The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi
February 2023 - Well Read Book Club
I read this for my Well Read Book Club and I did enjoy it. I would have loved to read it at age 25... much of what is in it I guess I had slogged through life and figured out on my own. But her descriptions and advice are solid. Wouldn't it have been nice to not have to just slog it out? :) Even so, I found myself nodding my head and even shouting 'Amen Sister' more than once!
She has a clear way of writing and sharing that doesn't make you feel 'less than'. She continually states that some people like one way and others like another way. None are wrong. She just tries to help you determine what is really worth it to you to do deeper. And how to make other parts of your life less consuming. Finding that good balance between being lazy or being a genius and trying too hard. Good points and an engaging book. Even our roomful of 50+ women found many helpful hints and had lots to talk about.
Her mantra is "Be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't." I like that!
This is definitely a great book to give as a gift to a new young Mom. In fact, I paired a copy of this book with Michelle Obama's
The Light We Carry for a few wonderful young women I know.
Notes/Highlights from the book -
...but as a self-righteous perfectionist, I was obsessed with keeping score, avoiding failure, and being impressive. Comparison and judgment were par for the course.
When you care about something, you try to do it well. When you care about everything, you do nothing well, which then compels you to try even harder. Welcome to being tired.
Little did I know you can be just as exhausted from not trying as you can from trying too hard. Managing apathy and survival mode takes as much energy as managing rules and perfection.
Our culture is obsessed with being real, but we’ve been using the wrong measuring stick.
I’m all for letting go of perfection, but we’ve somehow conflated order with being fake.
I want to stop judging women who have it together, assuming they have something to hide. I want to stop applauding chaos as the only indicator of vulnerability.
You can be real when life is in order and when it’s falling apart. Life is beautifully both.
Constant decision-making is one of the reasons you don’t have energy for things that matter to you.
Stuff is the enemy of clean, and the more stuff you have, the harder it is to clean your house.
I do appreciate her simple take on recipes - something I have long worked toward. I love sheetpan meals but admit that some of her tips took my sheetpan chicken up a notch! (oiling underneath the skin of the chicken and placing the chicken on top of the veggies instead of nestled down within)
Check out her famous recipe here...
