Some of us face obstacles in our lives. We suffer discrimination over immutable traits like punctuality. We lack spatialawareness. We have loving, nurturing parents on whom it’s tricky to pin our flaws. …

During breakfast one Sunday, I announced to my four children we would be going to the planetarium. None of them heard me. My youngest was banging his fork on the table in a manner loud enough to wake Mars. The two middle children were trying to resolve an interpersonal conflict…

Last Saturday afternoon, while rummaging through sofa cushions, looking for the remote control, turning up silverware, batteries, and pillow fort-building children trapped in a collapse of microfiber rubble, I came upon the idea of doing a time capsule. A time capsule, as you may know, is a collection of goods…

I often receive letters from readers asking questions about personal finance. This is partly due to my reputation as an expert in the field of passing familiarity with money matters and partly due to there being a personal finance guru across the street with a confusingly similar mailing address. But…

I’m in trouble. My wife’s birthday is in two days, and I don’t have anything for her. I need something heartfelt, something that shows I really know and appreciate her, and something that, judging from her reaction to last year’s gift, in no way resembles a tape dispenser. Not that…

As we begin 2022, I am once again intent on making New Year’s resolutions. It is time I make changes for the better. It is time I finally commit to self-improvement. …

As I write this, in December 2021, we are on the brink of being overrun by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Though it sounds like a disaster film with the production value of a Dunder Mifflin training video, the Omicron variant is in fact a highly transmissible form of…

Today I am excited to tell you about a revolutionary new self-help program called “Tiny Habits.” No, Tiny Habits is not, as I first thought, a clothing store for diminutive nuns. Rather, it is a science-acquainted program for creating small personal habits to last a lifetime or longer. …

Today I am going to explore why I write humor. My therapist asked me to write on this topic because he wanted to better understand, as he tactfully put it, “what went so wrong with you.” This therapeutic kick in the teeth aside, I agreed, and this column is the…