5 Things to Do Before Summer Begins (Rerun)

is not about hacking the system. To find more time or hacking your energy to get more

“done, hustling to be the best order 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. Managing us about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And I am so glad you're here. Today is a bonus episode for you that I think will help you ease into the summer. We like to release favorite reruns, so you don't have to go digging for an

episode that would be really great to listen to right now. So today we are sharing episode 419,

five things to do before summer begins. This episode is from last summer, so it's fresh and

relevant to you to wherever you probably are right now. So in this episode, you're going to walk through five clear steps to help you figure out what the season is going to be about for you. You're going to name your season. You're going to figure out what matters. You're going to plant

“some important flags so that what matters will actually happen. You're going to ask the magic”

question and schedule rest. What you do from this episode, it will absolutely have to pivot. I want to remind you that before you even start listening, this is not something you're like lock an end stone for the next three months, right? But when you have something in place, when you set that in tension, when you plant some flags, you see your season for what it is. It just helps you better than starting from scratch, right? It's easier to pivot from something

that is there, like you can pivot a lot or a little. But when you have those pieces in place, there's you have a much better chance of actually making what matters happen than if you're just like free wheel and all summer and hope it does. Now you certainly can do that. But if you want there to be a bit more intention about what you hope to do and what you have to do, hopefully the

“episode is going to be helpful. This is my favorite kind of planning, kindly thinking about a season,”

naming a few things to help anger it and then doing what actually matters. So I hope that you enjoy episode 419, five things to do before summer begins. Hey there, you're listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 419, five things to do before summer begins. For most of y'all northern hemisphere people,

summers pretty much here. Today is Memorial Day in the US. So pools are opening, schools start to slow down or finish completely and we are entering the the abyss. I mean the beauty of the summer season. Anytime we move from one season to another though, whether it's a season of life or a season on the calendar, it's really good to pay attention to a couple of things so that we don't suddenly find ourselves in the middle of a new season without the tools that we need to live

it the way we hope to. So today I'm going to share five quick things that you can do before summer begins in order to enjoy your summer in an intentional and fun way. Number one, describe this season, describe this season. If you already have the summer playbook, you have a spot to answer a few questions about last summer, what's last summer was like, and then what that means for this summer. Essentially we want to name where we are. We want to describe this upcoming season,

so we can know what's up. We can know what things might be thrown at us. We can know what's different this year than last year. Describing your season, it helps you more easily do the next four things on the list. For our family, I would say this summer is a summer of independence. If I were to name where we are right now, so Sam, my oldest is getting his learner's permit. He will be learning to drive. I hope you drive in the family around this summer. He's also going to be managing his

time more on his own because he's 15 and he needs to and he's got places he's going and doing and being responsible for. I am, I'm going to use the pool snack bar. We belong to a little community pool and I'm going to use the snack bar as a way to teach my younger two kids about budgeting so they can learn some independence and how they spend in like a low-risk way. It is the summer of

independence because it's the first summer that we are not hiring a babysitter for Annie. In fact,

she is going to be doing some babysitting on her own with a couple of families like a little parent's

to encourage a lot of independence and her. I would also love for all three of my kids to end this summer, knowing one more meal that they can make on their own. They all have a couple that they can already do, but I would really like to encourage a bit more independence and helping them expand that. Not ten meals, not five, just one new meal that each kid can cook by the end of the summer by themselves, right? We start small in this. So this is a season if I were to describe the

season, the summer, it's a season of independence for my kids. Knowing that is so clarifying

which leads me to number two. So if you describe your season first, the second thing you're going to

“do is you're going to name what matters about this season. Sometimes the description of your season”

will be identical to what matters, but knowing where you are helps you see what you want to prioritize. So for us in the season of developing independence for my kids, saying yes to their independence, it really matters the summer, right? This is the season of independence and so actually engaging in that matters a lot. So that looks like letting Sam drive his places, even when I know we won't get there as efficiently as if I were driving or if cause we're driving or maybe it's like

still letting him drive even if I'm a very tired mom of that day who does not really have as much

energy to like patiently be a passenger. I still want to say yes, right? So he can develop that

independence. Having independence matter, it means saying yes when Ben asks to spend the afternoon to the pool alone with his friends or taking a time to stand with any while she learns to cook chicken nuggets in the air fryer and not burn herself. I want my posture this summer to be open to the independence of my kids. Saying yes to their independent choices matters to me, like more than just about anything else this summer. So I want to keep that priority top of mind

and I want to work that muscle of letting them become more separate from me and being engaged

“and what that process looks like. If you're struggling to name what matters in a particular”

season, sometimes it's helpful to look at the season that you just came out of. So are you absolutely

exhausted from a busy spring? Maybe what matters, at least for the first month of the summer,

maybe what matters is rest, you know it's slowness and play and not rushing to anything because all you've been doing is rushing. In fact it might actually help you to name what matters in each summer month individually. The playbooks do help you do that which is nice since they're broken into months. But maybe June, maybe June needs to be a month of rest. July can pick up speed a little more with like play and adventure and then maybe August is focused on like refueling and preparing for

the next season. But as we learn from Emily P. Freeman, the past is a great teacher. Pay attention to where you've been, so you can have a better understanding of what you need in the place you are right

“now. So that's number two, what matters in the season.”

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in diner chiebo fiale and of chiebo de eh. And remember, remember, it doesn't have to matter forever. Like you're living in the season little quite literally. It only matters right now. Maybe even a week or a month at a time. And that's great. That's great. Okay, that leads us to number three, which is a bit more practical. Number three is to plant some flags. I use the phrase "plant your flags" to reference things

on the calendar that are like pretty set and stone, right? Vacations, camps, work deadlines, and the time needed leading up to that deadline. Maybe you're preparing for a surgery or there's some other kind of like before and after moment this summer. Go ahead and plant your flags. So we have a product in our digital store called the summer docket, which helps you name what matters specifically about summer specific activities. And there are undated calendar pages

that you can print out that might help you plant your flags. So you can like see it. You can

Latoya, she uses the summer break calendar from the company the essential calendar. I love

“the essential calendar. We have one hanging in our house right now. She uses the summer break”

calendar to do this kind of thing. It's like it's one single paper calendar, like one big page. And you can see everything from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And that might be a really helpful place to visualize your flags. The point here, the point here, is to mark what isn't moving so that you can anticipate your rhythms a little bit. This is this is definitely happening right right here. And in fact, man, there are three things in a row that are definitely happening.

Hmm, I do not, I do not realize that that might mean I need to pay attention to the time after those flags and not plant anymore for a little while, right? Too many flags can make any season feel rushed and robotic. Like even with great flags, even things that you're really looking forward to, it can be hard to be present where you are when you're just doing planned thing after planned thing. So notice how many flags you have. Like after you get it all down and you see

what's set and unmoving. Notice how many flags you have. How close they are to each other. And then visualize how you might want to experience the time in between. For our family, there is this stretch in late July, early August. That's very flaggy. Very flaggy. It's like I'm on a work trip that overlaps with a youth group retreat from my husband and my boys followed by our annual team TMLG retreat that overlaps with Sims marching band camp. It's basically like two

straight weeks of ships passing in a very windy wind. So guess what? I have already made sure that those last two weeks of August, after the crazy weeks, those last two weeks of August before school starts, they're pretty much empty. One of those weeks I'm even taking off work completely. And with the exception of like getting school supplies, we're just going to hang out and enjoy go to the pool and we're going to go slow and we're going to avoid flags. Like I won't schedule,

doctors appointments or meetings or essentials then, nothing essential is happening because so much

that was essential, just hit us like a ton of bricks, right? So planting your flags, it helps you see where you need some space to just be. Okay, so that's number three, plant some flags. Number four, ask the magic question. This is a lazy genius principle. I haven't, I feel like I haven't mentioned

“this in a long time. But the magic question is, what can I do now to make something easier later?”

And in this case, what can I do now to make summer or some aspect of summer, easier later? This can be small, big, a series of things, whatever you want. Now, as we all know, you know, smaller things tend to happen more easily than the big things, smaller problems are easier to solve. So perhaps starting small is a good call here. But one thing I know that's going to make our summer easier later is to clean out our hallway closet/pantry. It's where we keep a bunch of food, but also like

wrapping paper and coolers and like all those random things. Now, it's really organized until it's not. And right now it's not. Right now it's very much not. The speed of May has created a pantry where things have not been put back in their places. They're just put back in the closet. It's getting hard to walk in there. Plus the things that we need for summer, they're in the back rather than the front. And I know that that pantry, it will irritate me every day because we will use it every day,

but it is not suited for the summer season. So guess what would make the summer easier? Lazy geniusing that pantry. The other day, I found a bottle of a Thai curry paste in that pantry that expired two years ago. And I bet that's just the beginning. I bet that's just the beginning.

I need to essentialize and throw out or move things that are not essential to summer.

“And then I need to organize what matters most in a way that will make life a little easier.”

That's a small project on my radar that I might even be doing today while you're listening to this because it's supposed to be a chilly and rainy on this North Carolina Memorial Day. So we'll say, if we're not eating hot dogs at the pool, I might just be cleaning up the pantry. But I might be moving the things that are on one part of the pantry to another because it's easier. We need to get to them more often because of the summer. So I'm really excited about magic

questioning my pantry. Okay, so step four is to ask the magic question. What can I do now to make summer easier later? And then finally number five, schedule rest. This is also one of the 13 lazy genus principles. And for some of you, well, I think we all need this. But there are different ways

summer that actually doesn't change a whole lot, right, from the rest of the year. Like maybe you don't have kids, you're still going to go to work and do your job and live your life. You know, maybe maybe some of the weekends are like buy water or like you're outside with friends more than normal or something. But for a lot of you listening to this, your summer is kind of the same that it normally is. Others of you, it's the same because you have tiny kids at home and you're

“always home with your children. And so summer's just hotter. It gets the only difference, right?”

But a lot of you, summer is a whole different animal because your kids are at home. A lot of you listening or parents, which means that during the summer, you are you are a working parent, like no matter what you're a working parent. You're either working by having your kids at home all the time or you're working a job somewhere else and having to manage your kids not being in school anymore. There is a different set of skills required to be a parent in the summer and those skills will

likely sap your energy at a different rate than other seasons. Not only that, if your kids are no longer at school, that means that they're probably home, which is maybe where you are too, like summer's not the season for a long time. I've mentioned this before, but one of the hardest things for me about transitioning to summer is losing my day off. I take Fridays off of work, which means I get to be in my house by myself with nothing productive to do once a week.

“And it is maybe one of the most important rhythms of my whole life. In the summer, the ease of that”

is gone. Someone is always home, like even cause, even my husband. He's a school counselor,

which means he gets to be home for like a solid four to six weeks every summer and it's amazing, but also it's another human at home who usually isn't. So as you prepare for summer, schedule, rest, schedule, breaks. Think about how you can experience some solitude or quiet or energy for your own personal enjoyment this summer every day. Now, like anything, like anything, starting small is going to be really important here. You might be a mom of tiny kids and you're

like Kendra, that's adorable, but there's no solitude or cry ever. Herd shift. And it is possible to name something really small in this season that can help sustain your energy and rest if you keep an eye out for it. So I really want you to start thinking about a way to schedule some form of daily rest. Maybe it's shifting how you spend a kid's nap time or where you eat your lunch, you know, just for this season. Maybe it's naming that like, if you guys, if you go to the pool

or something, maybe it's naming that the first hour at the pool is your time. You can tell your kids

who love for you to play with them that you cannot wait to get in the water with them after the next swim break. But for the first one, mommy is going to sit in this chair and she's going to read for a little bit. You know, it's taking those moments, those deep breaths, those chapters of a book, those snippets of conversation where you can get them. But also choosing where some of them happen be intentional about those moments of rest where you can. I would also love it if you would look

at your calendar, check where those flags are, and go ahead and schedule a day of rest. Maybe even longer than a day. You know, organize an all day babysitter, ask your parents to take your kids for one weekend wherever they live and then like rest and enjoy yourself while they're gone. If you can take a day off of work just one day or maybe even work from home without any meeting scheduled or something all while your kids are at camp where you can just be in your house by yourself. Like you

could do that. You could split a local hotel room or an Airbnb with some friends and like do a sleep over just one night where you would just like laugh and read and play games and go to sleep when you want to schedule some rest, little, little daily rest. Maybe bigger if you can and places but please don't skip this. Be vigilant about noticing when you can rest so you can live. So in summary before summer be gone. Number two, name what matters the summer. Now that might be the same answer as the

“first question or the answer to the first question will at least help clarify the second. But what matters?”

Three, plant your flags. Look at what is immovable and what rhythms you might need to not always

feel like your summer is just jumping from one thing to the next. For ask the magic question, what can you do now to make the summer easier later? And five schedule rest, honor yourself, prioritize your time. If you are so hesitant to do that, if it makes you cringe or twitch,

which is a big sister pep talk about how you're not being selfish when you choose to do things

“to fill your own bucket. I think you need a big sister kicking your adorable soft pants.”

If you are convinced that you do not have time for or deserve rest. No, man, we do not do that here.

I refuse to believe it's true and I want you to stop believing it's true. So you can go listen to that

“episode if you need a little reminder. So those are the five things to do before summer begins.”

I hope you enjoyed this bonus episode on the summer day. I hope that it reminded you

to schedule rest because maybe you've already done a lot of summer planning and forgot that part.

“Maybe you forgot to plant some of those big flags that are going to impact your weekly rhythms.”

We all need a reminder sometimes. So thank you for listening to this bonus episode. This podcast is part of the Odyssey family and the Office Lady's Network and this episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi, an executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jennifer Scher, 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 the lazyginesscollective.com/licents 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 am Kendra and I will see you on Monday. [Music]