Magic can happen when we are at the right place at the right time. I met my husband in a bar in New York City almost 20 years ago — which is random enough, but it was also my second stop of the evening. I had almost gone home instead…

Many people have big goals they’d like to achieve: getting in shape, changing careers, writing a memoir. The problem is that all of these take time. When life gets busy, we do the things that are demanding action right now — which makes it easy to neglect the important-but-not-urgent work…

It’s no secret that Mondays have a bad reputation. One 2021 poll found that among Americans who have a least favorite day, 58 percent chose Mondays. That made Mondays the “winner” by a substantial margin (only 12 percent chose Tuesdays, the runner up). But Mondays don’t have to be terrible…

I recently stopped reading Cold Mountain. I’d long had Charles Frazier’s award-winning novel of the waning days of the Civil War on my “To Be Read” list. Within the first few paragraphs, I could see that it was a beautiful book. The prose was luminous. …

Serendipity is wonderful. But most events and accomplishments won’t fall like fairy dust into anyone’s life. If you want to go back to school to finish your degree, you’ll need to choose an institution, and complete the application process, and figure out what classes you’ll need to take. If you…

Mornings are a great time for getting things done. Many people find that in the early hours — before everyone needs something — they can make space for things they enjoy, but that life often crowds out. Whenever I meet someone with a big job who’s also raising a family…

This is one of the most exhausting truths of parenting: If you’ve got little kids, weekends are not automatically relaxing. It doesn’t matter how hard you worked all week (whether that’s paid work or taking care of your kids). On Saturday and Sunday, your toddler will still require constant supervision…

Some days are just go, go, go. Other times, you’re stuck waiting for people to get back to you. Or you’re ending a big project and aren’t quite ramped up on the next one. When that happens, you might feel like you’re just spinning your wheels. But when you’ve got…

It’s one of the paradoxes of modern life. If you ask people how much free time they have, they will tell you it’s no where near enough. People lament having no time for hobbies such as reading, music, art, or gardening. And yet time diary studies show that the average…