This book is wonderful! I’ve been a big fan of Kendra for years. I wondered if I would gain anything from this book because I felt like I already had a pretty good idea of her principles. This book breaks everything down so clearly and applicably. I wanted to highlight the whole thing. It’s so helpful without giving you step by step directions for what should work for you because it worked for her. The principles help you make decisions based on YOUR life and what matters to YOU! Love it! Thanks Kendra! Can’t wait for her next book.

Lazy genius is the perfect description for the advice in this book. My favorite takeaway is to decide once and move on; I tend to waiver in my inconsequential choices - like what’s for dinner - and this advice just spoke right to my soul right now.

This is one I’ll definitely read again and share with friends.

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi is a book that will prompt you to embrace what matters, ditch what doesn’t and get stuff done.
It’s a productivity book, packed with personal stories and anecdotes. The book feels more relevant and achievable than Thursday is the New Friday. It’s about mindset. Mindset is not my thing – but I did not find this book ‘woo’ or difficult to get behind.
Basically, it’s about prioritizing what is important to you and doing that. The book shows you how and I loved it. It’s also pretty funny. Her description of kitchen chaos after school is exactly like our home but the point of this book is not to be like anyone else but to create a way of getting things done that works for you.
Mostly it is a set of principles for the home, combined with a mantra for the stressed out working parent (and I felt it was aimed at the ‘moms’). It’s a set of guidelines to help you feel OK about reclaiming time: part mindset stuff, part practical guide, part critical friend telling you to get your s*** together and that the little things don’t matter – and she loves you anyway.
As you read through the experiences and stories shared as part of the 13 principles for being a lazy genius, you will find yourself nodding along.
I like how each chapter ends with one small step, but throughout the book there are many more examples of things you can do.
Unlike other productivity books that prescribe a particular method or a template to fill in so you can reach peak productivity, The Lazy Genius Way encourages you to create a method that works for you, using universal principles to shape what is actually going to be sustainable, useful change in your life.
It felt very accessible and a refreshing change, but as a lot of the examples are home-life based, you will have to extend the principles to your work life. It’s doable, but there aren’t a lot of work-related examples.
Just so you know, there are some references to Christianity which felt sometimes like they came out of the blue – I wasn’t expecting religion to pop in the book and you might not either.
And now excuse me why I go off to clear the kitchen counters.

We are all guilty of being "too busy". I take self care very seriously but some days it just escapes from me. This title reminded me to take time for myself because it's absolutely needed and how to not feel guilty for it. A great reminder about what should be taken more seriously. Everyone could benefit from a title like this!

The Lazy Genius Way is a guidebook for modern life- modern stressed out do too much life. I felt like this book was a coffee with a friend pep talk. Kendra has a way of pinpointing everyday “pain points” and offering a solution or not.... The book is based on the premise of deciding what is right for you once and doing that. If you are super “Type A” this might not be the book for you or it might be just what you need to give yourself a break. I would recommend this book to anyone coming out of a season of change or struggling with the season they are in. Kendra offers real life practical solutions in a nonjudgmental way.

I am rarely able to finish nonfiction books but since I heard so many good things about this one I gave it a shot. I finished it and loved all of the simple, applicable tips for changing our mindset in order to prioritize what actually matters to us. I also really appreciated that the author states multiple times that the reader is the only one who can decide what matters or what they need. It drives me crazy when a total stranger tells me what I “need”, so Adachi’s approach helped me feel open and willing to accept her methods.

A fabulous read. Very helpful for creating your own framework for problem solving or just helping you feel like a functioning human. Quite like a good life coach or a close friend sitting down to trouble shoot your problems.

Such an amazing book - helpful on all areas in life! I love how Kendra shares helpful and practical steps to better serve our families and ourselves. It’s not a self help in the way of making us feel less than but allowing us to choose what is most important to us and least important and focusing on those things that matter most to us in each season.

I encountered the author through her podcast and am glad that she has written this handbook on investing in what matters. The way she backs things up to get to underlying values and deciding those for oneself makes this a truly helpful self help book. And because I've listened to her so much on the podcast and Instagram live it's fun to hear her voice as I'm reading!

Kendra Adachi is a true genius! Her book shares ways of both simplifying and being smarter about the things that truly matter. I cannot recommend her book enough.

https://geekmom.com/2020/10/bookends-september-2020/
If you enjoyed the whole Marie Kondo thing, but at the same time were irritated by the whole Marie Kondo thing, then you will love GeekMom Sarah’s latest read. The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi does not offer a twelve-step program, or a new way to do things, it does not even laud simplicity. At one point Adachi even protests at society’s current obsession with downsizing and simplicity by saying that simplification is not actually simple, that one single voice cannot tell you how to live. This is where her approach is a breath of fresh air in a society of self-help and get simple quick inspirational voices.

Adachi encourages you to simply look at your actual life, decide what matters to you and not the person next to you. Once you have that pinned down her ethos is simple; be a genius at the things that matter, and lazy with the things that don’t. So maybe your house doesn’t have to be decluttered, but you need your bed to be made every day. Maybe you are okay with spaghetti for dinner every night but have to have a Starbucks in the morning. Adachi offers a series of simple routines that work for her as examples of how to do this, one of the key takeaways for GeekMom Sarah being that clutter does not mean you have too much stuff, it just means the stuff you have doesn’t have a place. So the collection of Disney mugs doesn’t have to go, it just needs its proper home. Also, it’s okay if her house looks like the before photos of a re-model show!

Adachi talks a lot about how essential and minimal are not the same thing, which is a breath of fresh air after the dumpster fire of 2020, in which we have been so often tempted to burn it all down! And if the book isn’t enough for you, there’s a terrific podcast to go along with it.

Kendra Adachi’s book has been a great read for me. I don’t often read organizational type books, but in this season of being very overwhelmed, I think I was hoping for a magic cure. 😂 I didn’t get that as far as organizing my life goes, but I did feel very affirmed reading the book. I don’t consider myself a super organized person, but reading this book made me realize that I have already implemented a LOT of her strategies into my life, which could very well be why I’m as functional as I am in the midst of homeschooling, mothering, and working from home. Her strategies for “deciding once,” batching, building the right routines, and putting things in their place are pretty well-established in our home. (I admittedly have my husband to thank for a lot of these things being established because he is VERY organized.) I do have less “structured” friends (let’s be honest, less uptight friends 😂) who found this book helpful in these ways. What was tremendously helpful for me were areas of emotional/mental practices, such as scheduling rest, “essentializing”—a word with way more positive connotations than minimalizing, and a really helpful discussion about acknowledging the season you’re in and embracing it rather than trying to force a narrative/lifestyle that just doesn’t work for you right now.

Also, and this was a biggie for me, I REALLY appreciated that Adachi mentioned more than once her place of privilege to focus on practically any of these issues—that essentializing is something we have time to worry about when we aren’t worrying about whether our kids will have enough food to eat this week. I really find so many Christian female writers to be super irksome because they seem incredibly unaware of their socioeconomic differences with MANY of the people reading their books and looking to them for guidance. I loved that Kendra openly addressed different stages of life and situation and didn’t imply any of her principles were one-size-fits-all solutions. Overall, I thought this book was great, and I look forward to following The Lazy Genius on social media.

Finally got around to picking this one up, only to be disappointed. The synopsis gives no indication that the author/publication leans towards Christian ideology and values. (I should have done more research on the actual publishing imprint itself before requesting.)

While I think many of the statements and practices could apply to anyone, it was a struggle to get through, as someone who is not a Christian. I wish the synopsis was more authentic to the book.

Kendra Adachi, author of the popular The Lazy Genius Collective and podcast of the same name, writes this insightful, funny, and innovative book, which helps the reader decide what really matters and what is less important. Priorities are considered, and kind and thoughtful advice and ideas are shared by this wry and insightful author, who decides once, and names what matters.

I have listened to That Lazy Genius podcast a few times and I like the concepts, but didn't fully grab ahold of what Kendra was talking to. Then I read this book and it was such a good read for me. I consider myself fairly organized, kind of a minimalist and can run a pretty decent house. But yet, I am in a busy season of life, especially in the summer, and this books equips you with principles to help maintain that well-oiled routine going.

There are 12 principles that lazy geniuses should follow and one mantra. The mantra is this: "Be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't." Basically, how I interpret this is to establish a routine, brain-free plan for dealing with those things you don't really care about, but still have to be done. This frees up time and brain space for those things you really do enjoy and want to put thought into.

For example, principle number one is "Decide Once." What this means is that if Monday morning you struggle to get going because you have to figure out what to wear and what to eat and what to grab for lunch, then what you need to do is make that decision one time and be done with it. Decide that you are going to always wear your blue outfit on Monday, you will always eat a muffin for breakfast and have a cheese stick and yogurt for lunch. You do this every Monday and you reduce the decisions that need to be made first thing in the morning.

But then principle number two is to "Start Small." So probably you would only make one of the above decisions at a time and gradually add in the other ones.

Other principles include building the right routines, having a place for everything, and so on. I'm not going to list them all because then why would you need to read the book? But you should read the book if you are wanting to simplify your life.

"When you fill your life with things that are not essential to what matters, you unintentionally add noise, and managing noise is part of why you're tired."

I really enjoyed this book. And while I received a copy from Waterbrook/Multnomah via NetGalley, I would like to add a paper copy to my own library for future reference.

All opinions are my own.

Decent book but leans toward the housewives or women with kids. Would love more ideas for those of us who have alternative families and no kids

This book was so helpful! It gives smart tips about focusing on what's important for you and getting done whatever you have to but not always want to do. What I didn't like (as usual in self-help books) was the introduction -- I always don't care what the author's motivation is to write a book, just give me the tips! :D

So, I fully admit I am in the target audience for this book. I'm a white woman, a Christian, a mom of two kids, working a full time job and living a very typical upper middle class lifestyle. I have more than enough of all I need except time. That being said... I found The Lazy Genius Way to be extraordinarily helpful in framing my life. I've listened to Kendra's podcast, and found the book to be very similar. The woman is consistent! I appreciated that the book encouraged me to focus on what matters to me personally, rather than what matters to others. I thought Kendra's faith-based references were thoughtful, authentic, and not cheesy. I was glad to know that I already do some of her principles such as batching and deciding once. I think this is a book I'll refer to in the future. It was a quick, easy read that can make a difference in your life.

Not all books work for all and sometimes it just takes some part of a book to make a significant impact in someone's life. I have been reading non-fiction books for quite a long time now and many failed me even if they were very appealing with their concepts and then some books left some of their essences with me and offered scope of improvements. After all this time I concluded that as a reader I can only absorb what's works for me and discard what doesn't but I can never deny the possibilities that some books really have some potential—no matter to what degree— to make significant changes in our lives.
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Kendra Adachi's ‘The Lazy Genius Way’ is one such book that may not be helpful to everyone because of its contents. This book consists of 13 lazy genius principles where the author teaches a simple mantra to simplify the mess of one's life, and that is: “Be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.” Some of her practical principles like ‘Decide Once’ and ‘Start Small’ were very helpful to me because when a person gets stuck in a loop of procrastination, I believe that these are the two principles that can help him get his productivity momentum.
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Apart from that, I kind of developed a belief or assumption about this book that the big part of this book was concerned about household works; almost every other principle was about how one can do household works in order, batch the products, building routines, putting everything in its place, going into the right order and others—it was like the author's intention was to help housewives and house-husbands (why not?) or people who grind between their hectic work schedules and managing house and kids.

Maybe those parts didn't work for me because I am not in that phase yet—but hear me out— this book can be alluring for those people who struggle to manage and balance their work-house duties, always feel unproductive because of loads of work, who can't put themselves in the arena because they get too exhausted and tired with its anxiety and who just want to learn to do things more conveniently and in a right way without wasting too much of their energy.

Kendra Adachi is the Queen of Lazy Geniuses around the world! She has the best tips and systems for getting done what you don't always like to do (but still has to be accomplished) so that you can enjoy the things that matter to you more. Her systems can be adjusted to suit each individual and they are truly life-changing. Kendra's way of writing is like reading a letter or blog post from a friend. This book was excellent!