Mine is almost always a sword unless i am doing a project where I need like all of my inventory space for supplies.
I usually have all my tools and some sort of food in my hot bar lol leaving 5 slots for blocks I'm building with.
My inventory ends up looking like this. And yes i use 3 pickaxes, one for mining just iron/gold/coal/cobble, one for fortune 3, and another for silk touch.
I have my pick first. I mean, the game's called Minecraft, you all need to get your priorities sorted out.