Goals are a part of life, whether you are the type of person who keeps them taped to your mirror or stored in the back of your mind. There are big goals, small goals, important goals, “wishful-thinking” goals (Chris Pine will be mine…), etc. Regardless of the type, all require a certain amount of thought, effort, and organization. Goal-setting is not only a blueprint for your own success but also a powerful tool in motivation–who doesn’t need that?

Everyone struggles with motivational issues at some point. With so many stressors and distractions constantly vying for our mind’s attention (alcohol, TV, alcohol again), feeling motivated to complete tasks can be REALLY difficult. However, it is important that goal-setting be a regularly-used skill in our daily lives. Being a serious procrastinator myself (hey, America’s Next Top Model reruns can be a little distracting, OK?), I have found that setting goals have made my thoughts and actions more organized, efficient, and clear-cut.

So how do you maximize the ability of your goals to motivate you?

Dr. Edwin Locke, a pioneer in the research of motivation and goal-setting (and probably a guest star in one of your PSY101 lectures), provides five characteristics of goals that each contribute to the goal’s effectiveness of promoting motivation. You wanna be successful (uh, duh!), take these into consideration:

Clarity
Goals that are clear are ones that are straightforward, able to be measured, and cause you to take action! Being specific is key—adopting a definite time set for a goal and an detailed description of what you want to achieve allows for a better understanding of potential rewards. Vague goals such as “Lose weight” or “Get ahead on schoolwork” are unlikely to motivate. However, goals such as “Lose 30 pounds by September 1st,” or  “Finish 3 assignments for next week before going out to the keg race,” are more likely to create a more tangible ending, therefore boosting motivation.

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Womenomics.

The word just rolls of your tongue ever so smoothly. What does the combination of the two words, women and economics, get you? Well, a working economy for one.

According to at least half a dozen studies, including those from Columbia University, Goldman Sachs, and Ernst & Young, “women can make the difference between economic success and failure in the developing world, between good and bad decision-making in the industrialized world, and between profit and loss in the corporate world.”

WHAT NOW, boys of AskMen.com? You want to go up against some of the biggest firms in the world on this one? Want to argue with the handy charts and graphs Ernst & Young whipped up proving that “companies with more women in senior management roles make more money”?

Not that anyone (well, anyone who really knows women) was surprised by these results. Diversity of any kind strengthens society and business. Obviously men and women think differently, so it’s important that there are always a variety of viewpoints to achieve a successful outcome. A business meeting with 100 % testosterone isn’t going to achieve the same effect as one with the voice of females present. (And will also probably involve some sort of push up contest…)  We’re not saying a whole table of women is the greatest idea either, but the female presence clearly does make a difference. In fact, McKinsey & Co’s study produced results that found that “great diversity in management led to higher-than-average stock performance.” Read More »

There’s a great many things to do and places to see in this world of ours.  As humans, our lives are pretty short (and if you party like I do, it’s probably going to be even shorter).  So we have to prioritize!  We have brains for a reason and that reason is…reasoning (well, at least some of us use them for that purpose: see comment about partying above).  Let me be your voice of reason as I show you all the things you should be doing right here, right now.

From as early as I can remember, I have been told to smile more.  It’s not as if I skulked around family events and school functions all goth-like, it was just a reflex statement of my mother.  Now that I’m older, I can still hear my mother’s voice in my head whenever I’m at a social function (and that’s the only voice I hear in my head…I promise).  Apparently, there are reasons for smiling…more than just because your mom says so.

It’s Contagious – When you smile, people around you are more inclined to smile.  So that gorgeous French guy that sits next to you on the bus?  Try cracking a smile and see if it catches on.  French guy + smiling = excellent bus ride.

There Are Health Benefits – Numerous studies show that smiling can do amazing things for your body, like boost your immune system, lower your blood pressure, relieve stress, and release happy chemicals (among other things).

Things Seem Funnier – Expressions increase the intensity of emotions, so if you’re reading or listening to something amusing, try smiling.  Chances are that you’ll end up enjoying the joke (and the moment) more.  This also works the other way – if you’re sad or angry, take a breath and try on a smile.  Usually, you can’t smile and be upset at the same time. Read More »

Spring Break (and that 3-day hangover) is over and summer break is so close you can taste it. Mom’s home cooking, that is.

I know it’s hard to stay on track, especially when you’re only thinking about the months of freedom, days at the beach and (finally!) reading for pleasure, but snap out of it! You’ve worked too hard all year to eff it all up now.

If you want to spend the summer lounging by a pool (or in your front yard with the roomies) and not re-taking that Econ class, heed my advice:

1. STAY Organized: I don’t know about you all, but my room has certainly gotten messy. However, the minute I took the time to organize it the way I did when I got back from winter break, I immediately felt less stressed out. Having an organized work space makes you focus better, so take the time to reorganize if you’re room has gotten out of hand.

2. Calendar EVERYTHING: I have this big dry erase wall calendar that I write everything down on. Hopefully you have one of these, and if you didn’t get one at the beginning of this semester, I suggest you invest in one NOW. When you write things down it helps you remember them. It’s a very easy way to keep track of tests and quizzes that are on your syllabus. Also make sure to put birthdays on there, especially your roommates. Forgetting a roommate’s birthday could be fatal. (They do know where you live…) Read More »

Last night, President Obama addressed the current economic crisis, assuring America that “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” That sounds especially promising to the billions of college students across the country, who are faced with escalating tuition costs and skyrocketing student debts, and who are watching as the window of opportunity seems to shrink with news of major layoffs every other day.

However, if you play your cards right, you can find great success after college. Sure, some of us will spend years after college struggling to pay off student loans and going on interview after interview, sometimes for entry-level jobs we are overqualified for but still can’t seem to nab. But some of us are on the brink of making headlines, like these uber-successful post-grad powerhouses have done in recent years.

1. Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda went to Wesleyan University in Connecticut, a school where tuition runs at over $38 grand a year, plus $10-12,000 for room and board expenses. While attending Wesleyan, Miranda, a native of Inwood, New York City, turned his life experience into a theatrical production that has exploded since his graduation from the University in 2002. Miranda is the composer and lyricist behind the smash hit musical In the Heights, which was produced at Wesleyan, picked up for off-Broadway, and transferred to the Great White Way in 2008. Miranda, an actor-slash-rapper who originated the lead role, Usnavi, in his own show, picked up a Tony award last spring and is currently slated to reprise the role when it hits the silver screen. Read More »

Now that the New Year’s Day hangovers are a thing of the past, it’s time to trade in the warm sofa for cold, hard desks as the spring semester approaches. If you are wondering how you will possibly make it through this semester after barely making it through the fall semester you are in luck, because a new semester brings new beginnings.

I have made quite a few mistakes over the course of my college career, which have taught me quite a few things. Learn from my mistakes and this semester will be easy breasy. (I bet you expected me to say CoverGirl, right?)

Tip 1: Procrastination will kill your grades:

Trust me, writing a 10 page paper at 3am the day it’s due is never the best way to get your assignment done. Yes, you like to work under pressure, and, yes, at least you actually did the paper, but doing it in a hurry means you rarely have time to spell-check, let alone stay awake long enough to turn it in.

Tip 2: Try To Take Shorter Classes.

You may think it’s worth it to take that 3 hour class on Wednesdays so you get that full 4 day weekend, but sometimes longer classes are worse for your GPA. Let’s be honest: when was the last time you could pay attention to anything for longer than an hour? Whenever possible, try taking a 50 minute class three times a week (or whatever shorter options you have at your school), instead of a longer class that meets only once. You will be able to focus more in a 50 min class, not to mention be more on top of things when you have to prove yourself to your prof 3 days a week instead of one.

Tip 3: Don’t skip class.

Seriously. Unless you are dying from some rare and contagious disease, go to class. Some profs only take a couple points off your final grade for absences, but when you think about it, 2.5 points added to an 88% score could mean the difference between an A and a B. Oh, and the whole point of college is going to class and learning, so it might be a good idea. Professors often make it worth your while by, I don’t know, teaching you things and making it all easier to understand. Read More »

In junior high, I wanted pink hair. Actually, maybe wanted isn’t the right word. I was more or less obsessed with having pink hair, and basically anything pink in general.

However, my mother – who let me get my tongue pierced at 14 – thought that Bubblicious-colored locks were just too radical for my upper-middle class suburban town. So I reluctantly settled for a bright, Ronald McDonald shade of red and completely embarrassed myself for the rest of 8th grade.

But my obsession with pink hair – and every girl I ever encountered sporting it – never ended.

So when I stumbled upon this website, created by a tattooed beauty who at the time of my discovery donned the exact shade of pink hair I so longed for in my wannabe punk rocker days, I developed my first-ever girl crush. Not to mention the fact that I was insanely jealous of not only her looks, but her success.

Gala Darling, the writer and sole creator of iCiNG, deemed “a tattooed Miss Manners with pink hair” here and “a local yet globehopping fashion genius” here is exactly what I would be today….if my mother hadn’t crushed my poor little teenage heart almost 7 years ago.

Except Miss Darling is from New Zealand, is much more insightful, and probably has better hair than I could have ever dreamed of pulling off with some Manic Panic and my 8th grade friends’ “kewl hair skillz.” Read More »

I’ll admit it right here, right now: I’ve always been a total sucker for the “artsy” guy. Now that I’m venturing into single early twenties territory, I’m sorta wishing Kurt Cobain hadn’t been my love interest when I was younger.

If I could have just had a super crush on a lawyer…or even a football player…maybe everything would be more normal in my love life.

Maybe I wouldn’t find myself waking up on an air mattress in a loft in Williamsburg… pinching myself and then repeating over and over, “He’s an ARTIST, Elizabeth…he’s an ARTIST.”

But I’m an artist, too. Hell, all I do is write everything from books to songs all day. I even paint. And take pictures. And I dance. And I do mosaic. AND I sleep on a REAL bed in a real apartment that has heat and cable and plants that aren’t dead.

And so I sit on the train pondering this question. With every hipster/artsy looking boy I see, I wonder if he too sleeps on an air mattress. Is this a prerequisite for being cool?

Certainly, my artist lovers past….which would be…ugh…all of my lovers past…didn’t all sleep on air mattresses. In fact, I can only think of one other.

And then I realized: Read More »

Although some girls may argue that finding love and being in a relationship rank number one on every “normal” girl’s priority list, a recent trend shows a lot of young women are starting to wake up and avoid making career mistakes like that of Lauren Conrad from the Hills. For those who don’t remember, or the 2% of college girls out there that don’t watch the show, she chose to move in with a boy (which didn’t work out, surprise surprise!) over advancing her career and taking a job opportunity in Paris.

According to a recent study, men were more willing than women to sacrifice achievement for a romantic relationship, CNN reports.

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Admit it — you’ve used your best baby voice to get what you want. The baby voice is a lethal weapon.

When used on family members, it conjures images of you as a helpless young one that they cannot resist bending to.

For everyone else, it’s creepy and annoying and they comply to whatever your sugar – throated wishes are just so you’ll shut up.

According to some recent reports on jezebel.com, salon.com, and in The Washington Post, the baby voice is presenting some problems for women in an unlikely place — at work.

It’s pretty easy to see where this trend’s force is coming from: the great female role models of our day, Paris, Lindsay, Britney, et al. Read More »