If they don’t still live in the same town they grew up in, many people at least have the luxury of “going home” for holidays and visits where they can run into old school friends at the grocery store and hear the latest details of the star high school quarterback’s minimum wage job and fourth illegitimate child.

I, on the other hand, went to boarding school, and with the sole exception of New York City, no two of my friends live in remotely the same place. This made keeping up and keeping track a challenge from the day I left — a challenge that I’m sure many others experienced a few years later upon college graduations.

Enter Facebook. It was the perfect place to keep track of everyone’s latest location, job, relationship status, and cell phone number, without having to experience the pain that comes with looking at or listening to a MySpace profile. (It was especially perfect in the early months when they let you export your contacts’ information as a CSV file! Oh, those were the days…)

Over time, Facebook grew, and in stark opposition to the rest of the planet, my daily page views shrunk as the total number of users went up. I was friends with one, two, then ten people I wasn’t *really* friends with. I questioned whether or not to post certain things in my profile or put up certain photographs. Worse, I noticed that people were including less and less personal contact information in their profiles — and what good is it to know you live in Manhattan if I have no way of reaching you besides your Wall when I’m in the city for an afternoon?

Then, there were the Facebook apps that grew plants and hatched eggs. Let’s not even talk about those.

A year ago, I installed a browser plugin to block my access to Facebook during certain hours so it wouldn’t hinder my productivity. Last week, I realized that since upgrading to Leopard, I hadn’t even bothered to make a Facebook shortcut in Firefox.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

Last night, I had an epiphany, and I am once again a happy Facebook user.

Create a Second Facebook Account

I now have one personal account, and one professional account.

I’m aware that I could restrict access to certain content within my profile to certain user groups, which I thought was my original concern. However, once I created a professional profile, I realized that I was using it in an entirely different way than I was using my earlier profile.

As an efficiency consultant, I hate clutter, and I prefer to only receive information pertinent to my needs. My professional connections don’t need to know about the dinner and drinks I’m having with my old high school friends, and my old high school friends aren’t going to run into me at any of the 10 Upcoming events I’ll be at in Seattle. Now that I have two profiles, I can display relevant information to each of the two groups, and only relevant information.

Some key differences:

Personal Profile

• My “About Me” section is more casual and personal.
• My “Work Info” is more broad.
• My “Quotations” are more personal and include inside jokes.
• I’m in silly groups like “Pastafarians”
• My personal cell phone number and home address are listed.

Professional Profile

• My “About Me” section specifically addresses my business and what I have to offer others.
• My “Work Info” is more specific.
• My “Quotations” are motivational and inspirational.
• My “Favorite Books/Movies” double as suggestions for business colleagues.
• I’m in more professional groups like GTD or Web 2.0.
• My Grand Central number and post office box are listed.

So, if Facebook has lost some of its luster for you, try starting fresh with a new professional profile and leaving the growing plants for your friends, who will love you anyway.

TIP: Set your privacy settings for your personal account so that it doesn’t show up in search results. If a personal friend initiates a friend request to your professional account, simply ignore that request and initiate a new friend request from your private personal account. This will eliminate confusion *and* won’t broadcast to the world that you really have two separate profiles!

Add me on Facebook!

How do you use Facebook? I’d love to hear in the comments!

When I was first introduced to Twitter, I thought it was sort of silly — just a knock-off of Facebook status updates.

Initially, I was only Twittering with one offline friend, and when he moved on to Pownce, I abandoned my Twitter account until I read that Guy Kawasaki was going to give Twitter a try. Out of sheer curiosity, I went back to Twitter, and the benefits keep pouring in.

Thanks to Twitter, I got:

…to avoid a car accident. I mentioned that my tires were squealing every time I turned a corner. Despite my lead foot, that still seemed strange. Several helpful Twitterers pointed out that my alignment was probably off, and they were right.

…a Guinness and taffy! In yet another testament to how small the world is, Damon found me by tracking the keyword “Seattle.” (He lives there, and I was headed there for a week-long business trip.) Lo and behold, we went to the same (very small) boarding school back in Connecticut *and* used to vacation in the same city in Maine, and had a number of mutual friends. Not only did he buy me a Guinness when we met up, but he also brought me some strawberry taffy from his recent trip to Maine — my personal heaven!

…even more Guinness! I was one of the first people to follow Stephen and he graciously bought me a Guinness, too. Even better: he shared this photo of a flying pig:

…a new web designer. Frustrated with outsourcing anything beyond basic data entry, I turned to the Twitter world for help. I got *five* great recommendations for high-quality designers, and then realized — thanks to Eric — that someone I already knew was a designer and available for the job.

…a much faster computer. Jeremy heard me complain that my MacBook was slow and sent me an email with instructions on how to upgrade my RAM from 512MB to 2GB. I can’t believe I suffered with those slow speeds for so long!

…a new addiction. JKow introduced me to his Internet-based show, Something to be Desired, and I’m hooked — it’s so good, I caught up on the first four seasons in one weekend.

…an up-to-the-minute news source. Thanks to the Truemors News Network, my RSS feeds are quickly becoming old news. (Newspapers? What are those?)

…blog traffic. Google Analytics shows that Twitter is by far my biggest referrer.

…a mnemonic device for remembering how to say “almond”. Of all strange faults to have, I’m known for being unable to pronounce “almond” correctly. (I always said “Al-Muhnd” instead of “All-muhnd.”) Bill dared me to leave said mispronunciation on his voicemail, and our resulting conversation cured me of this problem. (I can’t stand Al Gore, so I shouldn’t say “Al-muhnd”!)

…lots of great new friends. i didn’t understand how at first, but Twitter is really a strong networking tool. Not only does it make Internet gods like Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki more human and accessible, but every day I get to participate in a new example of the power of numbers — raising money for college tuition, offering support or information during times of crisis, or simply cheering one another on through yet another all-nighter on the way to achieving our dreams.

I’m sure I’m missing a number of other examples, and I’m positive that Twitter will continue to affect my life in many more ways as time goes by.

If you’re not on Twitter, what are you waiting for? And if you are… how has Twitter changed you?

(Follow me on Twitter by clicking here: MarinaMartin on Twitter.)

Lower your electric bill by rearranging one surge protector so that “always on” electronics are plugged in on the “unswitched” side and optional electronics (like cell phone chargers or bedside lamps) are plugged in on the “switched” side.

Switch the surge protector on at night when your electronics are charging, and turn it off in the morning when you disconnect.

Check out Gina’s Power Strip Optimization over at Lifehacker for more ideas.

(This Monday Quick Tip is part of Blog Action Day, a day of blogging devoted to the environment.)

While ideally you want to avoid a traditional schedule and keep working until you get too tired, there are plenty of times when you need to stay up longer than your body would like — or even times when you need to forego sleep altogether.

Even with my current 8-4, I try to keep my edge by pulling at least one all-nighter a week. As I’ve learned from Twitter, I’m not alone: Justin likes Sundays; I like Sundays or Wednesdays.

Here’s how to stay up tonight and stay alert tomorrow:

Caffeine — But Not Too Much Caffeine. Stave off your caffeine consumption until you really feel like you need it. Try to space your caffeination out to avoid getting too strung out. I usually sip a venti iced coffee over the course of a couple hours and supplement with a weak cup of coffee or a few cups of tea in the wee morning hours. When the “real” day begins, I have another venti iced coffee.

Eat Light. A big dinner will lead to a serious energy slump that can easily stop a productive night before it even begins. Snack every three hours instead. If you need a short break, cook something instead of resting — it will keep you alert.

It’s All In Your Head. The less you think about the fact that you’re supposed to be asleep, the harder it will be to stay awake. Pretend 8pm is 8am and act accordingly.

Don’t Get Too Comfortable. If you’re in your favorite t-shirt and bunny slippers, you’re not going to work as hard. Remember, it’s mostly mindset!

Don’t Nap! If you’re an experienced napper and you know that you can wake up after 20 minutes with no tempation to lie back down “for five more minutes,” go ahead and risk it. For the rest of us: No Napping!!

Blast Some Music. If your energy really starts to wane, put in your headphones and play an upbeat song or two — loudly. This always gives me an energy surge. (I’ll come clean — awful as it is, “Gimme More” by Britney Spears is one of my favorites for getting a jolt. I also like “Some People” by Linda Eder, “Stand” by Rascal Flatts, and “Fighter” by Christina Aguilera.)

Stay Positive the Next Day. The worst thing to do is to dwell on the fact that you didn’t sleep the night before. Pretend like you did. (Did I mention it’s all about mindset yet?) Don’t complain. Instead, be pleased and excited about the extra work you got in.

and my secret foolproof strategy:

Omega-3s Are Your Friends. Early on in the evening, I’ll eat a small bowl of pasta with a heaping tablespoon of flaxseed oil as the sauce. (Other good sources include walnuts and cold-water fish, but flaxseed oil really packs a punch.) I’ve tried all-nighters with and without flaxseed oil, and my energy simply soars on pasta nights. Flaxseed oil isn’t the tastiest food on the planet, but it’s not that bad, and it’s easy to hide in other foods if you don’t like it.

What keeps you up?

Today, Chris Brogan tweeted about the reaction to freeze up in the face of a full plate of things to do.

I’m sure we can all relate to this!

My suggestion to Chris was to put himself out there for public scrutiny — announce what task he has to do, and then report back whether he does it or not. Over time, he can develop a reputation as someone who gets things done, or not.

Few of us can claim the Twitter following Chris has, but even if you only have a few followers out there, the thought that someone might be watching and paying attention can be enough motivation to get yourself in gear and tackle that task.

This is especially useful if the resulting task can be shared with your online audience — finishing a blog post, updating a design, writing code, and so on.

I’d love to be your Twitter accountability partner — follow me by clicking here!

No matter how perfect your organizational system, there will be times when you fixate on a project that you suddenly feel must be done right now , even though it’s actually not critical at all.

This is almost always procrastination in disguise.

Tonight, I should be writing a number of reports for clients, or working on my upcoming 31 Days to GTD Mastery series for the blog. Instead, I decided I absolutely had to add all of the 500+ personal development blogs at Priscilla Palmer’s list to my ever-growing (439 and counting) list of RSS feeds.

By the time I got to the letter D, I was bored to tears, but I have a hard time letting go of a project once I’ve started it.

Then, I had a bright idea: I’d outsource my procrastination. I wrote up an RFP in about 20 seconds, posted it, got a bid for $50, and poof, all done.

This way, I satiate my current desire to have this project completed, but I free myself up to work for paying clients. It easily would have taken me three or four hours to add all those RSS feeds myself, and I earn more than $12.50/hour doing other work. I just made money AND took care of my procrastination project at once!

Now, David Allen of GTD fame does suggest that we all keep a healthy number of non-critical things that do have to be done eventually on our Next Action lists so that when we do, inevitably, procrastinate, we at least get something done instead of zoning out in front of the TV.

This is a great idea. However, there’s a difference between “change the light bulb in the front hall,” which is a good five-minute widget to crank when you just don’t feel like working, and “create a personal library of LOLcats and make a screensaver,” which is not a good way to spend your time.

The next time you decide you just HAVE to take on a mundane project, ask yourself: can I outsource this?

Both Google News and Google Alerts let you keep track of the latest news by keywords.

A lot of people simply stick their favorite keywords into Google Alerts and ignore that feature in Google News. However, there’s a better way.

Use Google Alerts for keywords that you really want to keep track of on a constant basis. Since the alerts are emailed to you, you can always file the emails away under a “To Read” tag and catch up when you have time later without fearing you’ll miss anything.

However, there may be topics that interest you, but you don’t necessarily need to read every story that’s published about them. These keywords are better entered as Google News keywords, so you can peruse the latest stories when you launch Google News, but you won’t miss them if you don’t have the time — and your important alerts won’t be lost in the shuffle.

For example, I keep Google News alerts on general topics like “animal welfare” and “reproductive rights” but I keep Google Alerts on “assault weapons ban” and “misandry” because I want to be able to act on/respond to articles on the latter topics more often than the former.

The best gauge for whether something should be in Google News or Google Alerts is to set everything up as a Google Alert on a daily basis first. If a topic starts to come up so often that it annoys you, move it to once a week. If you’re still not reading your alerts, move it to Google News.

Head over to the New York Times “Most Emailed Stories” to quickly catch up on the latest news people will be talking about over the water cooler.

When you print a document, do you normally change one or more options on a regular basis?

Cut it out! Next time, save your default preferences as a new print setting, and make it your default.

Save ink by setting your default print quality to “fast draft” (or your printer’s equivalent). You’ll almost never notice the difference, and your ink will stretch a few reams further.

In keeping with the 101 Goals in 1001 Days series, if you have any goals that involve keeping (or avoiding) a habit for a set number of days in a row, you may want to make Don’t Break the Chain your homepage.

(Don’t worry, you can change it back to sites that help you learn something new everyday when you’ve completed the goal!)

A spin-off of the new chain feature at Joe’s Goals (which was in turn inspired by Seinfeld’s productivity secret), Don’t Break the Chain is an extremely simple-to-use calendar for tracking the number of days in a row you did (or didn’t do) something. You can keep multiple calendars for tracking multiple goals, and the service is completely free.

I personally prefer to mark a real calendar, ala Benjamin Franklin and his spots, but am keeping this site bookmarked as part of my goal to completely digitize my life (which means no print calendars!).