Curse of the Smartphone

I love my iPhone. I mean, I really love it. It's rarely more than a foot from me, whether I'm working (texting back and forth with writers), playing (taking pictures) or sleeping (until the alarm wakes me). I say with complete earnestness that having that amount of access to information, leisure and high-quality photography has changed my life. But for all of the good things it brings, it also creates plenty of negative impacts to on life. Here are a couple of tricks I've learned to help manage the blessing and the curse that is the smartphone.

Never Buy Anything Without a Coupon

I know, the title of this article is a bit extreme.

But honestly, if you engrain this tiny piece of advice into your impulsive, worry-about-an-overdraft-after-the-expensive-shoe-purchase brain, you'll save yourself a lot of financial headaches. It wasn't that long ago that I realized the power of Google in my constant mission to pinch pennies.

You'd be surprised how many companies have valid coupon codes floating around on the web without actively promoting them in their normal email spam.

Make Your Gratitude Memorable

In the professional world, there will always be an occasion when you will have to thank someone for putting in a word for you, for giving you a reference, or for recommending you for a job or a project.

If the case is that you are working your way up in your career, and you are completing an application for a post graduate program of any kind, then you will find yourself asking former supervisors, or professors for favors; just make sure you remember to say thank you.

How to Procrastinate Wisely

Back in college, I was an all-star procrastinator. Paper due? Bring on the Red Bull and pull an all-nighter. Exams coming up? Go yet more hardcore with caffeine pills and two consecutive all-nighters.

So alert! So awake! So much TMJ!

Let me tell you, things have changed. It turns out that at 26, I’m no longer capable of performing minor academic miracles while grinding my teeth into nubbins and leaping to catch pencils that aren’t actually rolling off my desk. Staying up all night not only breaks my brain, but also makes me old-lady tired the next day—you know, at my actual adult job. The problem is that for those of us who go to school while working full-time, the urge to procrastinate can be pretty potent. The last thing I want to do after a long day at work is write a paper, and the idea of working over the weekend is even less appealing. Yet the more I procrastinate, the more anxiety I generate and the less productive I am, leading to more anxiety and yet more procrastination. Thankfully, there are ways to break out of the vicious cycle.

Turn Your Internship into a Job

In terms of getting and keeping your dream job, I’m definitely fortunate. I was hired at a magazine company in my early 20s and in just over a year became its top editor. My interns ask me frequently for advice about landing a similar situation. The simple answer is that I was in the right place at the right time and had enough luck and energy to stick it out… which isn’t much help to them. The more complex answer is that I took a small opportunity – as an unpaid, undergraduate intern – and managed to turn that into a career. Here’s how I did it.

Webcomics for Quick Laughs

Picture: poorlydrawnlines.com

Sometimes when you're having a bad day, you need to read articles on a humor website, or watch some videos on YouTube, or look at pictures of fuzzy baby animals. All of those are good ways to take a small break when you're stressed with work or school, or both. And sometimes, sometimes you need a webcomic. Don't let the comic to the right be true. These short webcomic sites can give you a break from text-heavy work and provide you with quick punchlines that will at least make you smile if not laugh out loud or chuckle.

God Save My Shoes, and My Bank Account Too!

Image Source: www.nymag.com

Unless you have just crawled out of a hole, you know who Mark McNairy is. It is impossible to browse through any men’s fashion magazines or style blogs without running into that name. Who was once the former creative director for J. Press has now launched his own clothing line, with an emphasis on edgy, fashion-forward footwear (www.markmcnairy.com). As the number of these trendy shoes decreases, so is the amount of money in buyers’ bank accounts. With McNairy footwear starting at around $395, here are similar options that won’t break your bank accounts.