of it. Yet again, she did still wake me up, which is okay. She's sick. And how I just needed things to not feel so busy and hard and constant and minute and enormous all at once. I wanted my circumstances to change. But we can't really do that, can we? We usually cannot change what is happening to us, not in huge ways that feel like they would matter. We're kind of stuck with small changes for now. And ultimately, we're left with ourselves. Our reaction to our circumstances, it has more of an impact than the circumstances do. I don't like it either. But it's also kind of nice. When you remember

that greatness is not the goal, that today is okay as it is, that you don't have to know everything right now, that things can be left undone in favor of things that must be done, that your kids are not going to fall apart because you give them cereal instead of a roast chicken for dinner, that you're not the last link in anyone's chain, as my mom has always said. It's easier to let today be today, even if today was full of too much stuff. Some days are like that. but you can let it be that way without letting it impact how you live tomorrow and every other day in the future that you're probably trying to like manipulate now out of your own place of stress.

Start small. Stay small. Be here today. There is good here. I promise. Even if that good, it's just kindness to yourself as you go to bed after being pulled in every single direction all day long and just being grateful for the pillow that you land on. Like, that's really good.

So let's start small and be grateful for pillows. Tomorrow's worries can wait. And that's a little pep talk for when you're pulled in too many directions. If this episode was helpful to you or if you've been looking for a way to support this work, it would mean the world if you would share this episode with a friend or leave a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Both of those things seem small and in some ways they are. But it's those small things that add up to get the show in front of more people.

and the world needs more lazy geniuses. So thank you so much for listening, sharing, and supporting this work. This podcast is part of the Odyssey family and the Office Ladies Network. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi, and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Special thanks to Leah Jarvis for Weekly Production. If you'd like a podcast recap every other week, be sure to sign up for our latest lazy listens email that goes out every other Friday.

head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens to get it. Thanks y'all 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, 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.