Welcome to Ask Mike, a regular column on our blog where I give a friendly, but opinionated answer to reader questions. Today, I’ll be answering the following question: “What are the most important decisions…

Today, for the benefit of all mankind, I decided to walk through each room of our house and identify the main sources of clutter. I think we all know what clutter is when we…

There is a time for everything in our lives. There’s a time to optimize for speed and a time to savor slower rhythms. So many people boil their identities down to a simple binary—either…

One of my core beliefs, derived from my Christian faith, is that what comes natural or easy to us isn’t always what’s best for us. Many people across time, geography, and belief systems have…

Looking back, one of the main reasons I got “stuck” in various areas of my life is that I waited around until the conditions felt perfect for taking action. I didn’t feel like taking…

Here’s my theory about happiness: we spend way too much time trying to chase it, when we’d be better off avoiding the things that so predictably make us unhappy. Happiness, in my experience, is…

I’m not exactly a natural morning person, but one thing I’ve learned is that if you want to change, you need to make that change desirable. I came to enjoy exercise by choosing workouts…

In this fast-paced, technology-driven world, it can be hard to progress through your day without becoming overwhelmed. We’re all given the exact same minutes and hours and have the choice of how we fill…

There are not too many phrases that get our kid’s excitement level to go through the roof other than these two words– “date night”. Just the thought of a special activity with one parent,…

As our toddler children were getting older and becoming more independent, we realized that they were old enough to start doing some basic chores around the house. Up to that point, I had no…

There’s been times in my life where I’ve delayed big, important changes because they seemed daunting. One way to prevent that is by setting small goals and celebrating the milestones along the journey. When…

We don’t necessarily need science to teach us what many people have discovered on their own over many generations. But occasionally, I do find it helpful to see what the scientific literature on any…