Methodology

Monopoly Deal is a good game, even though the original Monopoly violates multiple articles of the Geneva Convention. Newtonian physics worked pretty well for a few hundred years, even though Einstein showed that Newton didn’t get everything quite right (I’m guessing plenty of physicists will say that’s an understatement, but I’m not a physicist). The first iPhone didn’t have a camera and the newest version takes pictures we could only dream of from a camera that fits in your pocket (!) just a few decades ago. ...

Almost a decade ago, I wrote a morning manifesto. I don’t reference it daily, but I’ve made only minor edits since—mostly adding kids’ names as we’ve deepened our commitment to the cultural mandate. What I wrote then still reflects who I want to become. Lately, though, I’ve added a new habit: writing short, daily affirmations based on who I want to be today. Often, those affirmations emerge from who I wasn’t yesterday. ...

My perspective on (nearly) a year of IF Last June, I stepped on the scale and did a double take. The number doesn’t matter—but the wake-up call did. If I didn’t change my eating habits, I was barreling toward a future looking less like a healthy, functioning human and more like Jabba the Hut. Weight management was the impetus for exploring Intermittent Fasting (IF), but the more I dug in, the more I was compelled that it wasn’t just a way to lose weight, it was actually a different way to live to help support the way God designed our bodies. ...

Why Most Problems Aren’t What They Seem—and What to Do About It I often want to get out the door faster than five little pairs of legs can move. I used to think that what kept us from leaving was my kids’ ability to move quickly. We’ll call that the apparent constraint. Many situations are controlled not by the apparent constraint but the actual constraint. The thing that looks like it’s holding us back—the apparent constraint—is rarely the real problem. It’s usually a deeper issue—the actual constraint—bringing it to the surface. ...

You know that thing you think will satisfy you? Maybe it’s something expensive but out of your reach. A new car or phone or computer. A promotion at work. A spouse. A home. A child. None of those are bad things. Many of them are worth pursuing and planning for. But none of them are going to fill that hole in your heart. A friend recently got a new phone, and I asked, “Did it make your life better in all the ways you hoped it would?” He laughed and told me no, and I said, tongue-in-cheek, “But you had to try, right?” ...

A young guy recently asked me, “What advice would you give someone trying to quit smoking?” I thought for a moment and said, “You have to invite people in. You’ve got to tell someone you trust, ‘Hey, I want to quit smoking, and I want you to regularly ask me how it is going. I want you to hold me accountable and help me quit. You’ve got my permission to ask, and I’d like to ask for your permission to call when I’m tempted and need to talk with a friend.’” ...

Every so often, I have the sanctifying joy of disassembling our Bosch front-loader washer. This isn’t one of those joys like building a Lego set where everything clicks into place nicely. It’s more the type of joy that involves scraped hands, craned necks, and lots of opportunities for biting my tongue instead of grumbling. Here’s the thing: it’s my family’s fault. We have a tendency to keep copious amounts of change and a large amount of lint in our pockets, which all gets rattled out in the wash and then promptly stuck in the too-small-for-change-and-homemade-lint-creatures drain pipe. The tiny pipe is a design flaw, to say the least, because you have to literally remove half of the exterior of the washer and a fair amount of the interior to extract whatever abandoned your pockets, all while contorting yourself like a Cirque du Soleil understudy. ...

The seed of passion is curiosity. The seed of perseverance is patience. – RYDER CARROLL, The Bullet Journal Method Thinking about what seeds grow into made me stop and ask: What am I planting? Which seeds are leading to good fruit—and which ones are growing weeds? In a world where we buy food in cardboard boxes wrapped in plastic, a seed feels foreign or even outdated. But aside from meat, milk, and eggs, nearly everything we eat starts as a seed. It’s hard to see how a grain seed turns into ICEE cereal (yes, that’s real), but little seeds always produce a harvest—for better or worse. ...

Our family experienced a crushing loss in December, and while the pain and grief continue to weigh us down, the response of the people God has placed in our lives has astounded us—in both the best and hardest ways. Surprisingly, one of the most challenging parts of grief is the response of the people around you—some rush to your side and provide emotional CPR keeping you alive through sheer kindness. Others practically pull the plug on your life support with thoughtless comments. ...

Oprah gets to tell everyone what her favorite things are, so I thought I’d do the same. These are the things that I keep coming back to, buying in bulk (where applicable), and heartily recommend after lots of wear and tear. Darn Tough Socks At some point in a man’s life, he realizes that holes in socks are inevitable and so continuing to pay for socks that are going to get holes in them is a bit of an endless cycle of disappointment. That is, until that man discovers Darn Tough Socks. These merino wool socks aren’t cheap (around $20 a pair), but they have a lifetime warranty. I’ve gotten holes in a few pairs, I ship them back to Darn Tough and they give me a credit to get new replacement socks. You’d think you’d save money with this system, but I’ve found it’s hard to stop buying these socks because they’re just that good. They feel and look great and the merino wool keeps your feet dryer and significantly less funky smelling. ...