#457 - How to Get Better at Projects

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 is episode 457, how to get better at projects. Life is full of projects, summer fun, like my album project of 2026, and some are less fun, like cleaning

out the garage. But we all have them, we'll continue to have them, and you can probably think of one that needs doing right now. It's nice to have some tools to lean on that help you get better at projects to start projects. You'll actually finish and finish projects that matter to you. So today I will share 10 ways to get better at projects. After we get better at projects,

“we'll have a little extra something that isn't honestly super random, but incredibly dear to my”

heart. And that is my favorite sporting events ranked in order. I'm going to rank my favorite sporting events in order. So I am a huge sports fan, and we're in like peak sports time right now. The Winter Olympics just ended. The Super Bowl was not that long ago. March madness is coming. The World Cup will be here in a blink. I love sports. I even wanted to go into sports broadcasting for years. The drama of especially championship sports is like a sincere love of mine.

As is a top 10 list. So that'll be a random but delightfully fun little extra something.

As always, we'll celebrate the lazy genius of the week who has a fantastic approach to keeping

projects front of mind. And we'll finish up with a mini pep talk for when you feel cranky. I'm going to talk a little bit about our projects playbook later in the episode so you can decide if it's a helpful tool for you in completing your projects. But here is a quick reminder to check out the spring playbook for your next three months of kind compassionate planning. The spring playbook is a happy yellow. It's so cute. Planning companion for March April and May. Giving you space

“to name what matters and plan for it without being bogged down by too much detail or too much pressure.”

It's simply the kind of way to get things done. So if you have been meaning to order your spring playbook before March begins, but the winter storms or the Olympics or whatever have like understandably distracted you, here's a quick reminder to order yours. So you have it as close to the start of March as you can. Our playbooks are printed and shipped by a tremendous woman-owned business in Asheville, North Carolina called Otter Pine. So your purchase of a playbook supports

not just our small business, but theirs. And for the month of February, 10% of all playbook sales will be donated to World Central Kitchen, a non-profit that feeds communities in crisis all over the world. One of the current priorities of World Central Kitchen is feeding the people in Gaza, especially during the season of Ramadan. Here are some words from World Central Kitchen about that particular mission. Quote, Ramadan reminds us that feeding people is not optional or conditional.

It is a shared responsibility. World Central Kitchen does not ask who you are, where you stand or what you believe before serving a meal. We cook, we deliver, we return the next day and do it again. That reliability is not accidental. It is built into how we work on the ground. Our response in Gaza is centered on cooking fresh meals every day, close to the communities we serve. World Central Kitchen's kitchens in Gaza are led by Palestinian chefs, cooks and volunteers from the community,

supported by our teams and partners to prepare and distribute food with speed, care and

consistency. I have always loved this organization and the heart behind it. Obviously, there are so many

wonderful charities and non-profit organizations that we can donate to as can you, but I'm really thrilled to be part of World Central Kitchen's mission of feeding the hungry when it's needed the most. It's genuinely beautiful. So thank you for buying a playbook, this month of February and helping us take part in helping our neighbors around the world. You can find more information at the lazygeneyscollective.com/playbooks. And also a quick thank you for your patience last week

as I dealt with sickness and a voice that would not cooperate. It's like not 100% still. That was the first Monday in seven years. We have not had a new episode on Monday. So it was

for coming in clutch and recording an intro, choosing an episode to run last week as I

as I lay flat and bed trying to recover. All right, before we get better at projects, let's take a quick break to hear from our sponsors, which makes the show free for you to listen to. So thank you to our sponsors. Before we do here, it's just a quick reminder about our podcast recap email. We send it out every other Friday. It's called latest lazy listens. And it summarizes the episode, shares the lazy genius of the week as well as other segments on the show. And there's

a little extra note for me to help encourage you through the weekend. If you would like to get that recap, you can add to the lazygeneyscollective.com/lissons.

“We always recommend Shopify. It took us from an idea to a real business. We got set up. I think”

in less than a day with very little effort. We could just focus on the supply chain to the product development. Shopify gives us the ability to customize without the complexity. We can change something without introducing fragility or having to pay a developer. We're thirsty total and we leveled up our business with Shopify. Start your free trial at Shopify.com/ AU. In a lot of cases, cuts are said. Frisch is for everyone. To all the prices, this week's table

is $650 for $2.99 or culture-hide-bearing $125 for $1.39 in your all-deem-not-file. And further, let's go and get a few more. All the good for all. But before we get into those, let's just set the stage briefly and talk about what it's

good to remember about a project before you jump into one. So the first thing we need to acknowledge

is just the wide spectrum of projects. There are personal projects like listening to 300 albums in a year. There are home projects like going through stuff in an attic. There are responsible projects like setting up a will or getting ready to do your taxes. There are research projects like figuring out where you might want to go to college or move for a job. There are transitional projects like getting a nursery ready for a new baby or a home ready to host out of town family.

Some projects last a day. Some last a year. Some are fun. Some are not. Some are active. And some are like almost totally under computer. Some you choose because you're excited and others you do to be responsible. The 10 tools I am going to share work no matter the type of project. But it's

“super important to remember how varied projects are. What project are you imagining right now actually?”

Like, as I'm talking about projects, what are you specifically thinking of? And how is that project making you feel? If what you are imagining is like exciting or it doesn't even have to be fully exciting. It's just like relatively positive. There's a little motivation there. I want you to stay in that place. I think that's great. If you're listening and you're already down in the dumps because you do not want to do the particular project that's on your mind or you feel like you're

being a procrastinator or that you're so behind on all the responsible things that you should be doing, I really want you to change the narrative. Listen to these 10 tools through a better lens than one of like defeat. So maybe think of a project that you might enjoy or that's really short. Give yourself a chance to absorb these tools through a kinder more optimistic lens so you

“don't feel behind right out of the gate. One other thing to remember before we get to the tools”

are the characteristics of a project. I've shared these before. They're in my book The Plan. But I want to share them quickly again now because they just help you see why projects can be

hard to finish. So the first two are pretty practical. The first thing projects have one main

objective. Like you're trying to get one particular thing done, right? And then the second thing is a project has an end. Like once that objective is done, so is the project. Projects aren't ongoing, really. They have a purpose and they have an end. Now these next two things are what make projects hard. Projects are out of your ordinary. You likely have some sort of rhythm in your life, even if it like barely is a rhythm that makes any waves and a project is out of that rhythm.

It's different. It requires different energy and extra time and is an exchange for something else in your life, not just something that you can easily add without any thought. And then the fourth thing, a project requires multiple decisions and tasks. A project itself should not go on your to-do list. It has a dome to-do list. It has multiple parts. That's why if you put

is too big. It has too many parts to just like knock out real quick. So keep those last two things

“particularly in mind. You're probably not bad at doing projects. It's just that projects are”

out of your ordinary and they require a lot of decisions and a lot of things to do. They're like a whole thing and it's hard to add a whole thing into an already busy life. So be kind to yourself. About projects. Okay, so now that we've said the table of what a project is, let's talk through 10 tools. They can make you better at them no matter the kind of project you're doing. Number one, know what keeps you going. Think about a project you have done recently and what kept you at it.

What kept you locked in, enjoying yourself or committed to finishing. What did you feel alive doing? Maybe you're like weirdly, really good at spreadsheets. So getting to make one for a particular project was really gratifying. Maybe you enjoy spontaneity. And so working on a project on a whim was more fun than anticipating the project happening at all. Maybe you like doing things with people. Or you like using your hands using your brain, moving your body, being creative. Think about

what kinds of things keep you going when you're doing something new and out of the ordinary, like a project. When you know what keeps you going, you can replicate that in future projects. You know you need a long runway or a great playlist or a helpful family that you didn't have to

“coerce to do something. You know you need to take breaks. So you don't get overwhelmed or you”

need a fun reward at the end. Two things that keep me going when I'm actively doing a project are music and visible progress. I need like visual markers that something is moving or done. That is why I love to make a to-do list of the tiniest things. I feel like I'm moving when I can cross something off. I'm making progress. The other day I was feeling tired and under the weather and I had spent the day at urgent care with one of my kids. Kids, he's fine now. Thank you very much for asking.

And even though this was not a project, I did not have the bandwidth to do ordinary things. The ordinary things of life felt like a project. So I wrote down like I literally wrote down, okay take pills, load the dishwasher, take out recycling, tidy and vacuum the kitchen. All together those tasks took barely 10 minutes and I could have just done them. But actually I couldn't. I couldn't get up the energy to do all of those things as one big thing.

So the list of small tiniest things, even though they're automatic and already ordinary in my rhythm, that list really helped. I put them in a helpful order and I crossed each one off as I got them done and it helped me keep going. And I know that about myself. So because I know that I use it all the time to help me keep moving. So the more you name what keeps you going, the better you'll get at projects and even just like getting things done. So number one, know what keeps you going.

Number two, know what slows you down. This isn't necessarily the opposite of number one. Not having the music does not slow me down. Not having a list doesn't slow me down. They do keep me going but

they don't slow the speed. Now what does? Feeling like I will never be done. That slows me down.

“That's why any project I do is really several projects within one with like a list of all the things.”

It's also why I don't start projects until they're completely broken down. Otherwise I'm going to get really overwhelmed to just stop. For example, my oldest son he wants to paint his room blue. It's no matter that he's moving out in two years or that he wants it to be like a teal aka Carolina Panthers blue which is really loud that he wants his room painted. Well before we can paint his room, there are a lot of other things that have to be done, right? Before we paint his room,

we have to move the furniture. Before we move his furniture, we have to go through some of his stuff. Because there's a lot of stuff in his room, much of what she doesn't want to part with. And that's part of why his room is kind of difficult. In fact, when I've offered to spruce his room up a little bit, like let's go through some stuff, maybe, just very small like one bookshelf or something. He's like, no, I like everything exactly as it is. He just wants the room blue, not realizing

that it's a decent sized project to get his room ready to paint because of the state of his room. Now I know that there are projects before that project. And since he's not going to be motivated

to do those other projects, I definitely feel like we will never be done. And that slows me down.

So what about you? What slows you down? What makes a project? Whether you're thinking about starting

it or you're like in it all the way, what makes you slow down, lose momentum, or even just stop altogether. It might be attitudes, tedium, distraction, details, there are lots of options. And none are right or wrong. They're just as personal and neutral as what keeps you going. But when you know what slows you down, you can pay attention to that thing. And you can meet it with some sort of alternative, or you can know that it's a roadblock and work around it.

So number two, know what slows you down. Number three, find a reason to care. Now some people might call this knowing your why, like why are you doing something. But I often

need something beyond why. Why isn't always enough? I have to care about the why. I need a reason

to care enough about this project to see it through to the end. For example, you're considering a project of let's say cleaning out the attic. You very much do not want to do this thing. Like it's itky. It's going to take forever. It's complicated because of like getting things down that little ladder and how did all that stuff get up that little ladder in the first place. I think there's a couch in our attic. The mind reels. Like how did this work? I don't understand.

So you want to clean out the attic, but you're not actively moving right now. You also know though that maybe you're thinking about it. Maybe you're going to move soon. And it might be nice

“to get a jump start on the attic. So it's not hanging over your head later. That's why you're doing”

it. You know, it's a practical clean out before an eventual move, even a little kindness to your future self. And I mean, that's cool. That's cool. It's a great why. But also, it's still like, you might need to find a reason to care. You might decide that you care enough about limiting your future stress to do this now. You know, not feeling rushed and under the gun with all the other house projects. That's worth it to you. You might decide that your reason to care is that you

honestly don't know what's up there and it's kind of like a treasure hunt. You're going to go up there with an adventurous spirit. Maybe unearth something super cool if you're with childhood or kids childhood or maybe it'll be a creepy box of mannequin heads. I don't know. But you might find that exploration and discovery is reason enough to care. Or the reason might have nothing to do with the attic at all. Your reason to care might mean that when you finish, you're going to go on an overnight

reading retreat by yourself. That's your reward. But you only get to do that if you finish cleaning out the attic, creating space in your house and your future, moving schedule so that you could enjoy 24 hours of reading time right now. Some of you might be deeply disciplined on your own

“and like this is an unnecessary tool. But I think a lot of us put off projects that are”

important because we just don't care. We care about other things in our regular life more. And we need a reason to care about the project. We need a reason. Or you might not care but someone you love does. Your reason to care is because you care about them. You still might need a little incentive. But recognize when you don't care, someone else might. So that's number three. Find a reason to care. Number four. Keep the details in one place. Since a project potentially has so many pieces

in parts, it's really nice to have your processing, your timelines, your end game, all in one place. So you don't lose track of where you are or what you've already thought about. This prevents you from feeling scattered and forgetting things. How many times have you started dreaming about like redecorating your bedroom or planting a flower garden or trying a capsule wardrobe and you write

your thoughts down and one of your many abandoned notebooks never to find the list of ideas again.

It's normal and you don't need to feel bad about that. There's a lot to keep up with in this life. But when you choose one specific place for all your projects always, it helps you remember

“what matters about them and what you've already done. This is why we have the projects playbook.”

It's exactly what I'm talking about. It's a place to keep track of your project. Your notes, your thoughts, your task list, your timelines, even some guiding questions to help you figure out why you're wanting to do the project in the first place. Even if you have digital storage like a Pinterest board or a spreadsheet, you can make note of where those things are in your project playbook. You know, you just write down design ideas on Pinterest. Obviously, you can use whatever

place that she puts her projects. So whether it's in your notes app or Google Drive or a composition

“notebook or the project's playbook, keep all of your project details in one place. The more you do,”

the better you're going to get it projects. All right, number five, know what you are displacing. When you do a project, whether it's a couple of hours on a Saturday in the yard or something on going like training for a race, the project will displace something. It just will. You are a finite person with finite time and an already busy life. So you're not really adding a project to your life as much as you are replacing something else with that project.

So number five is know what that is, know what you are displacing. Usually the displacement is only

for a short time, like maybe just today. But whether it's short or long, knowing what you're

displacing helps you accept what's being displaced. Like if you train for a race, it's going to displace leisure, the regularity of certain chores, maybe sleep.

“If you decide to spend a couple of Saturdays, cleaning out your kid's bedroom to transition”

from like a crib to a big bed, you're displacing ordinary meals or ordinary play, maybe even the actual kid. So you can focus on the task for displacing them to, you know, grandma of house. You don't have to be a superhero who can just hold more and do more projects are going to displace something and they should. So know what that is and find peace with it. Don't try to cram it all in to the same place. Number six, make project days easier.

This holds hands with knowing what you're displacing. Project days will displace regular meals and routines, probably. They might throw off bedtimes for you, maybe even your kids. They're going to impact regular chores, activities, maybe bath time routines for the little ones. You can do what you think is best, obviously for your family. But I encourage you to not attempt to make the day as normal as possible, hustling to do the things you would normally do.

Instead, make project days easier. Order pizza. Put off changing the bed sheets until next weekend. Skip baths time. The more you make project days easier, the better you're going to get a project. They're going to feel easier because you're making them easier. Number seven, have what you need before you begin. There is nothing that slows down a project quicker than not having what you need. Having to run to the store or something. Now, of course,

you're going to have to go out and get stuff. Like, you're going to run out of mulch or cleaning supplies or you're going to take a run in your current sneakers and you're going to be like, man, these are not going to cut it if I run every day. Of course, of course, you're going to need to get things mid project. But as much as you're able, have what you need before you begin. This helps you get better at projects because it makes projects easier to do.

Like, if you typically have to stop mid project because you didn't have the knowledge, the tools or the help that you need, you're going to feel less motivation in the future to keep doing projects. So being prepared in whatever ways, it's going to help you get better projects. Even for something as small and fun as my album project for the year, I knew that I would need a list of albums to listen to when something didn't come to mind right away. I wanted like a bank

or a queue of sorts of albums so that I wouldn't lose momentum. That's having what you need before you begin. So before you get started on a project no matter how big or small, ask yourself, what am I going to probably need? See what you can do to make sure you have those things before you start. So that it's easier to keep going and finish. Have what you need before you begin. Number eight, go in the right order. Go in the right order is one of the original 13 lazy

genius principles from my first book, The Lazy Genius Way. And it comes in handy all the time.

I think that a lot of chores, projects, and processes in life, they really do benefit from going in the right order. For example, you cannot organize the contents of a bathroom vanity without first kind of pulling everything out and going through it. I mean, you can, but the organization near after probably will not happen if you just like move stuff around or stick random items and containers without examining what's actually there. So yes,

there are right orders for all kinds of specific things. You can spend some time thinking about a helpful order for your project. But here's an order that's good for literally anything and

“everything. First, name what matters? Second, comb the crazy, third, trust yourself with what comes next.”

This order works for like kind of everything. Are you organizing the bathroom vanity? Okay,

Is it that you stop buying extra toothpaste thinking you're out? But really, it's just in a random drawer. Is it that you celebrate your evening routine and you want to make those few minutes each night feel really special? All three of those priorities change how you approach cleaning out and

“organizing the bathroom. One needs aesthetics. Another one needs order. Always start with what matters.”

Second, comb the crazy. What crazy chaos is keeping that thing from happening? For a long time,

we just put our stuff in our bathroom drawers based on where it would fit. Like I'd buy toothpaste and deodorant and face wash for me and face wash for my boys and all kinds of things that we use and we just chuck them in drawers that had room. But then no one could find the toothpaste or the deodorant or the face wash or whatever when they needed a new one. So what mattered was categories and we have like a drawer for all the teeth things. We have a drawer for all the body things. That

was the chaos. Is that everything was everywhere? So I calm that chaos by sorting what was all over the place. So that's number two. Calm the crazy. Three is to trust yourself with what comes next.

Because the internet exists there's always an idea of how something should get done. You might search

“and watch videos or pin stuff on Pinterest to find out like the best way to finish whatever project”

you're working on and that is fine. You can totally do that. But I don't want you to do that because you don't trust your own opinion of how to do it. Trust yourself with what comes next. Know what you like. You know how your homeworks, what its limitations are in terms of like keeping an organizational system going with you or your family. If you see someone on the internet say that you should organize your closet with labeled bins because they're going to help you know

where stuff is. But you know that you will run out of energy to do that so fast because you know that tedium slows you down and making labels and having to put things in labeled boxes is tedious to you. Then don't label your stuff. Just use like clear bins, stack stuff like make it orderly in a way that works for you if you want that not in a way that you think should work by

“so what the internet says. Trust yourself. So name what matters calm the crazy and trust yourself”

with what comes next. You will get better at projects when you go in the right order. All right,

number nine, expect to pivot. Let me first talk to my planners out there. You will not be able to

plan your project perfectly. Not everything will go in the order you think or we'll take the time you expect. You've got to expect to pivot. If you build that into the DNA of doing a project, you'll feel less stressed out when the pivot happens. For people who aren't as detailed, you also need to expect to pivot. Sometimes fun things happen here though. I find that people who are spontaneous, they find pivoting easier. Like this is a delight for you. If you don't mind

to pivot and even find it energizing, expect to do it during your project. That knowledge might give you a little boost that it's not going to be as linear or exacting as your freight. It's going to be. It's okay to pivot midway through and solve problems as you go for both kinds of people. Now this is true not just for projects but for life. One of my favorite things to remind you all of is that it's more valuable to learn how to pivot instead of learning how to play in. Pivoting

is such a necessary skill in this crazy life. So expecting it and writing the wave of a pivot is so much more important than planning something to a tea and sticking to it at all costs. Not everyone agrees with that or wants to live that way but I know I sure do. You're just going to get so much better at projects if you expect to pivot. Don't let it throw you off or discourage your process. Pivot's happen. Expect to them and roll with it and you will get better at

projects. And finally number 10. Plan some fun. You will get better at projects if you plan fun into them or even fun after them. Imagine if you were putting up your Christmas decorations with no music playing, no candles burning, no cozy sweatshirt on, no plans for a mug of hot chocolate in front of the fireplace show when you're done. You just did it in silence with no fun vibes like purely utilitarian. That is not a fun project, right? Now you're still doing the same actions. But without

the fun infused into that project, it is mechanical and lifeless. So plan some fun in your projects. Play great music. Ask questions of people around you. Know that you're going to get like Chinese take out when you're done. Invite friends over to have a drink in your newly painted

church as like volunteers. And we would take a trip every summer to do some time of mission work

in the United States. Well one year we went to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and we help people get their homes back together. Well Coss and I had a group of about 8 kids maybe and we spend the entire week on the enormous project of removing all the soaked and rotted insulation in a house and replacing it with new. It was arduous, like truly physically and comfortable, super hot, insulation is itchy and it gets in every nook and cranny of your body. It is not a fun project at all.

But because my husband makes everything fun, we honestly had a great time. We would like take turns asking each other fun questions. I mean basic stuff like top three favorite movies of all time

or funniest movie of all time, singer you would listen to nonstop for a month without listening

to anyone else. What sport you do in the Olympics if you could like suddenly be awesome at it. Just like silly easy questions and it was fun. It made the project fun. We often try and do this spontaneously, which is great. You know adding fun into a project. But I want you to think about doing it intentionally. Inject fun ahead of time. Think about it before or plan something fun at the end. The more you do this, the more you're going to enjoy doing the projects on your list.

“So let's recap. Projects come in all shapes and sizes and it's good to remember that.”

You will need to be flexible and kind in your expectations based on the kind of project that you

are doing. But no matter the type of project, use these 10 tools. Even if you just use one,

it's going to make things better. No, it keeps you going and no what slows you down. Find a reason to care. Keep all the details in one place. You can check out the projects playbook at the lazygeneyscollective.com/playbooks if you don't already have a place for your projects. Know what you are displacing and make project days easier. Have what you need before you begin, go in the right order, expect to pivot and plan some fun. When you do these 10 things,

every time you do a project, projects will become more and more enjoyable. I promise. And that's how to get better at projects. No, no, no, no. What's wrong? Have Nutella forgotten? No, it's not. Is that you? What's wrong?

What's wrong? What's wrong? Yes, because no one else will be in. Okay, I'm weirdly excited about this. Okay, so for today's Alexa's best thing. Here's my top ten list of favorite major sporting events. I took a lot of time nail this and I am

“I'm honestly surprised by a couple of my picks, but still the heart wants with the heart wants.”

An honorable mention is the F1 Grand Prix Race in Monaco. It is my husband's favorite, and my son's favorite, and Cosina actually got to tour that track just a couple of weeks before a race while we were on our anniversary crews in Europe a couple of years ago. So when the race is on TV, I'm like, oh, we walked right there. Like, it's a little special because of that, but I also don't really care about the actual racing, but it gets an honorable mention. Okay, number 10.

Wimbledon. The white tennis outfits, the green courts, the spectacularly British vibe. It's just so much fun. It's the only tennis tournament on my list, and I prefer it to the routingists of the US Open. I also cannot stand the Australian Open because of all that clay. I feel like I'm covered in it when I watch. I can't do it, but I genuinely love Wimbledon.

“Number nine is the Super Bowl. It's fun, but honestly the games are usually terrible. It's like”

kind of anti-climactic, but I really do like half-time shows and Super Bowl parties, and hoping that maybe this year the game will actually be good. It happens like once every five years. 2026 did not deliver in that, but no matter. We will try again next year, but number nine is the Super Bowl. Number eight is the NBA playoffs. The NBA gets a lot of flack compared to college ball, because people say these guys don't play with heart or passion. They're just playing for money.

Maybe some do. It is a sport. Dude, these guys are technicians, and absolutely explosive.

of a seven-game series. I think NBA broadcasters are some of the best in the business,

and I will never not take a chance to watch Steph Curry play basketball. Like I'm a secret

orders fan, but cause can't stand Dream on Green who is also a warrior, so I don't plant that love too much, but I love the NBA playoffs. That's number eight. Number seven is the men's FIFA World Cup. I adore international soccer, so hard, but I prefer watching women play, then watching men play. I still love watching men play. The problem is that some of the dudes they just get on my last nerve, like Cristiano Ronaldo, actually it's pretty much just him, but some of the diva vibes like

spoil the whole lot for me. Don't get me wrong. When the World Cup starts in June, I will watch every match, every single one, no doubt. But that's number seven is the men's FIFA World Cup. Number six is the Winter Olympics, which we just finished. I really do love them, particularly

“curling. I'm such a sucker for curling. I wonder if it's because I think I could do it. Probably not,”

but we all think about about one sport. I also love like big air snowboarding and speed skating. Speed skating, the drawback of short tracks, speed skating. Figure skating stresses me out too much. I mean, I watch it, but it's so stressful. I do love the pageantry and the snow of the winter Olympics. More than maybe most sports. And of course, we keep the cover John for that all day. It's just so much fun. But honestly, I will say if it didn't have curling, it might drop a

spot or two on my list. Winter Olympics. Maybe. Maybe. I just love curling. Okay, number five is the summer Olympics. All the same things. I just like summer more. I like the summer events more. Gymnastics is so fun. It is the summer figure skating for me though. Like it stresses me out. To an insane degree. But I love tracking field, particularly hurdles, man. There's just more happening in the summer games. And weirdly, it's more, it's more colorful because not everything is

white. Not everything is like ice or snow. You know, it's just like such a good time. Okay, number four, March Madness. I am a tar heal fan, a university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill fan. And my husband graduated from Duke, which is one of the biggest rival reason all of sports, Duke and Carolina. So we are a house divided a couple of weeks ago. The game a couple of weeks ago with like the court storming. That was nuts. If anybody watched that, but I cannot believe

Carolina win that game. That one felt so good. But March Madness, especially the first weekend of

term tournament play with all of those games, it's just so much fun. I love rooting for little schools to be big schools. I also love the one shiny moment compilation of the end where like

“everybody's crying. It's just like so fun. Okay, now we're at the podium. Top three, ready?”

Number three is the NFL playoffs. I know I already said the Super Bowl, but it's the actual playoffs. Particularly while card weekend is just the most fun. That weekend at our house is one of the best weekends of the year. We don't go anywhere. We order so much pizza than we watch all the football. This year was way more fun than previous years because the chiefs did not make the playoffs. My middle son is a huge chief fan. So the pressure is on when the chiefs are playing and they could

lose like it's very tense. Well, this year was way more fun because no one had their team in the fight

after the first weekend when the Panthers lost to the Rams and we expected that anyway. And it was

close and a crazy game and great. So football is our family sport. So we love the playoffs and we're so sad. So genuinely sad with the season is over. Like the season's been over for over a month. A month? A little less in a month. And it like just a couple days ago, Ben was like, "Hi, miss football." It's like, "I know buddy, me too." Okay, my number two favorite is a shocker to me. I do not watch the sport during the regular season ever. I simply do not care. But when we get to

the playoffs, stop it right now and that is playoff baseball in the world series. I freaking love

“playoff baseball. It makes me heart go all of letter. I think it's just the drama. Like during the”

regular season, the slowness of baseball is boring. But during the playoffs, the slowness is so intense and dramatic. It's like you're watching a bow being pulled taught just waiting for the aerodifier. It's like explosive where one big hit can change everything. I love the strategy of playoff pitching and baseball fans are so fun. I adore playoff baseball. Like even though I don't even root for any particular team, I love playoff baseball. And the number one favorite sporting event

of all time and has been for a quite some time, drum roll plays is the women's FIFA world cup. Women's international soccer is peak of the peak. The athleticism, the precision, the drama of a goal,

four years makes it so special and so dramatic. I will kick my whole family out of the room if they

“get in my way of watching the women's world cup. The next one is in 2027 in Brazil, a country”

obviously top tier for soccer, pageantry and fandom. I could come out of my skin in anticipation. Like it's on my actual calendar. The FIFA world cup is on my Google calendar. I love it so much. Go Team USA and also sort of team to pan. We root for both. Okay, that was it. Thank you for indulging me in this very specific list for today's a little extra something. I enjoyed it so much. I hope you enjoyed it even a fraction of the amount that I did. Okay, let's get into the

lazy genius of the week. This week's lazy genius comes from Angela from Winston, say hello. Winston, say hello Ms. my neighbor town. So high Angela, you have excellent bakeries. Okay,

Angela writes, I'm always wanting to take to tackle random house projects. But these ideas and plans

“always seem to fall to the wayside. So this year I've decided to create a house project's note”

within my phone and placed a recurring reminder for the second Saturday of every month on my skylight calendar to tackle a house project. And then I will refer to my list on my phone for ideas. This strategy will give me the flexibility to work on a project based on my own energy and creativity at that time, while still tackling things I want to eventually get to. This list will also be something I hope I can refer to during any other time I have the energy and motivation

to tackle a project. And lastly, this will also give me a way to bring down these ideas somewhere

that isn't my weekly to do list or seasonal lazy genius playbook. This is such a great idea.

Angela is supporting her weaknesses, like the thing that slows her down, by carving out specific time, one Saturday a month to work on projects. She's keeping everything in one place and her notes app. She is expecting to pivot by having different projects that require different types of energy and choosing whichever one works. Like this is such a great example of compassionately getting better at projects. So great job, Angela. Thank you for sharing and congratulations on being

the lazy genius of the week. All right, let's finish with a mini-peptalk for when you're cranky. So a couple of weekends ago, I was so cranky. I was so cranky. Not for any particular reason, at least none that I can name, which is almost harder because you can't point to a reason. I was probably hormonal, but I was like, I was just on edge and sharp and I did not leave much room for error on my part or anyone else's. I was hanging out with some friends that day and I

like I walked into my friend's house and I was like, hi, I'm cranky. Some days we just are. Some days we are and and also things keep making it worse, you know. So on the same cranky day, I was watching this is so silly. I was watching ski sprinting, like kind of cross-country skiing, but where they're like kind of running, but on skis and I got so irritated. I was like, how dare those people run up a hill on skis? This cannot be tolerated because I was feeling tired

myself that day and anything active even looking at it. Like almost made me angry. Some days are just like that. It might be hormonal or circumstantial or because you didn't sleep well the night before, who knows why you're cranky. But here is the tip for being cranky when you're cranky. Be patient. When you're cranky, be patient when yourself. Be patient as you try and get past it. And also be patient with your family and friends who have to tolerate your crankiness.

You know, they might snap back in their own crankiness. And, you know, we need to extend patients to them. Just like we hope that they extend patients to us, right? So just be patient. When you're cranky, be patient with the process of getting out of it. Sometimes like a couple of bangers can get you back to normal right away, like put on some music, other times you wake up the next day still feeling cranky. You don't know what the timeline is going to be. So be patient

with the crankiness as you feel it, as you're around other people, as you wait for it to pass.

“I think the more we force the issue and just like try to feel better with a grunt,”

the more likely we are to stay put. So be patient in your crankiness and you're likely going to feel softer, faster than if you didn't. Be patient. And that's the many pep talk when you're

the show, please share this episode with someone you know, or you can leave a kind of view on Apple

“podcasts. Every mention and share makes a difference in turning more people into lazy geniuses.”

So thank you for being so supportive. This podcast is part of the Odyssey family and the office

ladies network. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Dochi, an executive produced by Kendra Dochi,

“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 latest,

lazy listens. That's our email that goes out every other Friday.

“Had to the lazy genius collected.com/listen 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 and I'll see you next week. [Music]