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Speaker 1:
[00:00] This episode is sponsored by understood.org. We talk a lot around here about naming what matters and building systems that actually work for your real life. I know that for some of you, your real life includes raising neurodivergent kids, which can make a lot of typical parenting advice feel like it just doesn't quite fit. Or maybe it was never written with you in mind to begin with. If that sounds familiar, I wanna tell you about a podcast called Everyone Gets a Juice Box for Parents of Neurodivergent Kids. It's a really thoughtful show full of honest conversations from parents who understand the nuance here. They talk about things like navigating diagnoses, handling meltdowns, and even mom rage, that overwhelm and burnout that doesn't mean you're a bad parent, it just means you're human. What I appreciate about it is how steady it feels. It doesn't rush you or try to fix everything. It just offers practical help and a quiet reminder that you're not alone in this. To listen, search for Everyone Gets a Juice Box in your podcast app. That's Everyone Gets a Juice Box. This episode is sponsored by Gusto. If you run a small business, you've probably realized how much time can get pulled into things like payroll, onboarding, and all the behind-the-scenes details that keep everything running. Those things matter, but they're not usually the part you want to spend your time on. That's where Gusto comes in. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. It brings everything into one place, payroll, tax filings, benefits, onboarding, so you're not juggling multiple systems or trying to keep track of it all yourself. There are also no hidden fees, and you can run payroll as often as you need for one monthly price, which makes it easier to plan and stay consistent. Try Gusto today at gusto.com/genius and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com/genius. One more time, gusto.com/genius. 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 show 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's episode 465, ask me anything. So we have never done an episode like this before, and I'm so excited to do it today. We put a call out in the Latest Lazy Letter, which is our monthly newsletter, for any questions that you all wanted to ask me. And we got so many great questions that cover the gamut. We'll talk about desert island snacks, and how I came up with my kids' names, and how I became friends with other authors, and so many more. I know this isn't like truth or dare at a sleepover, like shocker, I always pick truth. But it feels fun, like we're eating popcorn and cozy pants, just like chatting about nothing important. But it's also like the most important because it's fun. So that is today's episode. After that, we're going to have a little extra something where I share a couple of my favorite adjustments to my famous granola recipe. Yes, we are going to dedicate like a segment to granola. As always, we will celebrate The Lazy Genius of the Week, which is a great tip for kids chores. And then we will end with a mini pep talk for when you are personally drowning in chores, double chores to close our episode today. And because we have so many questions, we're just going to jump right in with a fun one first to kick us off before we hear from our sponsors. So Katie asks, do you play any instruments? I know you love music and your kids are in band. Just wondering how you started your music journey as a kid. Did you sing? Were you in band? Were you listening to cassettes and CDs and albums, etc? Yes, I do play instruments. I play acoustic guitar and piano, both just enough to sound like I kind of know what I'm doing, but do not take me out of my comfort zone or I will never sound like I play either instrument. I've never played them before. I have a very small zone of mediocrity in both instruments. So I grew up in a musical family. Both of my parents were musicians and songwriters. We had music going a lot from what I can remember. I would often listen to Amy Grant and Gloria Estefan on the same day on vinyl. Music was part of me from early on. I sang in children's choirs and sang in middle school and high school in chorus class. I was the baker's wife in my senior year high school production of Into the Woods and sang in that. I was in my youth groups worship band. I've always loved to sing and play music, especially with other people. So I took piano lessons as a kid and then I stopped probably around like age 15 maybe. And then that's when I picked up guitar because I wanted to impress who I thought would be my future husband, who ended up being my future husband, who also played guitar. Like it was my way to get him to spend time with me. Long game, long game, baby. But yeah, I've always loved music, always. Costas too, my husband is too. He plays guitar. He loves listening to music like I do. We don't have a ton of overlapping taste, but it's pretty important for both of us that we have music in our individual lives and then in our home too. Like before we had kids, we decided to prioritize having music in the house. Like listen to it. We wanted to have instruments around. Even if our kids didn't get into it like we were, we wanted them to have the exposure and the options is something that we both love so much. So like when we got our first house, instead of buying furniture for the formal living room that we did not need, we bought a baby grand piano that was on like crazy sale. We still have it. It was the best kickstart to family music ever. Like I have videos of Tiny Sam playing on the piano, like already starting to make music and it makes me very happy. So now we have two boys in band, both of whom made all-state band for North Carolina this year, by the way, which is so fun. Sam composes amazing concert band pieces that have actually won awards. We have a daughter who loves to sing and performs at school. We have a future band director in Sam for sure. Like it's pretty fun with that piano and that intention started for the family. So that's my answer to what's your music history. There it is. All right. So we have so many more questions to come, but let's take a quick break real quick to hear from our sponsors who make this show free for you to listen to. So we're so grateful for them. Also, here's your quick reminder about the podcast recap email that we send out every other Friday. It is called Latest Lazy Listens. It summarizes the episode. It shares the lazy genius of the week, as well as other segments that we have on the show. That's where we'll put our granola adjustments in that email. It also 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 thelazygeniuscollective.com/listens. This episode is sponsored by Good Ranchers. Spring always feels like the start of spending more time outside, having people over and thinking a little differently about meals at home. And when I'm planning ahead for that, I already know that I'm trusting Good Ranchers. I've been a subscriber for a couple of months now, and it's changed how I think about what I keep on hand. Everything comes from American Farms and shows up right at my door, which takes one more thing off my list. And they have custom boxes now, which I really like because I can choose the cuts I know my family loves. We're a big steak family, and I am the winner of said family when I come in with a steak off the grill for dinner. It's so great to open the freezer and see items we'll actually use from farmers I can trust. And with My Code Genius, you'll get free meat for life and $25 off your first order. That's free meat with every order and $25 off your first order with My Code Genius when you subscribe on goodranchers.com. goodranchers.com, American meat delivered. This episode is sponsored by Square. Whether you're managing more customers, more orders or more locations, Square gives you everything you need to stay ahead of the rush. Square is there to help you make it big on your block. I've noticed this at a lot of the places I go to regularly. Just last week at a tea shop when I was getting my iced mango tea, they use Square and everything just feels easy. Checkout is quick, receipts show up right away, and no one's fumbling with the system behind the counter. From the business side, Square is handling a lot more than just payments. It's one system for things like inventory, sales, and the day-to-day details that can get complicated fast. Square helps you run faster, sell smarter, and stay in control even when things get busy. Why wait? Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at square.com/go/lazygenius. That's square.com/g-o/lazygenius. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. All right. Let's get into more. Ask me anything questions. We have a few categories that we're going to work through. Work slash like Lazy Genius questions, questions about my family and then some random ones just for fun. Okay. So we've already had one fun slash family question, but we're going to stick with the work slash Lazy Genius ones to start. Cammie asks, what advice would you tell tiny baby Lazy Genius Kendra when you were just starting out? I've been here since The Lazy Genius grills and have loved watching you and The Lazy Genius grow. Oh man, The Lazy Genius grills, you guys, that was episode 26. This is episode 465. That was years and years ago. Thank you Cammie for being here that long. That's amazing. So I think I would tell tiny baby Lazy Genius Kendra that steady is better than flashy. So in the early days of growing the business, especially as I watched the job of content creator become a real thing, like you used to say podcaster and people are like, what are you talking about? You can make money that way or they didn't even know what that was. So the job became a credible job over the building of this business. I felt like I had to be great at all aspects of this growing industry. I needed to grow fast, make shiny content, take up all the trends. I just needed to grow, grow, grow. I remember back when Jenna Fisher of The Office Ladies, when Jenna Fisher first shared my podcast on her Instagram feed, according to that saved reel that was 375 weeks ago. I do not have the capacity to do that math right now, but she shared my show. And for a second, I was like, is this it? Is this what propels me into the stratosphere of success? While the Internet does sometimes work like that, it's not really the kind of business I want to create, even if I could make it work for me that way. I genuinely want steady growth, consistent care for listeners and readers, and a level of excellence and transparency that you all trust. Like you trust me, your trust in me. That is my greatest currency, and that is built by steady work day after day, not flashy things. Now, what's fun is that Jenna and Angela eventually invited me to be their first show on the Office Ladies Network. I've been working with them for a couple of years now. They've been the most amazing partners. They also don't require me to be flashy and shoot for like being viral or whatever. That's not a sustainable business model, nor is it what I want to do, you know? Constantly chasing the moment that might make everything like better and great. Like, no, that is not worth the trade off for me, nor is it my goal. And as we know, the same is true in life, right? We can spend so much time like chasing the system or the approach that's going to finally solve everything. And it's just not how life works. Just like how that's not how business works either. That's the same thing. So if I had to go back to tiny baby lazy genius Kendra, I would tell her that steady is better than flashy. And to just keep like making work she's proud of. Being the top podcast and selling a bazillion books is not the goal. Consistent, excellent work while still maintaining who I am. Even if it's at the cost of quick growth, is the far better goal for me. Next is a very observant question from Britta. Why did you stop numbering your episodes after 460? Britta is right. A few weeks ago, I think it might have even been like a little earlier than 460. We stopped putting the numbers of the episode titles just for the first week when they were, after they were released. The biggest reason is because when you browse Apple Podcasts or Spotify or anywhere that you listen to podcasts, you get like a limited amount of space to see the title of an episode. And I noticed that the number, you know, episode 465, like the hashtag 465, space, dash, space, and then the title, all of those spaces were taking up valuable space from actual words that might encourage someone to click through and listen. So now, when Leah, my producer, publishes the episode, she leaves the episode number off the title. Then the next week, she adds it back in. Since it's not as high on the charts anymore, it doesn't matter as much. It's just like a little tweak to make the content more eye-catching for podcast browsers. So good eye, Britta. Our next question is from Julie. Were you and your author friends friends before you all wrote books or did authoring books bring you together? Very good question. I can only speak for myself and my own author friend journey, but mine didn't start as author friends at all. My gateway into this world was Emily P. Freeman, my dear friend who quite literally lives a few blocks away. We can walk towards each other from our houses and can hug within 10 minutes. It's pretty great. So Emily and I have gone to two different churches together. We have lived on the same side of town twice, but like different sides of town, but we moved at the same time-ish. I have locked arms with her in this work from the very beginning. Now she went first. She went first. She started writing books first and being on the Internet far earlier than I did. I helped her host a weekend for high school girls years and years ago. It was a weekend on being someone who tries really hard and learning to let that life go. It went so well that after a while she was like, hey, I think I want to write a book about this. And that book became Grace for the Good Girl. It's wonderful. But she started writing and working on the Internet, like even before that, like way before that book too. So once I started my own thing on the Internet, she was such a cheerleader. She sent her people my way. The same happened with her sister, Myquillyn Smith, aka The Nester. The Nester was making amazing home content on the Internet. And she also championed anything that I did. So those two relationships in particular, they gave me an audience, but they also gave me confidence and also a chance to interact with friends that they had made in the Internet blogging, eventual publishing world long before anything I made, a podcast or a book were on the table. Then I think the more I got into the podcast space and the more that I wrote books, the more I realized that this work is rather lonely. It's so hard to do this without colleagues, without people who can help you process what's going on. Since none of us have a boss. I also started feeling more confident in myself just as a person, and I decided to go first in a few online relationships that are still going strong today. But like any relationship, a similar job doesn't equal automatic rapport or a lifelong friendship. Sometimes you meet people, but those friendships stick because of something deeper than just being in the same office together, or in my case, being authors or being podcasters or whatever. You live life together, you celebrate, and you grieve. And even though most of that interaction is digital and long distance, I think it still counts. I have a really rich group of friends who also do this work. And I think we just kind of seek each other out. When you see someone making work that you are proud of, that you want to champion, you're kind of like, I want to be friends with that person. I want to seek that person out. So I'm really grateful to the internet and to Emily for being my initial gateway into those relationships. Okay, the final question about like work staff is Kimberly. Kimberly asks, I love sharing The Lazy Genius principles with my college students who are becoming teachers. They apply so perfectly to teach your life. How did your experience as a teacher influence your thinking on these topics? Okay, this is actually a common assumption. I went to school to become a teacher, a high school English teacher specifically. I even got like a teaching scholarship, but I never actually became a teacher, not officially at a school. So I took some time off in college, in the middle of college, to tend to some family issues. And when it was time to transfer to a more local university, so I could stay more connected to those family issues, I dropped the education from my English education degree, you know? I was an English major in my first college, and when I transferred, it was just English. And so I graduated with a degree in English. So after college, I did not go into the classroom because, frankly, I wanted to teach a group of students who love to read as much as I do. And I was like, oh my gosh, that ain't happening. What am I thinking? So instead, I became a copywriter at a university. I also had a job as a programming director for a church youth group. That's where actually I met Emily P. Freeman. And all of that was before I started writing on the internet. But I've never had a classroom. Sometimes I still think about that, like, what if that had happened? What if I had chosen to actually enter a classroom and be a high school English teacher? I do think that I would have found a lot of fun and fulfillment in that. But this was for sure the path that I was supposed to take. However, I do see myself as a teacher. I've always loved taking complex things and making them simple. I've always loved coming alongside people and figuring out what they personally need to move forward and in a direction that matters to them about whatever it is we're talking about. I think I've just always been a teacher, but not in a classroom. As hokey as it sounds, it's like this is my classroom. It's why most of my podcast episodes and all my books are more how to than essays. I don't really call myself a writer. I feel like I'm a teacher before I'm a writer. My passion is to teach. It's to help people get from point A to point B with more clarity and more ease. I just do that with life rather than with, you know, English literature. Okay, let's do some family questions next. These are all fun. Beth asks, what do your kids think about your job? So they don't think anything of it really until like a stranger says something to me in public or when I have to travel for work, especially for a book launch, which is like a lot more travel in a shorter amount of time. But otherwise, like I'm just to them, I'm just a mom who stands still in the kitchen like a robot while her children are at school waiting for them to return. Like when we had all those snow days back in January and February, I still needed to work. The shock of my children when I kept having to get things done. Why are you still working? They asked. I'm like, dude, it's 11 AM. This is what I do when you're not here. It's like, what do you expect? It's so funny. But they do think what I do is cool. They do. At my birthday dinner last December, the kids, we will sometimes do this thing where we will describe the person with the acrostic of their name, and both the E and the N of Kendra were work-related. E was extremely famous. That was what Sam said. The fact that I have a quarter of a million Instagram followers is positively mind-blowing to him. I am not extremely famous at all, not by a long shot, but he finds my fame extremely impressive. It's adorable. Then N was nice, which is sweet, and New York Times bestseller. That was Ben's. They do. They think that's very cool. They're very proud, but most of the time, they don't notice or care. I'm just mom who my job is to make them dinner. You know? So, okay. Kayla asks, how did you come up with your kids' names? Okay, so my kids' names are Sam, Ben and Annie. Our last name obviously is Adachi, because my husband is Japanese, and it's a name that like sure does get a lot of different pronunciations despite having only six letters. Adachi, for some reason, it's like, a lot of, like they add letters that aren't even in it, because people don't know how to say it. It's pretty funny. So because we knew their last name would probably be a bit of a hiccup, sometimes we decided that we wanted all our kids to have like simple, salt of the earth first names to go with their slightly more complicated last names. Now, I have always loved the name Sam. I've never met a Sam I didn't like. Sam's are just like a good time. And my Sam definitely is. He's such a good time. Kaz also really loves name meanings. They don't, they're not as important to me, but they are very important to my husband. And Samuel means heard by God. Well, it took us well over 18 months to get pregnant with Sam. That was a really long journey. It was a hard, really hard season. Lots of waiting, lots of wondering month after month of disappointment. So when I finally got pregnant with Sam, it really did feel like the best name. And all three kids have Japanese middle names and Sam's middle name means bright, which totally tracks, so now maybe we were like slightly influenced to name our second son Ben, because Sam was so wildly a Sam with like tons of brightness and energy. Ben seemed like close to the ground and kind, which we kind of needed energetically and our Ben is that way. Benjamin means son of my right hand and his Japanese middle name means elegant tree. We both felt like our second kid would be like rooted and wise and Ben most definitely is. He like came out of the womb with a poet's heart and a 401k. He is just the dearest boy. And then for Annie, Annie was going to be either Alice or Annie, again like simple classic names, but the more we sat with both, we wanted Annie. We wanted like the fire that every Annie that I have ever known has and the same was true of her name as with the boys. I have never met a Sam, a Ben or an Annie that I didn't like. They are just names that have always made me feel good. So we went with Annie, which means grace or favor. Since I got pregnant, absolutely by accident, her name sounding like spunky and fun while also meaning gracious favor was like right on the money. And then her middle name is her Japanese grandmother's name, which means sincere child. So that is how we ended up with our kids names. All right, next question is another Katie. This other Katie asks, if you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself when your kids were little? Oh my gosh, just like hold fast. And also like, don't worry about mopping the floor. I was so obsessed with mopping the floor. Like it was so dumb. Come on. But having tiny kids is just not the season for consistent housework. You do what you can, man. You celebrate tiny wins wherever you get them. And you're kind in that season. That's, that was, that is the simple answer. Hey, hold on. Don't worry about the floors. Okay, that was a quick one. The next is Allison. Allison asked, what has been the most surprising thing about raising teenagers? So the most surprising thing is probably how funny they are. It might feel different to me if I started with girls, but having two boys who like eat a lot and kind of smell, and they just like razz each other constantly is surprisingly entertaining. We laugh a lot as a family, like a lot, and I'm so grateful for that. The boys and Annie, like Annie is a trap, but she's not a teenager yet. But everybody is sincerely funny. It's a group of comics, man. We're joking all the time. I think I'm also surprised that my teenage boys still seem to like me. Sam is incredibly affectionate. He gives me hugs all the time, like even in front of his friends. That is definitely surprising. Ben is less physically affectionate, but he's just as warm. I mean, I'm their mom and I get on their nerves, and I would not be called their friend in any way because I'm not their friend, I'm their mom. But as their mom, I think they genuinely like me and I think they like their dad too. We all still really like each other and we laugh more than we argue, which I feel like that's a win. That also says how much we laugh because arguments definitely happen. But that's not something I expected having teenagers and I'm really grateful that it's that way for us. Sherry asks, how does the way you manage your household differ most drastically from the way you managed it when you were newly married or a new mom? What's one thing you can laugh about now but was an epic fail back then? The annual chore chart comes to mind as my most epic fail. So I tried to manage my household as a new wife in a new house with the intensity of like an Olympic athlete. It was cuckoo pants. I had a calendar on my fridge. It was a full year calendar with boxes, an annual calendar. And I had chores listed in every single box. Insanity, absolute insanity. I never followed it. I always felt bad about it. I can never catch up. It was just the dumbest choice from precious, young, tryhard Kendra. I think that's why I'm so passionate about speaking into household systems now, because I know that that bigger, better, faster energy that we all strive for, it is just not sustainable in any way. It also sucks the life out of life. Who wants to see a year's worth of chores when they get ice cream out of the freezer? That's ridiculous. So we have a home now that is in a flow, you know, like things are relatively tidy and clean for the most part in a rhythm, but that's after years, years of small choices, tiny adjustments and patience. Figuring out how to run a house does not happen overnight. And I tried to make it happen overnight so many times as a young wife and mom. It just sent me back a lot because starting over doesn't do much of anything except set you back. So I've become more patient, slower and smaller in how I keep things going now. And it is so much better this way. All right, those are the family questions. Let's finish up with just some random fun questions. Okay, Ashley asks, what is your go-to car snack? Ashley, I'm not a snacker. I know, I'm not a snacker. I'm also not a snack in the car person. Like I'm barely a snack in the house person. I think it's all the stupid protein I'm eating in the morning. Like I just don't get hungry or snacky. But I've also never been terribly snacky. I'm like a, I'm a dream of the next full meal kind of girl. And while I am in the car for like a couple of hours at a time on intense carpool afternoons, my sustenance is not snacks. It is books. I will not leave my house without a book or my air pod so that I can keep listening to my audiobook. So that's my, that's my snack. Stories are my snack. Amy asks, you have been, oh, you've given great board game recommendations in the past. Any new ones your family is loving? Oh my gosh, actually, yes. So in an episode 444, in a little extra something, I had to look it up. I shared a couple of our favorite games. Those were Just One, which is a fantastic group guessing game. It's great for all ages. It's so much fun. We love it as family. And What Do You Meme? Which is an like apples to apples type game, where you match meme images and captions. Sam, our resident eldest teenager, is obviously the best at this game. He is so good at that game. Others I think I have mentioned at some point, either on the podcast or in The Latest Lazy Letter are Hughes and Cues, which is a color guessing game. That's just like weirdly fun. Telestrations, which is if Pictionary and Telephone had a baby, and it's like a great way to laugh. Overrated, underrated, which is a game where you like try and guess how much a person likes or hates something. And then we played the classics like Uno and Life and Monopoly. But one new game that we got like just a couple of weeks ago that is really fun is called Thing Thing. It's kind of like New York Times connections. So everyone gets dealt a hand of cards, and each card has like a thing on it. So words are like pliers, birthday cake, and Oprah. One of the cards literally says Oprah. Each person takes a turn being it, and that person has to create a category that connects as many of their cards as possible. Then you go around the circle and everyone else gets to add cards to that category if it fits, right? The only catch is if another player adds a card to your category successfully, when you're the person who's it, you have to draw another card. So you're trying to create the most unique, narrow categories you can to prevent other people from playing their own cards. So that's the challenge. It's also fun when someone lays a card that is like wildly disputable and should not count on that category at all. So the rules of thing thing have a process for that, but I find that process to be fairly complicated and not great. So I saw this board game store owner talk about this game. So I heard about it and he was like, hey, the only hiccup in the instructions is how to deal with disputes. So he was like, I just say stick to the simple majority. Like if the majority says the word counts, it counts. If the majority says it doesn't count, it doesn't count and that person's turn is over. So we have adopted that rule. It works great, especially in a family of five where there's never a tie, you know? We have only played it with just the five of us, but we're having dinner with some friends this weekend and I have every intention of bringing it with me to play as a group. It is a little bit more challenging for younger kids because conceptually like trying to find connections and they don't know who Oprah is. But they also have like more creativity and they can think outside the box in a way that adults might not be able to. So my recommendation is if you're playing with little kids and adults, big kids and adults, and have enough people, partner up like one adult and one little kid as a team and then compete as teams. So again, that game is called Thing Thing. Thing Thing, it's so good. Okay, next is Jenna. Jenna asks, what is your favorite cake from Maxi Bees? That is someone who lives in Greensboro where I live. So Maxi Bees is a local bakery in Greensboro. It is quite lovely. The line is always out the door because the decor is amazing and they have a million cakes to choose from. It's like a cake bakery that everybody goes to. Now, frankly, I'm not a girl who loves lines, so we rarely go there. Our family preference is a cookout milkshake, but that doesn't mean that we wouldn't turn down a chance to eat Maxi Bees. Now, it has been a while since I went, but I feel like the strawberry shortcake cake was great. Anything with like berries, lemon and cream will always be my pick in any bakery, like forever and always. Okay, Emily asks, you love to bake, me too. What's the most annoying thing to bake that you still bake because you love to eat it? So actually, I find cakes kind of annoying to bake, like layer cakes. I don't know how these bake-off bakers do it in four hours with like the whole thing, immaculately decorated. I think it's just all the steps, like baking the cakes and then cooling them. And then you got to make the frosting. I also don't love American buttercream because it's so thick and sweet, but making Swiss meringue buttercream is like such an ordeal. But man, when you have a layer cake done and it's time to eat it, that's the best, it's the best. But yeah, I think any type of layer cake, like I'll do the work for bread and pastry. I don't mind that, I actually like that. But I have to like really gear myself up to make a cake. Okay, Sarah asks, do you ever abandon a book midway through reading? If so, what makes you stop or lets you stop? Oh my goodness, Sarah, I abandon books all the time. I do abandon them less than I used to, just because I think I know what I like and don't like better and better the more I read. I can tell from the description of a book, like the words used to describe it, if it's gonna have a good shot with me or not. So like anything described as beautiful, a family saga or poetic, it better have circuses in it or be written by a friend for me to pick it up, probably. I just know what I like. I don't like beautiful, family sagas. They just make me tired. So, but I do like a lot. Like I don't, I don't love those, but I do like a lot of other things. So it's easier for me to quit a book because I'm like, I just don't, I'm not enjoying this. Like I don't want this to be a slog. I want, I want reading to feel easy. And like I look forward to it rather than like, I need to pick that book up and finish. For example, I recently quit reading, like recently as in like four days ago, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Like it's a classic. It's the original true crime. Really? I just could not get into it, man. I couldn't, I couldn't do it. So I stopped. I have too many books that I want to read to spend time reading something that I'm forcing myself to finish. It took a few times of quitting, I will say. It took a few times of me quitting for me to be okay with it. Because at first I, I, I felt bad quitting. I also like, I felt bad, like it was insulting to the author. Like they would know that I quit their book. But it's not hurting anyone, but me, you know, it's only hurting my own reading enjoyment to keep reading something I don't enjoy. Like I just love reading too much to be weighed down by that. And so after the first few quits, it was like, oh, this is great. No one cares. Like I'm just moving on to something I like. So yes, I, I DNF. I do not finish with zero shame. I think others should too. It might take a little practice, but start practicing. Not every book is for every person. Not every book is for every person. So if you read a book that isn't for you, like keep moving, keep moving until you find one that is. Okay. Debbie asks, Desert Island, one album and one snack go. Okay. As I said before, I'm not a snacker, but I am guessing this is not, this is, this is a snack in addition to meals, right Debbie? I'm going to assume this. Like I don't need to pick a snack that's going to cover all nutritional bases, correct? This is just a true down the middle snack. So if that's the case, I would choose, this is hands down, I would choose Lay's Kettle Cooked Salt and Vinegar Chips. They are my favorite chip of all time. I have tried every brand of Salt and Vinegar Chip, everyone, like legit everyone. Tried to line them up because that's how much I, listen, this is how you be a genius about things that matter. It's you buy all the Salt and Vinegar Chips in the store, and you open all the bags and you try them and you decide which one's the best because I don't keep wasting my time buying chips when there's a better chip in the store. So Lay's Kettle Cooked Salt and Vinegar is my favorite chip. I would give up all other chips in the world just to have those. They like make me make noises when I eat them. Like I love them. So that would be my snack. It would not be my meal. It would not be my dessert because clearly a snack is not the same as dessert, and I still get dessert. Okay, and then my one album that is so hard. I think it would have to be something with like some life to it. Otherwise, like the desert island would just get depressing. Oh my gosh, do you know what I would pick? Do you know what I would pick? I'd pick the soundtrack to Hamilton. I mean, that's kind of the perfect pick, right? It has everything. It has energy, heartbreak, hope. It's beautiful. It's fun. There are so many words that you can spend your desert island time memorizing. You can do the dances. You can belt it out, like pretending like you can sing like Angelica Schuyler. I think that's the pick. I think it's the Hamilton soundtrack. I feel really good about that answer, actually. OK, Laura asks, is there a hobby that you have been interested in but never tried? OK, two things come to mind. I've always wanted to try pottery. One day I'm going to take a class. I'm so drawn to mugs and bowls and the imperfect nature of pottery. I would just love to try it for myself, but I just never have. I haven't even looked up pottery classes around me. I think I'd want to do it with somebody. It's just one of those things that I've never tried, but I would really like to. And then the second one is I've always wanted to play the drums. Like, it's been on my list for a long time. I don't know if I'll ever create the time to make it happen. I've made it, like, the step. I've made it as far as asking a friend of mine who plays the drums. Hey, man, how do I learn how to play the drums? That's as far as I've gotten. It would be so fun to make pottery and play drums. So good. Okay. Kimberly asks, imagine that you're being offered... Oh, this question is crazy. This is great. Imagine that you are being offered $100,000. For each month, you can spend and total isolation from other people. You can choose your location, design the housing and select the amenities, and they will be provided at no cost to you. The months must be consecutive and you can spend the time however you want. But no human interactions are allowed. No phone calls, texting, letters, online chat, etc. How many months would you stay and what accommodations would you choose? Okay, I would not last a month. Like not even one. Like I don't even know if I could do it a week, truly. I would shoot for a month so I could do the bare minimum and get the full $100,000 to help pay for my kids going to school, going to college. But after one month, I would be running back to my people. Like it would be the longest month of my life. However, I would give it a shot in a penthouse overlooking Central Park on the Upper West Side. Quiet, lots of trees, big windows. I'd have big cushy chairs, so many books, an espresso machine. I'd want a bird feeder on my window because obviously, lots of plants, an amazing bed, a big TV and a baby grand piano that would not bother the neighbors, that I could be loud and no one would hear me. I would have food delivered. I would walk to restaurants close by. I would walk through Central Park. I would walk to the Met and go see art. I would do all kinds of New York things, but I would not speak to anyone. I would not speak to anyone. Like, I don't want to be rude. Like, I want to say thank you to people, but I wouldn't interact with anybody. I'd go to musicals and the library and the Strand. I'd walk to Brooklyn just because I could. Like, I think New York would help me. I love New York, if you can't tell. I love New York, I think it would help me fill the time. I would get a dose of humans even though I can't talk to them. And it would be an adventure. And then I get my $100,000 and then, like, inhale my people upon return. That's a really fun question. That's a great, like, dinner party question. And our last question is from Sarah. Sarah asks, I know you love where you live, but if you had to live in another city or place, where would it be? See the answer above. I really do love New York. If I had all the money and could live somewhere quiet there, I would really, really love to live in New York. But I think that's the answer. Although I did do a book event in Franklin, Indiana. That city was maybe the cutest little town I'd ever seen. I could see myself living in like a small walkable town like that. Or like I also went to Orange, California, not Orange County, but the city of Orange for work also. And that was adorable. Like you just walk everywhere and there's these little cottages and coffee shops. Like that would be that would be fun. Like a little the biggest city in the world or a tiny walkable cottage town. That would be my answer. But I will. I don't want to leave Greensboro. I do love where I live and I never want to leave it. OK, that was the last question. That was so fun, you guys. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. It's obviously different than what we normally do, but hopefully it was fun. If you did, if you did like it, and you'd like to see another one again, feel free to DM me on Instagram at The Lazy Genius or you can shoot us a quick email. We genuinely love hearing from you about what you like about the show. And so if you're like, oh, I love that, can we do that more? Or if you're like, that was really fun. And also please don't make that a regular thing. We want to know. We really do want to know. But it was fun for today. So thanks for your questions, everybody. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. If you've ever wanted a place online that actually reflects what you do, whether that's your work, your writing or your ideas, Squarespace is an all in one platform that makes that really simple. You can build a site, claim your domain, share your content and manage everything in one place. I've used Squarespace for a long time, over 10 years, which is like a century in internet time. And one thing I really appreciate is how straightforward it is. You don't have to be a designer or a developer to make something that looks clean and feels like you. They have really beautiful templates to start with and you can adjust everything from there. So your site doesn't feel generic, it actually feels like your space. And if you want help getting started, their AI builder can walk you through it and get something up pretty quickly. Head to squarespace.com/lazygenius for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code LAZYGENIUS to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. This episode is sponsored by Quince. I've been doing a little spring reset with my closet lately, trying to have fewer things, but better ones. Pieces that are easy to wear, that I actually reach for and that feel good on. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. Quince makes everything using really high quality materials and they work directly with ethical factories, which means you're paying for the product itself, not a big markup. I've talked about this before, but their Italian pebbled leather sling bag is something I use all the time. It just lays really well across your body. It's comfortable, it stays in place, and I don't have to keep adjusting it throughout the day. It's one of those bags that makes things feel a little more pulled together without trying too hard. It's just such a good bag. Refresh your spring wardrobe with Quince. Go to quince.com/genius for free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada too. Go to quince.com/genius for free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com/genius. Okay, for today's a little extra something, we're gonna talk about granola. All right, I want to tell you a couple of things that I've been doing to my granola recipe that have made it amazing in every way. So first, the best granola recipe is on our website. I mean, it's there. My granola recipe is so good. It's a winner. It has been for years. People make it all the time. And for years, people have made it. It's their go-to. I just Googled best granola recipe just to see what came up. And I was deeply surprised that The Lazy Genius Post was like number four in the search results. This stuff is seriously so good. It's just what you want granola to be. We'll put a link in the show notes anyway. But as amazing as it is, you can make it as it is, it will stay amazing. It will also be amazing if you remove the ginger that's in the recipe. If you don't like ginger, it still tastes great. It will be amazing if you use instead of almonds that I list in the recipe, if you used pecans or used walnuts, it would still be great. It would be great if you prefer the flavor of honey to maple syrup. I do not. I prefer maple syrup. But if you love honey, make it with honey. It will still be awesome. It's just a really solid ratio of ingredients. But you can sub out the different kinds of ingredients as long as you do the same amount. So if you have not made it before, it's wildly easy. The instructions are simple to follow. They're also quite fun. I tried to save you from washing unnecessary dishes. Then you have delicious granola that cost barely anything compared to like $8 a bag. But here are the things, here are the changes I've made that made it even more amazing. There are three things that I've done recently to granola recipe that have just like skyrocketed the flavor and texture. The first is the oil. So the recipe calls for granola oil. You just need some fat to hold everything together. It facilitates flavor. That's one of the great jobs of fat in any recipe is it carries flavor, and it also adds texture. Okay. I have used granola oil forever for granola. Well, for my birthday, Emily P. Freeman, she gave me, among some other things for my birthday, she gave me a bottle of blood orange infused olive oil. You know those fun stores that sell all the different kinds of flavored olive oil? Well, this one smells and tastes of orange. And one day I was like, huh, I love citrus and everything. I wonder if this will work on my granola. It did. It was absolute heaven. Like I used the last of the bottle a couple weeks ago, making my granola. That's what I just used it for completely after the first time. I was like, oh, this is the use. This is the purpose. This is the life purpose of this bottle of orange olive oil. And it makes it so good. I was cooking the last batch with the orange olive oil when I was on a team meeting with team LG. And I told them, I was like, you guys, my house smells so good. I think I need to make this granola recipe idea a little extra something in an episode. So if you cannot get blood orange olive oil, fret not, just grate some orange zest into the granola or even just toss it, toss the zest in like when the granola is hot out of the oven. Orange is sublime with this recipe. That is the point. Another thing I've done that has worked so well is to add hemp seeds to the granola. Now, this is this is not a new idea. People have been adding seeds to granola forever. But I also don't really like a seedy granola. Frankly, I don't like a healthy granola. I want it to be like tasty and sweet and crunchy and like just awesome across the board. And some healthier granolas don't have enough sweetness or flavor for me, or the flavor is like too much because of all the nuts and seeds that are added. Now, that's great for people who love that kind of granola, but I do not. However, I am a woman in her mid 40s trying to eat more protein as we all are. So this last round of making granola, I added like half a cup, three quarters of a cup of hemp seeds to the mix, just for a boost of protein, just to kind of see if it would work. And it did, it worked so well. I was worried that all the tiny hemp seeds would sink to the bottom and like not matter, you know, they'd just be there and I wouldn't eat them. But they did get caught up in the oil and the maple syrup, and they are parts of those amazing clumps of granola, just like the oats and the almonds and the coconut are. So I will always make it with hemp now, always, because it doesn't change the flavor or texture, but it absolutely changes the protein content and getting more. Listen, take it where you can get it, man. And then the last thing is that I'm just not stirring it as much in while it's cooking. In the recipe, I say to bake the granola low and slow for at least 75 minutes, stirring it a couple of times throughout. I still think you should do that and stir, but I can find my stirring to the front half of the big time, the beginning, and then I let it bake un-stirred the rest of the time, and even have been adding a little bit longer to the cook time until the whole thing was totally golden brown. And then I let it cool without stirring it too. All of those choices create more delicious chunks of granola instead of granola that's PC like cereal. This is so good, it's so good. Now the way that you can ensure that all your granola gets evenly browned without stirring it as much is to bake it on as big a sheet tray as you can muster. I mix the granola with like gloved hands. I have cooking gloves I use all the time. And I mix the granola on the sheet pan, no bowl even. Like I didn't have any dirty dishes, it's the best thing ever. So I'd mix it on the sheet pan, like massage the oil and maple syrup into all the ingredients or whatever. And then press all the uncooked granola down in a thin layer on this huge pan, almost like a pie crust. This makes it so that you get golden brown granola without stirring, because it's just a thin layer. You don't have like an inch of granola and the bottom isn't getting toasty. So just cook it on the biggest pan that you have. That's a great adjustment from how I've always made it in the past. So those are the three things. Add orange either with zest or some fancy olive oil, add hemp seeds and stir less and bake longer. There you go. That's today's little extra something. Okay, for this week's Lazy Genius of the Week, we have an audio clip from Erin in Texas.

Speaker 2:
[52:41] Hi, my name is Erin. I'm in Dallas, Texas. And a decide once that I recently implemented when it comes to daily chores for my kids has been to let them spin a virtual wheel on my phone to decide what their chore is for the day. There's a lot of apps that will let you do this for free. And because it's virtual, it's really easy to customize the options on the wheel to fit what needs to be done on any given day. Before this, I was making all these paper charts and those would just easily become outdated or get ruined. My kids like the wheel so much more than the chart. I think they like the luck of the draw aspect. It's exciting for them. And I think it feels more to them, it feels more like the wheel is giving them the job than mom is nagging them to do a job. So it has actually helped to buffer some of the conflict that comes with making kids do chores.

Speaker 1:
[53:34] This is so great. Everybody loves a wheel. Man, let's use wheels. And it really is the luck of the draw, which makes it so much easier in many ways. It also, the wheel also lets you as a parent customize anything specific that needs to be done that week. That is it every single week. You know what I mean? I love that, that you don't have to come up with some like the same chores week after week that you can be like, what do we need to do this week and put those on the wheel? You know, I also think that Aaron's point about the wheel, choosing the chore is so important and so real. That's why we have a bell. Like when I ring the bell for the kids to end screen time or come to dinner or come to a family meeting or whatever, so I can be like, hey, it's time to tidy the L, like whatever it is, it really is like the bell is the summoner, not me. I'm not a bad guy. It's like disembodying requests that might make kids more annoyed, especially using something that is sensory and fun like a bell or a colorful spinning wheel. Like that's just a great win for everybody. Also, just for anybody who's like, I want to do a virtual spinning wheel. Where would I find one? I quickly Googled digital wheel spinner and the website wheelofnames.com popped up first. You literally type in whatever things you want and then you spin the wheel. You press a button. It has sound effects. It even has applause at the end. It's amazing. I'm thinking that once someone lands on a chore, and that's their chore for the week, you just delete that chore from the list and it automatically takes it off the spinner. This is a really fun idea and very easy to implement into your house. We do all kinds of chore things in our house to keep it fun. We have not really used a spinning wheel much. I do think I want to add that to my collection of ways to make chores a little bit more fun in the Adachi house. This is a great idea, Erin, and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. All right, let's close with a mini pep talk for when you're drowning in chores. Wouldn't it be nice if we could have our own virtual wheel spinner? Hey, listen, do it, might help. We recently asked our audience, we asked you guys to fill out a survey about chores. We're working on a project and wanted to understand the pain points of chores as best as we can. One of the things that I saw again and again and again and again in the survey results was how overwhelmed everyone is. Even when you have a system for something, like dishes or laundry or things that just multiply or never end, it still feels overwhelming. Even if you have a system, you still feel behind. The incessant nature of chores is tiring and discouraging, even for the most optimistic housekeeper. I just want to let everyone know that you're not alone, quite literally. If you are overwhelmed by chores, so is everyone else. So many people, like the vast majority in our survey, feel behind, like they will never catch up. To all of you, to myself too, I just want to remind you of something that I said a few weeks ago. You will do chores forever. Truly. You will do all this forever. It will never really stop. And I know that does not sound like much of a pep talk. But I think that when we remember we're going to do this forever, it takes the pressure off of today. You will never finish. It will always keep going. So instead, let forever be a gift and just stop for today. I know that's easier said than done. And I also know that some of you are like, I'm already behind, Kendra. I can't stop. If I stop, it makes it worse. That's fine. I can't stop you myself. But I do want you to try. I want you to try and stop. I wonder what would happen in your own brain, in your own body, in your own soul even, if you stop trying so hard to finish your chores and instead you use some of that energy to be okay with them not getting done today. Like what might happen if you tried that? What might happen if you're just as content with yourself and your day when your chores get done and when they don't? When you simply stop for today and you pick it up again tomorrow? That practice of stillness and rest and contentment and saying, you know, this is good for today, this is enough. I'm going to go play a game with my kid or I'm going to go to bed or I'm going to read a book or I'm going to watch a show, whatever it is, that practice might be more valuable in actually getting your chores done than you realize. When you give yourself permission to stop, it sometimes makes chores easier to finish later. And that's a mini pep talk for when you're drowning in chores. If this episode was helpful to you or if you've been looking for a way to support the show, please share this episode with someone that you know, or you can leave a kind review on Apple Podcasts. Every mention, every share, every single thing, it makes such a difference in turning more people into lazy geniuses, which is what we want. We want the world to be full of compassionate people who are not trying to hustle their way into greatness all the time. So thank you so much for being supportive and sharing the show with your people. 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 the latest Lazy Listens email that goes out every other Friday. Head to thelazygeniuscollective.com/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, I'll see you next week. This episode is sponsored by ELO. You're probably not drinking enough water. I'm probably not either. We all mean to, and then we don't. That's where ELO comes in. They make the viral water bottles and tumblers you've seen all over Instagram and TikTok, but they're not just cute, they're designed to make daily routines easier. Their Oasis Tumbler has a lid that twists to tuck the straw away, so it stays clean and totally leak-proof. And the pop and fill bottle has a push button lid, so you can refill it without unscrewing the top. If you're into meal prepping or love leftovers, their leak-proof glass containers are made for life on the go, not leaks in your bag. ELLO's mission is replacing single-use plastics with reusable products that look good, work well, and last. Plus, they're backed by a limited lifetime warranty. 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