Although my life is one blur, I do try to separate my personal, volunteer, and business lives from each other. For example, I have separate email addresses for work, personal, and volunteer commitments. Until recently, I used one Web browser to manage all of it, and sometimes it would not work out as planned. And then I read an article that changed my entire operation.
In her article, You’re Doing it Wrong! Managing/Toggling Between Multiple Google Accounts, Kasey Bell explains how you can set up multiple Google Chrome accounts based on your accounts. I followed her instructions and I am not looking back.
I now have four separate instances of Google Chrome: personal, Tubarks Consulting, Wyoming Wing Civil Air Patrol, and Rocky Mountain Region Civil Air Patrol.
With each instance, I can have a unique bookmark bar, pinned tabs, home page, and extensions. When I open a particular browser, I know quickly which part of my life I am working out of.
Personal Browser
Tubarks Consulting Browser
Wyoming Wing Browser
Rocky Mountain Region Browser
With this setup, I can easily switch between multiple instances; however, I can also focus on one specific task and keep the distractions to a minimum. There are browser applications and websites I go to in my personal time that I do not have time for while working. My browser instance reflects this reduction in extensions.
Most importantly, I can set up a system that works for me. I do not have to create workarounds because I am using one browser to do everything.
I strongly recommend that if you have multiple Google accounts, you create a separate browser profile and switch browsers when you need to work with another account.
Let me know how it works out for you.
