The chorus of “shoulds” is loud. You should enjoy the moment, dream big, have it all, get up before the sun, track your water consumption, go on date nights, and be the best. Or maybe you should ignore what people think, live on dry shampoo, be a negligent PTA mom, have a dirty house, and claim your hot mess like a badge of honor.

It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by the mixed messages of what it means to live well.

Kendra Adachi, the creator of the Lazy Genius movement, invites you to live well by your own definition and equips you to be a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn’t. Everything from your morning routine to napping without guilt falls into place with Kendra’s thirteen Lazy Genius principles, including:

• Decide once
• Start small
• Ask the Magic Question
• Go in the right order
• Schedule rest

Discover a better way to approach your relationships, work, and piles of mail. Be who you are without the complication of everyone else’s “shoulds.” Do what matters, skip the rest, and be a person again.

If you’ve never read a self-help or motivational book, you may find this very useful and helpful. As someone who has spent nearly a decade reading these types of books, this was nothing groundbreaking. I’ve heard all of this information before and didn’t really learn anything new. It’s just packaged differently. 

But that’s not to say that I didn’t like it. I listened to the audiobook, and the author herself narrated it, and she did a great job. She’s enthusiastic and animated in her delivery. It was very pleasant to listen to her. You could feel her excitement and energy come through her voice as she read. Some of her personal stories are comical and made me laugh. 

Kendra Adachi takes the approach of organizing your life, doing things that matter to you, and just ignoring the things that don’t bring you joy or cause you stress. You are choosing what’s worth your time and energy, and she gives 13 ways to help live this way in this step-by-step guide. She gives really good examples, or as she calls them, “case studies.” She always shares quite a few stories as well. They are all real-life examples that are simple and practical. She really shows you how to live the “lazy genius” way. 

She explains that it’s all about balance. You can’t be 100% genius because then you’re always stressed, frazzled, and exhausted, which leads to mental health struggles and burnout. But you also can’t be 100% lazy because then nothing gets done, and you neglect everything. There needs to be a good balance between being a bit of both in your life. Aside from the examples and case studies that she shared, I also appreciated how she recapped everything at the end of each chapter to give the highlights. 

Even though this info wasn’t anything new to me, I still found it helpful and took notes while I listened to it. I may try a few of her suggestions to see if it makes a difference in my life. I will say, though, that this book leans heavily toward families and parents with young children, which I don’t have, and people who are pretty social, which I am not. So there were times when I couldn’t connect with what she was saying because I’m not a parent, and I don’t have a huge social life. 

Another turnoff for me was the obvious liberal viewpoint she has on some things. I wouldn’t say this is a woke book, but there were comments made here and there that made me roll my eyes and sounded very left side of the aisle. But then, on the flip side of the coin, she also comes from a Christian viewpoint and talks about God and Jesus here and there. So that was interesting. 

Kendra does have a podcast. I haven’t listened to it yet, but I may give it a shot and see if she has any more helpful tips or advice. At the time of this recording, she has over 340 episodes, and they seem to run anywhere from 15 minutes up to an hour, but most look like they are about 30 minutes or so. 

I could see how most people would enjoy this book. I don’t know if I would recommend it, but I say if it sounds interesting to you, then give it a shot. I think the audiobook would be more entertaining than physically reading it, so I do recommend listening to it if you decide to check it out.