Cool Twitter Accounts to Follow

At a recent social media conference, we started talking about unique or cool Twitter sites. We weren’t talking about the ones that shared about life’s mundane events. Rather, these were ones that provided information in a unique way.

It’s amazing what can be shared in 140 characters – the maximum amount that a tweet is allowed to have.

Here are three that fascinated me:

  1. @cookbook: Maureen Evans is the author of the Eat Tweet cookbook. She tweets tiny recipes that serve 3-4. At first it’s a bit daunting but with the aid of the glossary she provides, it soon becomes simple. The New York Times called tweeted recipes quite possibly the “first great recipe innovation in 200 years.”
  2. @RealTimeWWII : This one features World War II tweets from 1940 and will continue for six years. Alwyn Collinson is an Oxford history graduate who tweets up to 40 times a day. He uses eyewitness accounts, photographs and video to make it feel as if you are there.
  3. @TVGuide: If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time channel surfing in search of your favorite show. I use TV Guide’s official page for TV news, scoops and live event coverage.

Do you have a favorite? If so, please share it so we can all enjoy it.

Time to Disconnect

I’m in a busy phase of my life right now, both professionally and personally. The result is I’m feeling unbalanced. Fortunately, I attended the Virginia Press Women spring conference this past weekend and attended a workshop by Christina Kunkle, a resilience coach – just what I needed.

Almost immediately, she talked about our need to disconnect. “There is too much emphasis on technology,” she said and went on to emphasize the need for a morning routine or practice.

Christina Kunkle

Christina Kunkle encourages indivduals to be the CEO of Y.O.U. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

Ironically, I’d had a great routine for years – until I started using my smartphone as an alarm clock. With the smart phone, before I went to sleep I would check for last minute messages or play a quick game of Sudoku. First thing in the morning, after turning off the alarm, I would check my messages.

Chrstina’s words hit home. And, I’m not alone. Ben Silbermann, cofounder of Pinterest says in the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens that he went low-tech and bought an alarm clock to break the habit of checking email righter before bed and first thing in the morning.

In the few days since the workshop, I continue to use my smartphone as an alarm clock but now I don’t look at the emails. I have returned to my morning ritual of journaling and making a list for me, which is another thing Christina emphasizes. “You need to be the CEO of Y.O.U.!”

With my list I note if it’s a workout day (seeing it in writing helps get me to the gym at day’s end), jot down evening commitments and identify one or two chores that might need to get done.

“We should start our day with ourselves at the top of the day,” Christina said.

By disconnecting, I actually feel more connected, or at least – grounded.

Handwritten Lists Better than Electronic Ones

Pens and paper

The act of writing a list helps me to remember what I need to do. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

I lost my “To Do” list the other day. For some reason I decided to type my list on the computer but I had not saved it. I was rushing to my volleyball match and somehow lost the list. That never happens when I write my list on paper.

One other time I wrote my list on the computer. I discovered that I do not gain the same satisfaction deleting items from the list as I do when I physically cross the item off my list.

For me, the mere act of writing the list helps me to remember what I need to do and, more importantly, to prioritize the items. Turns out that writing things down, with your actual hands, is just plain better at getting you to remember and execute good ideas, according to an article in Fast Company magazine

I have even gone so far as to buy “special” notebooks for making lists. I started using small notebooks for lists when a colleague pointed out that I had 3 sheets of paper, all with different lists. Why, he asked, didn’t I put them in a notebook so I could keep better track of the lists. Ever since, I’ve carried a small notebook, which often doubles for taking notes at informal meetings.

One of my favorite notebooks only allows me to list two items and has pithy comments, such as “Today’s about quality not quantity” and “Today I will get some stuff done”. For me, only listing two items is nothing short of a miracle. Yet when I do this I can happily report that I always complete the assignments.

And after all, isn’t that the point of a list?

iPad Today Co-host Shares Social Story

Early in Sarah Lane’s career she thought she would be a mathematician since she was good at math. But the co-host of iPad Today, the Social Hour and Tech News Today at TRiT.tv, discovered she liked a few other things, too.

Sarah Lane, co-host of iPad today and other shows, enables her audience to know about the stuff that is important to them. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

“I like being social. I like talking,” she told an audience at a recent social media workshop in Idaho Falls, ID. As a result she studied broadcasting at San Francisco State. As an intern she worked on a documentary about San Francisco in the 1980s. At the time there was no social component of the internet, Sarah said. Her research was conducted in a basement reviewing tapes. 

She would go on to work for TechTV on a show called “The Screen Savers” for which she produced the “Blog Report.” Showing the audience one of her early reports, she noted how frightened she looked. “I was frightened that I would say something just a little wrong and the audience would pounce on me,” Sarah said.

Today, she said, her “skin is a mile thick.”

She found her passion – talking technology with others who love technology, which she does through online TV. She describes “This Week in Technology” or TWiT as “almost like sports talk.” Success is measured not on the number of views of the show but on the number of downloads. “We’re successful, although we don’t have American Idol numbers.”

Another show Sarah works on is The Social Hour, which she co-hosts with Amber MacArthur. Ironically, the two have never met. Sarah is in San Francisco and Amber is in Canada. Sarah noted, “ We all have the same amount of tools; it’s just what you make of it.”

Her role, she said, is to spend her days and nights trying out new services. “You don’t have time. You just want to know about the stuff that is important to you.”

Stopping the Insanity

Earlier in the week, a robin repeatedly flew at my office window. Bang. I’d turn around to look and he would be stunned on the ground but otherwise okay. Several minutes later, “bang”! Finally, after a few hours of this, the robin grew wise and realized he was not getting into my office. He flew away and, I hope is doing well wherever he landed.

This robin reminded me that if I want different results I can't keep doing the same things that I've done in the past. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

Many days I feel like that robin. Watching and listening to the robin, I realized that sometimes I do exactly what Albert Einstein warned against: “Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.”

Upon this epiphany I picked up the phone and spoke with my business coach. We discussed several items, and helped get me back on track. I knew what I needed to do; I simply needed to talk it out loud. So if you don’t have a coach, find a friend or colleague and talk it through.

Rather than banging my head into a wall like a robin, I’ve recommitted to do the following:

  1. Follow 18 Minutes, a great time management tool.
  2. Bring healthy snacks to work. Eating junk food does nothing for my concentration so if I have an apple or carrots handy, I’m better able to fuel myself. Plus, the “crunch” just sounds good.
  3. Set aside specific time to work on emails. I’m not alone in finding an inbox that remains perpetually filled. Many emails I can glance at and quickly delete. Others require more thoughtful responses. Identifying time each day to answer emails or forward them prevents them from going into a black hole.
  4. Schedule time for friends, family and fitness. By adding it to my calendar, I have something to look forward to and I create appropriate work/life balance.

Once I stopped hitting my head into my virtual wall, I quickly discovered how much more energized and engaged I became. The robin was a good reminder. I just hope he didn’t end up with a headache while trying to get me to pay attention!