I model an awful lot of habits for my kids, whether I like it or not. Some of them are good and some of them I’m not very proud of.
One that I take pride in is modeling lifelong learning. I hope my kids see and know that I’m always improving myself, figuring new stuff out, and learning about my world. Every season of #LifeSkillsNow brings new camp leaders, new topics, and new learning … for Mrs. Kimball lol!
Last year, we welcomed Kendra Adachi, the Lazy Genius, to our group of experts. She coined “the Lazy Genius way,” which has 12 or 13 steps, but one of them is called decide once.
It’s a Lazy Genius strategy, because the idea is to dig in and make one great decision about anything that can then be replicated. Every time you get a chance to replicate, now it’s “Lazy Genius,” because you don’t have to think about it again. You just do it.
This applies to things like oatmeal every Monday morning or where you buy your toilet paper or the brand of shampoo you choose.
A Graduation Gift Idea You Can Reuse Every Year
Last year, I was invited to half a dozen graduation parties, and I had that heavy feeling: Ugh. I hate just writing a check for graduates and wish I could be more creative, but I’m just not a shopper.
I watched Kendra’s workshop and decided, doggone it, I can Lazy Genius awesome graduation party gifts! I’m going to turn my creativity to high for this year and this year only, figure it out, and then replicate for the next decade.
An email from Bob Lotich (also a camp leader last year) sent me down a rabbit hole, finding a book about finances I could include in my graduate gift. I wasn’t sure all the graduates would enjoy Bob’s book, which is Christian-based, so I did some research … and ended up with a very NOT LAZY list of nine books about finance that are a great fit for recent high-school graduates.
I made a big list with the books and descriptions and allowed the graduates to choose which book they wanted. Again, this was definitely not the lazy way, but I will reuse the same descriptions for many years! A Lazier Geniuser choice would be to just choose one and order six copies.
The second part of my gift was a beach towel. A beach towel?? you say. Yes, for two reasons. One, I had a $10 coupon to Sierra and noticed beach towels were on sale. Two, we live in Michigan, where kids can just run off to the beach for a couple hours.
I thought this is a really cool sort-of-adult gift that a college student could have in their dorm room taking up very little space, call it their towel if they still live at home, and also take it with them when they have their real house.
It’s like a little piece of adulthood, but not something as serious as your first chef’s knife or Instant Pot or something. 😉
Best Finance Books for Teens
If you would like to steal my ideas, you are an even bigger Lazy Genius than I am. Here are the five financial books that the graduates chose:
- First to a Million by Dan Sheeks
- The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
- I Want More Pizza: Real World Money Skills for High School, College, and Beyond by Steve Burkholder
- Rich Dad Poor Dad for Teens: The Secrets about Money–That You Don’t Learn in School! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
- It’s Not Common Cent$: A 30-Day Personal Finance Crash Course for College Students and Young Adults by Aaminah Amin
If you’d like to see the full list I gave the graduates, it’s right here with summaries of each book! I added a little note at the beginning explaining why I was letting them choose a book, and then my number and email so they could let me know which one they want.
Get the Best Deals on a Beach Towel
And although, of course, I would recommend you try to shop locally for towels, Amazon does have some bulk discounts on packages of six, and here they are:
- 6-pk striped $6/each or less expensive yet
- 6-pk linen Turkish beach towels (Leah’s fav style) $6/each or these or super thin and <$5/each
- These Turkish towels are a little more expensive but the company has some great initiatives
(Get cotton and not microfiber, for the environment.)
The Lowdown on “Decide Once”
You know what I love most about this?
It really wasn’t about the towels, or even the books. It was about deciding, one time, to be the kind of person who gives thoughtful, useful gifts without having to stress about it every single May.
And honestly, that’s the kind of win I will take all day long.
And it’s a parenting win, too! Because we’re not just raising kids, we’re raising future adults who will one day stand in a store, or scroll online, and think, “What do I do here?” If they’ve watched us think ahead, make a plan, and then stick with it, that’s one less decision they have to carry.
That’s the Lazy Genius way, but it might also just be the peaceful parent way.
So here’s my challenge for you. Where is one place in your life where you could decide once this week? Maybe it’s school lunches, maybe birthday gifts, maybe your go-to weeknight dinner.
Just pick one, make the decision, and then enjoy the quiet gift of not having to think about it again!
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I’m here to help you raise healthy kids – in body AND mind!
Check out this TEDx talk on critical thinking for kids, never more needed than in these times!
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