Hi there, you're listening to the Lazy Genius Podcast. I'm Kendra Dachie 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 234, 10 rules for holiday gift giving. You might be done with your holiday shopping already and I think that's great because you likely did it because getting it done early matters to you.

Even if you are done now, I think some of these rules can still add some lightness and help to the next couple of months. So let's just jump in, show them.

Okay, rule number one. Name what matters. Obviously, I will never, ever stop reminding you of this because this is the most important thing.

What matters to you about your gift giving? What matters most about the money you spend, the energy you spend, the time you can invest, the wrapping, who you get gifts for at all.

And here's what's tricky. We can't assume that what has mattered before will matter now. What matters to us changes all the time.

But we don't take the time to name that and then we get in the weeds in some way. So name what matters to you about your holiday gift giving.

I was in a lazy genius virtual gathering recently and a woman shared that since all of their kids are grown, she and her siblings decided this is not the year for gifts because of the stress of things,

not arriving on time because of like supply chain craziness. They're just not doing gifts this year. And this year, that phrase, this year is important here.

Just because you choose something this year, doesn't mean you have to choose it forever. I'm trying to remember if I share this example before I can't remember.

But a few weeks ago, a friend of mine was talking about hanging up Christmas lights on his house and how he's gone so elaborate the last two years and felt like he needed to do that again, even though he didn't really want to.

And even though he's a very smart person and he was not saying this outright, there was this underlying message in his words that implied that if he didn't do lights this year, that he was choosing to never do lights again.

And that's just not how this works. You can change your mind. You should change your mind. You're making choices based on what is best right now on what matters right now to assume that what matters will stay exactly the same isn't approach that will drive you crazy.

So name what matters about your gift giving this year.

Rule number two, there is no perfect gift. There is no perfect gift. You guys, this is just a reminder. I think you know this, but there is no perfect gift.

One of the reasons gift giving can feel overwhelming and full of pressure is because we're putting pressure on ourselves to get every single person the most amazing gift they've ever had. And that's just not a thing.

You can be thoughtful right you can be thoughtful in your gift giving without that person like weeping in a puddle or bursting into grateful song.

You can get a gift that someone values without it being the gift that they list when someone asked them what's their favorite gift ever.

There's no perfect gift. So stop searching for it. There comes a point of like diminishing returns. I think that's the term where the time you spend trying to find is a loosive item.

You can get a chance so much of your energy that it's not worth it anymore. And you have very little left for all the other important things during this season.

So just go ahead and tell yourself now there is no perfect gift. There are gifts that you love to give. And hopefully the person will love receiving but perfect.

Perfect is not on our rubric.

...