The Lazy Genius Podcast - #446 - Keeping Up With Chores When Life Is Extra Busy

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

Regular life doesn’t stop just because it’s December. When life is busy, the ordinary things tend to get the shaft because we’re trying to tend to all the unusual, urgent things instead. But those ordinary tasks are in many ways the backbone of staying a little calmer in a busy season. Let’s talk about what that looks like and what not to do with your chores and routines in a busy season. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Find our digital products here (which are going into the sunset at the end of the year!) Episode #439: Chores I Do Every Day, Part 2 Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter or if you’re just looking for book reviews, sign up to receive The Book List. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it. 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're listening to the Lazy Genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi. This podcast is not 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 genius. is 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 446, keeping up with chores when life is extra busy. I said this in last week's episode, but regular life doesn't stop just because it's December. When life is

busy, the ordinary things tend to get the shaft because we're trying to tend to all the unusual, urgent things instead. But those ordinary tasks are in many ways the backbone of staying like a little calmer in a busy season. Imagine if you are busy, but you're prioritizing the rhythms of food, laundry, and home, and you're feeling fairly anchored in those places. It gives the unusual tasks and the busyness a softer place to land. So today let's talk about what that looks like and what not to do with your chores and routines in a busy season. For a little extra something today, I'm going to share a couple of things about our Thanksgiving trip to New York.

My oldest kid, Sam, got to be a member of the Great American Marching Band this year, which marches in the Thanksgiving Day Parade. I am recording this episode before we actually go to New York. We leave it a couple days. So I won't have real stories, but I will share with you some of our travel planning strategies. And if you'd like to hear all about the trip, I will be sharing that in the next latest lazy letter, which goes out this Wednesday. I'll write the day before that, which is in fact after we have gotten back, so there will be actual

stories. So if you want to hear all about the trip, sign up for the newsletter at the lazy genius collective.com slash join. As always, we'll celebrate the lazy genius of the week, which is a great decide once for going to parties and hangouts and stuff. And then we'll close with a mini pet talk for when you don't know when to quit. Before we get into that, this is one of your final reminders about our digital products that are going to be removed from our lazy genius store at the end of this year, just a couple weeks. So early in the life of this business, I made some digital products, and I still love them. But as the business has grown and the vision for it has become more clear, we have created products that we think are better suited for the lazy genius life than these

digital products. They're more versatile and comprehensive at the same time. However, we know many of you love your holiday docket or your summer docket or your lazy genius recipe book. So this is your reminder that all of our digital products will no longer be available after December 31st. So if you would like to get them, now is the time. They're all discounted. And once you download them directly to your computer, that is key. They need to be on your computer. You're going to have them forever. The dockets are not dated so you can use them over and over again every single year. let me just give you the quickest overview of what is leaving so you can decide if any of them would be helpful for your season of life. First is the holiday docket, the lazy genius guide to celebrating well.

It is especially perfect for families with kids because it helps you look at all of the kinds of activities and needs that come up during the winter holidays, prioritize which ones you really want to do, and then organize the details of them to make sure that happen. It's more granular than the celebration playbook or the winter playbook, focus specifically on traditional winter holiday activities. So that's the holiday docket. Next is the summer docket, the lazy genius guide to making summer fun. It's the same concept as the holiday docket but with summer activities instead of holiday ones.

It also helps you think through things like camps and work and what matters during such a strange season, especially again if you have kids who will be home all summer long. We also have the swap, the lazy genius guide to decluttering. I don't talk a ton about like organization and decluttering because I just don't. But this was the very first product we ever made. And I still love it so much. The concept of the swap is really about finite space and decisions when it comes to your stuff. Everything you bring in or keep, it takes up space.

It takes up finite space. and so each choice to keep or get rid of stuff is also a choice of what you're swapping for that space. It's a great concept that like I still use in my regular life. So if you've ever wished there was a book from me on decluttering, this ebook is a great option. And finally, there's my personal favorite, the recipe book. This PDF is beautifully designed. It's full of our favorite family recipes. It's got breakfast and dinners and desserts and all the things. It packs a punch with how easy the recipes are and the food writing I think is also a lot of fun. So all of these digital products, the holiday docket, the swap and the recipe ebook are on sale for $9 each. They're usually sold for

15. So if you'd like to grab any of them before they're gone, now's the time. Again, they're digital. So they'll just keep on your computer and the iCloud forever and never, never. Okay, before we take an ad break, which makes this episode free for you to listen to. Thank you so much sponsors. Here's your quick reminder that we send out a podcast recap email every other Friday. It's called the latest Lazy Listens, and it summarizes the episode. It shares the lazy genius of the week, as well as other segments we 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, you can head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens. 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 Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, 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 figure out how to keep up with chores when life is extra busy. First, let's set the scene. Our problem here is that regular life is busy enough without all the extra stuff on top of it, right? If you had a simple season of life with no holiday gatherings or big work projects or anything extra outside of your chores and rhythms at home, those chores would still take up a lot of

time. Like regular life is busy enough. Okay, so here's what we think the solution is. We think the solution is to build new systems. Create something new and big that will hold all the regular things and the busy things. Or maybe you're in a busy season and you're realizing that you're your laundry system isn't keeping up. So instead of like making an adjustment or recognizing that you're in a busy season and things are going to shift a little, you're like, let's figure out a new laundry system. No, no. Here is your solution debunked. Now is not the time to build a new system. A busy season is not when you build a new system. In fact, I think systems are not built as much as they grow one small solution at a time. That even still, now is definitely not the time to build

anything new. So what is the solution? Well, I think it's the routines that you do have, or the small choices you make every day, that keep things more or less afloat. You might already have a handful of routines that work well enough. Maybe you haven't even labeled them as such. But because life is busy, they are not working as well. instead of changing them or building something new, just lean on what is already there. Value the routines that you do have. Prioritize the ones that are working. Routines are not disposable in a busy season. They are your lifeline and maybe the secret solution that you already have in place. We're going to talk a lot more about that. But for now, remember that regular life is busy and

enough. So stop being unkind to yourself about being better at managing it all and don't think that now is the time to build something new, right? Systems are really better grown than built anyway. And routines are not disposable. There are lifelines. Stick to them. Lean on them. That's our foundation. Okay. Now, I want us to look at the categories. Let's get specific here. Let's look at the categories of life maintenance and chores and those irregular rhythms that fill our lives and busy seasons are not, right? They're always there. Those categories are food, clothes, mess, dirt, logistics, tasks, and rest. They even sound sing-songy. Food, clothes, mess, dirt, logistics, tasks, and rest. It's like cheerleaders. All right, so let's run through them real quick. Food is self-explanatory,

but also more complex than we often realize. Yes, it's cooking, but it's also like deciding and shopping and prepping and stocking and cleaning out fridges and packing lunches and prepping breakfast for the freezer and cleaning up all of those things. There are a lot of tasks that fill the food category. In fact, there are so many things that I wrote a book about them. It's called The Lazy Genius Kitchen. and it helps you manage all of those kitchen and food tasks your own way without losing your mind. Side note, if you're like, I didn't know about this book. Recently there was a review shared on Instagram from Sabina, somebody named Sabina, that said, as someone who gets depressed over the idea of dinner, because I have ADHD

and I just don't want to, don't we all, Kendra Adachi gives you permission to just cut through the crap and do what works for you. Sabina, thank you. And I could not have said it better myself. So that's just a little side note. If you need some bigger-sized kitchen help, check out the lazy genius kitchen. It's also illustrated and really pretty. It's a great book. Okay. So food is the first, like big old category. Okay. The second is clothes, washing, drying, folding, hanging, putting away all the clothes. There's also transitioning clothes from one season to the next. There's changing sheets, realizing that it's winter and your kids' coats don't fit anymore. And you need to get them bigger ones. Everything involving the cleaning and maintenance of various kinds

of fabric, but mostly is the ins and outs of like daily laundry. That's its own category, right? So that's the second one is close. Next is mess. That's the stuff. Tidying the stuff. Now that's different from the fourth category, which is dirt. That's the cleaning. So for a mess, it's like putting away all the things, like making sure they're in their place. And then dirt is clean. the things, the floors and the counters and the sinks and the mirrors and whatever else. Rhythms for mess usually involve like moving your hands, you know, like tidying and picking things up. Rhythms for dirt usually involve tools, like rags and cleaner, right? So if you're using a tool, you're probably cleaning rather than tidying. And I do think the difference matters because there's separate things.

So we have food, clothes, mess, dirt. Next is logistics. These are the things that you're you are managing just on a regular, non-busy season, daily basis. Logistics, it's getting the people and the things to and from their places with everything they need. How and when are you getting your kid to all-county band clinic? And does he have extra reads in his case? Those are logistics. Those are my logistics this week. Logistics never die. There are always logistics. But you can develop rhythms to tend to them, especially if you do it a little bit over time. Okay. The next category after logistics is tasks.

What are all the things you need to do outside of those specific categories we just mentioned? So logistics is, does my kid have spare reads? Tasks is I need to order spare reads. Logistics is the thinking and the planning. Tasks are the execution. Some of those just come up and then others can and do have a rhythm, things like changing the air filter or watering the plans or paying the bills. whatever. Okay, then the final category, which I'm guessing too many of you ignore and do not put

alongside these others, but it is just as important, if not more so, is rest. You have to rest. Your people have to rest. Now, of course, rest looks different for everyone. We've talked about that many times on the show, but the idea is foundational and integral to what we are saying here. Every single person needs and deserves regular access to unproductivity, refueling, and enjoyment, creating rhythms for that rest. It is worth the effort every single time, every time. Okay. So those are our chore categories, for lack of a better word. Say it with me, everybody. Food, clothes, mess, dirt, logistics, tasks, and rest. It's, it really is like our little domestic cheer. I love it. Okay. So we have named those categories. Well, now what? We always knew all that

was there. This is not new information. Making it into like an organized little cheer. It does nothing other than maybe make you laugh a little bit. And laughing does not fold laundry. So here is what I would love for you to do. We did something similar last week when I talked about being maxed out, okay, where we used pieces of paper. Listen, I'm so into paper right now. I want you to write out all seven of these words on like seven different pieces of paper, okay? So little paper. It doesn't have to be big paper. But big paper could give you space for notes if you'd like to take them, but write food on one piece, clothes on another piece, and so on until you have all seven. Then I want you to order those categories from most established routines to least, okay? I want you to see the context of

where you are. Now, I'm not asking you to order these based on ease. This is not about what is easiest. Food to me is always hard. It's constant. It's a little annoying when you have picky eaters. And it's so many decisions. Even when you use things like Decide Once, food might be the hardest of the seven, like at least top three for me. And yet it's probably the number one thing that is the most established in its routine. Y'all might know my food routine's better than I do. I meal plan on Sunday and make my grocery list and place my grocery order because I do online delivery. I shop on Monday after work for things that were not in the order that I couldn't get from that place or I would like to get from somewhere else.

And then I meal prep a couple things for the next few meals. If I have the time, don't always, but try to. We have a decide once structure for school lunches, which I make in the morning. We eat breakfast from the freezer. I batch make pumpkin moutons every couple of weeks. In fact, as soon as I finish this episode, my next task is to go inside and make more muffins. The kids clear the table. They know our kitchen zones. Kaz and I usually Kozzo cleans up after dinner. He does the mess part, like the putting away of all the things. And he might do a little of the dirt part

because now we're bringing soap into hand washing dishes, you know. But most of the dirt tasks fall to me because I care about those more. So after like at the end of the day, after I put Annie to bed, Kaz has like tidied the kitchen and wash some dishes probably, but then I will use my vacuum, which is a tool, to clean the floor, and I will use the counter spray and the rag. Those are both tools to wipe down the counters. So he's mostly just using his hands to clean up the mess, and that's great. But we have rhythms for those foods and the dirt and the mess and the routine, all of it. Those are really solidly established, how food works in our house. So that is established, but it doesn't make it easy, right? You are ranking these seven categories.

based on how solidly established the routines are, not on how much you like the thing, or how easy or how hard it is. Which routines are the strongest? Okay. So once you have your order, here's what you're going to do. First, I want you to notice where you're fine. Like where you find? Those top two categories with the best established routines at the top of your list,

Like, don't change anything. I mean, you could. You could change like one tiny thing that aligns better with the season that you're in. For example, like moving your decide once pasta Monday to pasta Wednesday, like I shared in what's saving my life a couple weeks ago. You know, you can change something on like a fairly granular level, but this is not the time to like tear down and rebuild, especially something that's kind of working. That's the point.

if your routine is mostly working, even if it's hard, let it just keep working. Now is not the time to build something new. So notice where you're fine and nurture that. Nurture those routines and rhythms. Don't start changing them. Don't dismiss them as unimportant. Don't equate difficulty with importance. Be kind to yourself about how they're working, even if they're not working as well as you

would like them to. If you are in some kind of rhythm in one of these categories, that's mostly working. Let it just keep working. So you can use your limited energy in places that are actively not working. So first, notice where you're fine. Second, plug leaks where you're not. Again, this is not build a new system. You're busy, extra busy.

Life is cuckoo pants right now. Just plug the biggest leaks. That's all you need to do. And those leaks are probably in the bottom of your routine list on the other end, number six and seven, whichever one of those things has no established routine is probably where a lot of your stress might be coming from. If there's nothing structured to depend on, you're just at the mercy of the most urgent thing. And in a category where not a lot has a place or a rhythm already, then everything is urgent, which is part of why you feel extra

busy and stressed about it. Okay. Let's say that the task category is the lowest for you. you. It has the least amount of established routine. You just hope you remember to do stuff. Or maybe things are on like multiple sticky notes around your desk or in your purse or maybe you're just responding to whatever need is immediate. You know, somebody's like, I need reads and you pull out your phone and open an app and you're like, okay, and order it right there. Now, you don't need to buy some new like to do-list app. You don't need to commit to an hour every Sunday to organize your life. You don't need a big system change or a new build. You just need to plug the leak. So if you are used to writing random tasks on random papers and they're everywhere, I want you to

just grab like a little basket or tubware container or coffee mug from your cabinet and just make that where all your little papers go. Just have like one place where you stick your papers. You can have many papers, but just stick your papers in one place. You could set an alarm on your phone to go off every night at like 7.30. And that alarm tells you to go and check your pockets and your purse and your counters and your desk for any notes that you wrote down and then pop them into that coffee mug. And now they're together all in one place. Plug the leak. It's okay that you don't have an established routine of list making. That can come slowly and much later. Just plug the leak right now. It doesn't have to be cute. Just do it. Plug the leak. Don't build a new boat. Now it's not the time.

Okay. So that's the gist. You're going to look at what's working and be like, we're not changing a thing. Let's just roll. It's all right. It's all right if it's not great, but it's working. Fine enough. And then you're going to be like, let's look at those bottom two. Where do we need to plug a leak? Don't build anything new. All right. Here are some tools on how to plug your leaks. And we're going to do that using lazy genius principles. All right. Let's run through some ways that you could use those. Remember, there are 13 lazy genius principles in a lazy genius way. There are also just plenty of ideas that are not those principles to help you plug leaks so that you just float during your busy season more than drown. It's okay if you're on a bit of a life raft. Sometimes seasons are like that.

Now is not the time to build the boat. All right. So first you're going to start small, clearly. This is crucial. When you are trying to keep up with chores when life is extra busy, it's easy to think that everything has to be done from start to finish in order to either count or make a difference. That is simply not true. Starting small by bringing your dirty laundry closer to the washing machine if you have one. That is way more valuable than staring at an ever-growing pile of laundry in your room because you can't finish it yet. Each movement towards a finished task, it matters. It is worth doing, no matter how small it is. Okay. So that's start small. The next one you can use is essentialize. In a busy season,

don't do all the extras. Simply do the essentials. I sometimes even essentialize my skin care and makeup routines during the holidays because it takes less thinking and time. Like I can get back to doing face masks in January. Like, who cares? Just do the essentials. Like, are your gutters so full that they are causing damage to your property when it rains? No, they're not. Cool. Then don't worry about cleaning out your gutters until January. Do you usually make something homemade when your church community group comes to your house for dinner? Them coming might be essential, but homemade food for a crowd is not. Order pizza. Have a cereal bar. Call it good. Essentials only. Okay. Another way to plug the leak is to decide once. If you usually like male variety, but you just can't seem to like

get the momentum to that variety right now, decide once. You know, this is what I will have for breakfast for the next two weeks. This is what I will have every day for lunch this week. This is what we will have for the weekdays for dinner each week, and we will repeat that over the next two weeks. Decide once. Even if you stop that after the busy season has passed, right? It's there to plug the leak right now and to make things easier. Now is not forever. You can change your mind. When it comes to getting things done in the house, a timer is always just such a great idea. I want you to choose, here's a way to plug the leak if you're overwhelmed by mess. Choose whatever chore needs doing. And then I want you to set your timer for however long you think you have the energy or margin

for. Not for how long you think it's going to take what you have. What time you have. Okay. Two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes. It doesn't matter. But start the timer. If you want to race the clock at whatever pace, that's fine. or you can just mosey if you're too tired. Timers are also great for kids. See how much you can get done. And when the timer goes off, you can be done. Done for now is still done.

You can always come back another time. Timers, they help you plug leaks without building boats. Just do what you can in the time you set and then be done. And then the last way that you could plug a leak that I'm mentioning today, There are many kinds that you will find in your own life. But one categorical one I love is zones. I love zones so much. I think that zones are the secret to keeping up with chores, no matter how busy life is.

So zones are holding places for the different phases of chores. And they allow your chores to be put in their places for now until you can get to the next part. I talk a lot about zones and chores in episode 439. Chores I do every day, part two. That was just a few weeks ago. But thinking about those chores in this context of, you know, trying to pay attention to routines during a busy season, it might warrant another listen. Now that you've listened to this one, go back and listen to 439.

But zones are where something waits until you have time for it. You don't have to finish a chore from start to finish. You can have a zone. You can have a space. That's what a laundry basket is. That's what like a hamper is. It is a zone for the dirty clothes until it's time to wash. them. So look at the steps of your chores, maybe those ones that are at the bottom of your categories

that are like really struggling and don't have a lot of routines and see if there is a zone you can create for a step in the process, just a holding place for that part of the process until you're ready for it. It's like a deep breath. It's just, it's like everything in its place. Every part of the chore can have a place until you're ready for it. And it feels so much better than feeling like you have to finish it right now. I also want to say that if you are the kind of person who gets out of routine during a busy season and then you can't seem to get back on the horse, please be kind to yourself. Please be kind to yourself. That is true for so many people. Like momentum is a whole thing. So getting back to something you used to do regularly, it can be challenging. But it's still

worth moving toward, especially if that thing matters to you. Like the busyness of our our lives lately, plus a couple of weeks of either being sick myself or having a sick kid, it knocked me off of my weightlifting routine. I used to do it like clockwork three times a week. Like I really love lifting weights. And I would do it every other day. And now I think it's been like maybe four days since I've done it. And even then I'm doing it for way less time than I was before.

And sometimes it's not even twice a week. Sometimes it's once a week, if that at all. Now, it would be easy for me to get a little mift with myself about that. maybe even pouring on some shame and some guilt. But y'all, that does no good. It actually makes me want to do the thing less because now I've sucked the joy out of it. Shame's going to do that. So just start small where you are.

If it takes you a while to get back to where you were with a routine that was established before a busy season or sickness or whatever, that's okay. That's normal. Don't expect the same situation to immediately happen. be patient, start small, and be kind. Every step in the direction of something that matters to you matters. Every step, no matter how small it is. Now, I've given you some principles that you are already familiar with,

and I've basically told you to like, hey, just be where you are, use what's working, and help with the things that aren't just a little bit. You're like, thanks, Kendra, but I would really like something that is more structured and bigger and comprehensive than that. I know you do. I know you do. Has that ever worked before? I don't think so. I don't think it does. Because systems are not built. You can't solve the big problem of a busy life with one big solution. That is not how it works. That is how a lot of the time management productivity space experts talk about things. But that is not the expectation of regular life. That is not realistic.

You need to start small where you are with what you have and be content with that. It's okay to be busy. It's okay to feel frazzled. But if you honor the things that are already working and you tend to the things that are not in very small, doable ways, it's going to be better than it was. And it's definitely going to be better than spending your limited time trying to build a big system that isn't going to work that then you have to maintain. And when you don't, you feel bad about. let's not go down that path. So when you want to keep up with chores when life is extra busy,

remember this first. Regular life is busy enough. So make sure you are being kind and compassionate and reasonable towards yourself about what you're able to do. Life is already busy when life isn't busy in December, right? Be compassionate towards yourself. Now is not the time to start building new routines or new systems, mostly because systems grow more than they are built, but also you're too busy anyway. Don't add new things that you will feel badly about when they don't work. And third, remember to lean on routines, like even ones that are less established than you would like. The regularity of the ordinary, even the ordinary that is like sort of working will save your life. Okay. Then I want you to consider those seven

categories of regular life tasks. You can even cheer them if you would like. Food, clothes, mess, dirt, logistics, tasks, and rest. Put those in order of what is most established to what is least. Not easy. Not about easy. The things that are the most established, I want you to notice them and nurture them. You don't need to change them. Just let them do their thing. For the others that are struggling a bit more, just plug leaks. Plug the leak. Don't build a boat. Plug the leak. Busy seasons don't need projects added on. Just consider things like starting small, deciding once, essentializing, doing timer tasks, and using zones to plug those leaks so that you can be a bit more above water and enjoy where you are a bit more. And that's how to keep up with chores when life is extra busy.

Welcome aboard via rail. Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and stretch. Steep. Flip. Or that. and enjoy via rail love the way. And now it's time for a little extra something.

When you are listening to this, we have been home from New York for two days. When I'm recording this, we will be leaving for New York in two days. This is the weird life of podcast timing. So I don't have stories yet about the trip. I will share those in this week's newsletter, but I do have some favorite travel planning ideas that have worked really well for us. Okay. First, we have been paying close attention to how we feel in different temperatures.

like at home right now, the main thing we're doing during this trip is going to see Sam in the parade, which means we will be outside for many hours waiting for and watching the parade. Warmth is going to be super important because it's early and it's going to be cold. So we have been going outside, like bundled up in certain get-ups when it's cold outside, so we can notice what parts of our bodies are cold. I think that guessing what layers you need is like, I don't know, it's a little stressful and tough for me, that experiencing it is a little better. So that's been helpful. We're going outside and we'll check and be like, it's 42 degrees outside

right now. What on our bodies is cold. Two, I have loved using my maps to plan out things, especially like food stops. And honestly, to be, it's not even really been me. One of the people we're going with is super into food. And he and cause have gathered together just about like every cheap eat spot in Manhattan that we could stop at, depending on where we are in the city. So I mentioned my maps a couple of weeks ago, but it's an extension of Google Maps that allows you to draw so many pins, so many. You can create layers of categories like food and attractions, you know, whatever you want to do. And you can create layers of those. You can change their colors.

Then you can see on the map how closely things that you want to do are grouped together. It's like a brain dump and map form with built-in categorization. Oh, so great. So that's, we've loved using my maps. Third, I am focusing on toiletries. Everybody can pack their own clothes and their stuff from lists, but I have been making toiletry lists and filling up travel bottles and labeling them in advance so that we can make sure that all of that is done and packed ahead of time. The biggest reason for that is that I'm not going to be home when the rest of the family is packing and leaving. I'm going early with Sam. And since I am the resident listmaker and packer and detail person, I want to leave the crew in

like decent shape with the items that are probably easier to forget or more finicky like travel toiletries. So I already have them all packed and ready for the family when they leave in a couple days. They just have to put their toiletry bag in their bag. And then finally, I just keep remembering that there are so many ways to enjoy a trip. There are a million things to do. and there are a million things that could get in the way, and we would have to pivot. Holding loosely to a plan is so much better than being super ornery about the plan.

Like, we're going to have a great time no matter what happens. Even if there's something chaotic that gets in the way, if we're honest about our feelings, but also remember that, like, we can find good and even humor and just about anything, and that ice cream or a churro are, like, not more than a few turns away, we're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. So we've been paying attention to temperature using my maps. I'm magic question packing by getting the toiletries done ahead of time. And we're just remembering that there's so many ways we can enjoy this.

And it's all going to be great. I will share a recap of our trip in Wednesday's newsletter. So if you don't already get that and want to, you can sign up at the lazy genius collective.com slash join. And now it is time to celebrate the lazy genius of the week. This week we have Gabriel Waters. Gabriel writes. just wanted to share something that makes attending get-togethers and potlucks so much easier. For each season, I do a decide once of what I will bring if I get invited to a party.

This summer, it was watermelon. During football season, it's homemade quack with store-bought chips. For holiday and winter parties, I bring a harvest salad. It makes it so much easier to say yes to last-minute invitations if I don't have to think so hard about what I'm going to make. What a great idea. I especially love the seasonality of this. this, every season, you decide something new for that season. And when you get to the same season a year later, you could keep the decision or you could make a new one. This is just a great way

to be thoughtful about the food you're bringing without adding more chaos than you need. So this is a great idea, Gabrielle, and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. All right, let's close with a mini pep talk for when you don't know when to quit. Extra busy seasons are hard for everyone, but there are certain people who appear to be thriving. They're just little energizer bunnies and they keep going and going and going and they don't seem to need to stop. And maybe that is you. But sometimes that is the result of not knowing when to quit, not knowing when to stop. Or not knowing that you're even allowed to quit or stop.

Some of you are just wired to like not stop and let a moment alone. Like there's no such thing as like going too hard. You know? Like you might in theory really love a simple house decorated for the holidays, but you've always just gone all out and decked it out. So you're just going to keep doing that even though maybe you don't have the energy to, right? Now obviously you can love a decked-out home and prioritize it. The amount of decorations here is not the point. But if you don't actually care all that much and no one you live with does either, but you still feel the compulsion to go all out because you don't know when to quit, I think that is worth examining.

Whenever I talk to people who are wired this way, who cannot even consider stopping or quitting or doing something halfway, I usually ask some version of, what's the worst thing that could happen if you do? And their answer is typically, not always, but typically pretty benign or they can't think of an answer at all. They're like, well, I don't, I mean, I guess nothing. So for those of you who don't know when to quit, I want you to listen to your body. Know what matters about this thing that you're doing so that you can have boundaries

around your own expectations of them. I want you to know that you are allowed to quit something you've always done, to stop something in the middle, to be lazy, to do less than you have done before. production and output, especially now in a time where everything is very, very produced and there is much output required of us. Production and output are not the measurements of a good life or a good person or whatever ruler you're using. I just want those of you who struggle to know when to stop and when to quit, to enjoy where

you are right now and to know that it's okay to be done even if it's halfway. or not done at all. It's okay for you to stop and quit. What is the worst that can happen? And that's a mini pep talk for when you don't know when to quit. If this episode is helpful to you or if you've been looking for a way to support the show, it would be so great if you would share the episode with a friend or you could leave a kind review on Apple Podcasts.

Both of those things just really mean a lot to us. So thank you for listening and sharing and supporting. this work. The 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 Kenzie. Special thanks to Leah Jarvis for weekly production. If you'd like a podcast recap every other week, be sure to sign up for latest lazy listens. That's the email that goes out every other Friday. You can get that at the lazy genius collective.com slash listens. 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. I'll see you next week. Have you ever felt like you are 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.