The Plan: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi totally sounded like a book I should read. Kendra is a writer and podcaster and her previous books focused on her “lazy genius” method which is mentioned in this book as well. The key takeaway from this method is to reframe goals in the framework of “what is most important to you at this time” rather than the whole 50,000 foot view or 5-year plan or any of the other planner/productivity methods I’ve read about over the last 20 years or so.
There is some real wisdom in her method for tackling projects and the ever-growing urge to to do “all the things”. The author frames the book specifically around the struggles that women face due to social expectations and how we do more but that there are no books that directly address this issue.
At the start of the book, it appeared she might actually include non-binary, trans and other marginalized people in her approach but, in the end, she focussed on women which was a bit of a let down. It also led to a lot of talk about menstrual cycles for one’s planning strategies. Its fine but even I don’t want to be stereotyped into a bucket that assumes that, just because I bleed, I can’t get stuff done. Other people struggle with lots of issues that might restrict their energy and its a bit of a disappointment that the only one she focused on was women’s monthly cycles.
Her discussion of breaking tasks down into small, actionable bits is not new but her approach, overall, was chatty and accessible. But many of her perspectives might not apply to people with CFS and other conditions that might limit their energy regardless of their gender assignment.
It’s a good system overall but I think she limited the book’s appeal by focusing repeatedly on menstrual cycles. I can be tired just because I’m tired and not because I’m hormonal. Sheesh.
I listened to the audiobook version (via my public library on Libby) of The Plan which ran about 6 hours so it was a “quick read”. I think the paper or digital version which might be annotated and have supplementary material may be easier to process.
Have you read this? What’s your take?
