Rumour has it that if you can categorise yourself like this: Student/croupier/mooter/partner/swimmer you might be a slasher too! This idea and it's dramatic name, (believe me I don't feel like a baddie in a low budget horror) caught my attention recently and got me thinking. I've done a lot of different jobs in my life for a lot of different people, in environments as varied as casinos, cruise ships, offices and luxury hotels, I've been a sales manager, croupier and auctioneer and now find myself ½ way through my law degree, working full time to pay for it, all the while trying to have some kind of life. It's not always easy, in fact it gets quite hard at times! 
It's for this reason that I try to find ways and means of making it easier. Why make life any more difficult than it has to be, right? Saying that I didn't need to go back to university, or take on any of the extra responsibilities that I have and they all make life more difficult than it has to be, I digress. With all these fun little extras not to forget the major events such as work and Uni how do we best become a successful 'slasher'? (Believe me when I say I'm wincing every time I use the term, it's almost as bad as saying I'll be taking a 'proactive approach' implementing 'blue-sky' thinking, I'm not a fan of management speak, it all strikes me as a bit Orwellian). So my top tips for successful slashing, or to use a less scary adjective/metaphor, juggling, are en-route, it's all about being organised and having a bit of self discipline.
Once upon a time I had a busy job and a fancy pda machine, I relied on it for everything, one day it broke and my life collapsed. On that day, or at the very least on a day not long after (when the tears of rage and the pain of loss had subsided) I rushed out and bought myself a wee paper diary. Which was awesome, paper doesn't crash, lose your files etc, etc. This was how it went for a good few years until a few happy months ago when I got my first proper smart-phone. I now have in my pocket at all times the perfect tool for keeping on top of everything. With the use of a few cracking apps, I find myself able to organise my life and also get some degree of reading and work done away from home and on my breaks at work, happy days!
The apps I'd most recommend are:
- Polaris Office: lets you read and edit documents spreadsheets and power-point files
- Wordnet: an excellent free dictionary app
- Sugarsync: Lets you send and pick up your files from any computer you use,
- Due Today: An excellent to do list app, which also lets you set reminders
- Touch Calendar: A brilliant calendar app which can bring together existing calendars into a single diary allowing you to edit them.
I find that with these few programs along with the standard email and internet options available with most smart-phones today it's very easy to keep track of everything and make sure you're on top of all your responsibilities. The only occasional problem is battery life, for that reason I’ve almost always got a USB cable with me that'll let me charge my phone from any computer with a USB port.
Anyhoo, busy busy, off to work then I've got an assignment to submit!
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