The Lazy Genius Podcast - Bonus: Introduction to The Lazy Genius Way

Episode Date: August 1, 2020

Today’s episode is extra and very exciting. It’s the audio version of the introduction of my book The Lazy Genius Way! I’m so excited for you to get a sneak peek of the audiobook before it’s out in the world in all its glory. Helpful Companion Links My book, The Lazy Genius Way, is available for preorder! You can find all the details here. Don’t sleep on it, you guys. Preorder bonuses end on August 11th! This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amazon presents Laura versus Fruitflies. Swarming your fruit and terrorizing your kitchen, these little freaks multiply at a rate that would make a rabbit say, yo. Chill. But Laura shopped on Amazon and saved on cleaning spray, countertop wipes, and fly traps. Hey, fruit flies, your baby boom ends here. Save the Everyday with Amazon. 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's episode is extra and not extra like cool extra. I mean it is that, but I just mean like bonus. And it's very exciting. It is the audio version of the introduction of my book, The Lazy Genius Way. And then on Monday, you'll get the entire first chapter as well. It's so fun. So I read the audio book. I read the audio book.

which was a blast and also weird and much harder than I thought. Reading an audiobook is very different from recording a podcast episode. You have to go slower and speak more clearly. Lots of things I did not realize I didn't do until I had to do them. Regardless, I would love for you to get a sneak peek of this audiobook. And remember that if you pre-order the Lazy Genius Way by August 10th, which is the day before its release on the 11th, whether it's the physical copy, the ebook or the audio version. You have the ability to get four lazy genius digital resources that are

sold for $112 usually for nothing. So if you listen to this and you want to get like that whole thing, pre-order from wherever you like to buy your audiobooks and then head to the lazy genius collective.com slash book to claim your pre-order bonuses. Once we confirm your order info, you'll get the lazy genius digital library in your inbox. Okay. Without further ado, here's the introduction for my book, The Lazy Genius Way. Introduction. Please don't skip it. I'm not a mom who plays.

I mean, I will, but I personally don't like knocking down a stack of blocks 20,000 times in a row. No matter how much joy it brings my kids. I have three, by the way. Sam is in fourth grade and obsessed with Minecraft. Ben is in second grade and obsessed with painting the Mona Lisa, and Annie is in preschool and obsessed with me. Thankfully, my husband is a dad who plays. A few summers ago, he came up big while we were vacationing at the beach.

He dug an impressive hole in the sand, a hole so deep you had to lean over the edge to see the bottom. Then with the enthusiasm of a carnival showman, He got all three kids to race back and forth from the ocean, carrying buckets of water to fill the hole as quickly as they could. Over and over again, they hauled and poured, hauled and poured, but that hole would not fill up. Every single drop soaked back into the sand, taunting them in their efforts. Because my kids are adorable little weirdos, they thought it was. fun and played the game for a long while. That is, until a flock of aggressive seagulls became more

interesting. As they ran off to chase the birds, I saw the discarded buckets surrounding the empty hole and realized I was looking at a metaphor of my life. Maybe it's one for yours too. Here's what we do as women. If you're a dude, please let this inform your understanding of how women are often wired and the pressures we feel due to the culture we're a part of. Also, thank you for reading this book, even though I will unashamedly always use female pronouns. As women, we pick our spot in the sand to dig a hole, checking to see if the women around us are choosing similar or gulp better spots, trying not to be distracted by their motherly

patients and bikini bodies. We start digging, hoping the hole is deep enough and headed in the right direction. Where is it going? No idea. But who cares? Everyone else is digging, so we dig too. Eventually, it's time to start hauling buckets to fill the hole. We carry load after load of water, color-coded calendars, room mom responsibilities, meal plans, and work-life balance. We haul, we try, we sweat, and we watch that hole stay empty. Now we're confused. Does everyone else have this figured out? Is my hole too deep? And where is all the water going? We pause to catch our breath, wondering if everyone else feels like an epic failure too.

One person can't possibly keep up with a clean house, a fulfilling job, a well-adjusted family, an active social life, and a running regimen of 15 miles a week, right? With silence our only answer, we decide, no, it's just me. I need to get it together. What follows is a flurry of habit trackers, calendar overhauls, and internet rabbit holes to figure out how to be better until we pass out from emotional exhaustion

or actual adrenal fatigue, or we give up completely, and head back to the beach house for a shame-filled margarita. Cheers? The real reason. you're tired. You're not tired because laundry takes up more space on your couch than humans do. No one in your house seems to care about your work deadline. Or your kids' school lunch rule is grapes must be quartered. The tasks are plentiful. But you know, your to-do list isn't solely to

blame. You're on all the time. Trying to be present with your people. managing the emotions of everyone around you, carrying the invisible needs of strangers in line at the post office, and figuring out how to meet your own needs with whatever you have left over, assuming you know what your needs are in the first place. It's too much. Or maybe it feels like too much because you haven't read the right book, listened to the right podcast or found the right system.

I know that feeling. I've spent an embarrassing number of hours searching for the right tools to make my life feel under control. And I have the abandoned stack of planners and highlighted self-help books to prove it. Unnecessary spoiler alert, they didn't help. On one side, I felt like I had to create a carbon copy of the author's life, even though I dislike going to bed early and don't travel to 20 cities a

year speaking at events. On the other side, follow your dreams, girl. Apparently, my to-do list isn't the problem, my small time thinking is. Still, I highlighted dozens of passages, trying to MacGyver together some kind of plan that made sense for me. Maybe the right combination of life hacks and inspirational quotes would keep me from lying awake in the middle of the night with worry. Yet, despite book after book, quote after quote, and plan after plan, I stayed tired. Maybe you're listening to this book because you feel it too.

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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. Why simplifying doesn't work? It's the most common solution to feeling overwhelmed. Simplify. Do less, have less, get on Instagram less,

cut down on commitments, outsource, and say no. But also, give back to the community, join a book club and grow heirloom tomatoes, make your own baby food, run an impressive side hustle, and go on a regular date night with your spouse if you expect your marriage to survive. How is that simple? In my experience, marriage, entrepreneurship, and gardening are all super complicated. For Christians, the concept of a simple life can feel even more muddled. Jesus was homeless, had 12 friends, and depended on the kindness of others for a meal and a bed. His life focused on a singular goal, and everything else was straightforward.

But a little further back in the Bible, we find the very misunderstood, Proverbs 31 woman, who gets up before the sun, sows bed linens for her family, plants vineyards and has strong arms. Will someone please tell me what I'm supposed to care about so I can just live my life? And that's why simplification is anything but simple. No single voice can tell us how to live. Even within the biblical message of love God and love people lie a million possibilities of how that could look practically. We need a filter that allows us to craft a life focusing only on what matters to us, not on what everyone else says should matter. My friend, welcome to the lazy, genius way. How to read this book. Here's your new mantra, be a genius about the things that matter.

and lazy about the things that don't, to you. As life circumstances change, needs and priorities follow suit. This book is designed to be a helpful reference through all those transitions, giving you language and tools to make room for what matters. Each chapter highlights a lazy genius principle with ideas to implement, minute immediately. One principle on its own will have a tangible impact, but as you apply each to your daily life, you'll see how the 13 principles can harmoniously create personalized solutions to your problems and illuminate the ones that don't matter so much. You can quickly review the book

for concrete steps and helpful lists. And when you have time, listen more deeply as you create space to become your truest self. I encourage you to grab this book whenever you hit a wall in your routine, when a transition is looming, or when you feel the weight of busyness. You'll learn better ways to do laundry, finish projects, and get dinner on the table, praise. But beyond the practical, you'll learn to embrace a life that offers space for success and struggle, energy and exhaustion, clean houses, and crappy meals. It all counts because it's all yours. Whether you're home with tiny humans, pursuing the corner office, lonely, busy, or bored,

This book will help you name what matters. Ditch what doesn't. And Lazy Genius, a Life Full of both productivity and peace. Let's get started. Thanks for listening to this bonus episode. All Book Info is at the lazy geniuscollective.com slash book. And if you have any questions, we're happy to answer them. Thank you so, so, so much for all of your support up until this point.

we are 10 days away from the book coming out. It's crazy. It's just so exciting. And I wouldn't be nearly as excited without all of your enthusiasm alongside me. Now, as we go, if you have a friend who you've been telling forever about the lazy genius collective, but she hasn't yet listened to an episode or believed you when you say that Change Your Life actually did change your life, point her to this episode. It's so short. And if someone doesn't resonate with the words in the introduction of this book, they're right that this space might not be for them. And that's wonderful. That's totally fine. This space is not for everybody. But if your friend takes the time to listen and feels even the tiniest bit seen by these words, I think she'll be

more likely to finally listen to that other episode you keep telling her about or try and change your life chicken or whatever. So feel free to share this episode with that friend as a short gateway into being a lazy genius. Okay. That's a for today. Thank you so much for listening. 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 be back Monday with Chapter 1 of the Lazy Genius Way. 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.