Multiple Personalities, In Order

Working in a school artificially causes you to lead a double life. I remember as a young student, thinking that my 1st grade teacher actually lived at the school, in our classroom. It had cots, a sink and snacks - what more could she need?

It turns out I was wrong about Mrs. Butterly. She had a nice home and family and likely had lots of hobbies. But this is just a simple example of how we have many versions of ourselves that we share with others. Next time you're talking with friends or family, notice how your voice, mannerisms and expressions change when you answer the phone from an unknown number. We all have many public selves.

Our online interactions are another example of our public online personalities. Whether you're a school teacher or a paralegal or a phlebotomist, chances are you have a work email and a personal email. Maybe you have multiple Twitter accounts too. Here's a tip I use to help keep my multiple personalities in order:

1) Use Google Chrome - It's fast. It's secure. It's free. And it creates a sandbox around your online personalities.

2) Click the Menu button and select Settings - figure 1.



3) Click Add User.

What will this do?

All of your bookmarks, passwords, logins and auto-complete information will now be separate between your personal and work profile. For example, if you have Gmail set to remember your login, it will automatically login to the correct account based on which profile is active. As you can see from the first image above, I have two browser windows open - one as my blue work profile, and one as my home profile, where I moonlight as a ninja.

Once you have both windows open, you can then open Bookmarks Manager in each window, and sort bookmarks between work life and personal life. If you have a SmartPhone, you can sign in with your personal or professional profile (your choice) to determine which facet of your personality you wish to carry in your pocket.

Clicking on the personality icon allows you to switch between the profiles as needed.

Stay tuned for a future post on how to manage your multiple personalities in Facebook.