You religiously watch the clock. You’re annoyed by every single one of your co-workers. Your job has lost its thrill. It’s obvious that it’s time for a change, but how exactly should you go about leaving a job—especially when the unemployment rate is hovering at 7.5%?

These days, job hopping is practically a way of life. Gone is the idea of spending four decades at one company, ultimately retiring with a gold watch and a pension plan. According to the  Bureau of Labor Statistics,  the median number of years workers stay at a given job is only 4.6, which allows them to rack up as many as 10 gigs in a lifetime.

It’s the quintessential American concept: Start a business from a simple idea, and then watch it explode into a multimillion-dollar corporation. Of course, most people who decide to become entrepreneurs have a plan. A little money, perhaps. And maybe some contacts. Mel and Patricia Ziegler, the couple behind the clothing empire Banana Republic, had none of these things. But, in 1978, they did have a vision.

When my younger sister was in college, she needed help with the down payment for a new car. I wrote her a check—coincidentally, her birthday was just around the corner—and sent it in a card, with the understanding that when she was solvent, she’d pay me back. Almost a decade later, that portion of my coffer remains empty; in fact, it’s permanently closed, since the one time I suggested she might pay me back, it caused a battle so ugly that my father had to step in to break up a fight between his adult daughters.

In Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, “Lean In“, she suggests that part of the problem facing women in the workplace is reluctance from male executives to mentor younger female employees. She may be right.

We’ve all been there: It’s early morning. You’re stuck in rush-hour traffic. You’re running late. And you need the strongest concoction that your coffee shop can brew. Now imagine your surprise when you pull up to the window, and the barista says, “Your drink has been paid for by the customer before you. Would you like to keep the trend going?”

Job interviews: Nobody likes them, but they inevitably stand between you and your dream job. Unfortunately, “What’s your greatest weakness?” is no longer the only hard-to-answer question hiring managers will throw your way.

Is the smartphone costing you more than a big chunk of change? We took a closer look at the toll mobile technology is having on many marriages, kids, work productivity and even our safety.

When you prioritize a set of tasks, you probably often order them by deadline, right? The things that have to be done today get taken care of first, and the things that have to be done tomorrow go next, and so on. Given that this system seems to work well for most tasks in our lives, it’s easy to see how people keep putting off saving for retirement. It’s so far off it seems like there will always be time later to work on it.

I’m not proud to admit that there have been days when I’ve needed to ask my husband to hide my credit card from me.