The Aggressive Unsubscribe

Inbox (31). Ugh. The everyday dread of my inbox. Did the physical mailbox ever incite this much anxiety? I guess there was more of a physical breaking point. If they can't fit any more letters and catalogs in your box, USPS has to hold your mail. 📫🤣

Not the case with email, though!  

"Want to sign up for our mailing list? You'll get 10 percent off your purchase!"

"Umm, sure." I make a mental note to unsubscribe. 📨

***

"So, it comes down to looking at the event as traumatic or an opportunity," my friend says.

"Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Can you send me the article?" 📨

***

"Awesome, can't wait to finally catch up!"

"Same! I'll drop you an email to schedule lunch." 📨

***

There's no USPS to save you from yourself. I signed up for the marketing email. I want to read the article on resilience. I really want to grab lunch! I invite the barrage of mail, then freak out about how to manage it.

Enter: The Aggressive Unsubscribe. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to start going through my inbox with the intention to lessen the inbound load and get some more headspace. One by one, I looked at each email promising career tips, an interesting take on current events, discounted leggings for a better-looking butt... you know, a better life altogether. UNSUBSCRIBE.

"Not so fast, Alissa."

Check, check, check in the little boxes. Opt out from all. Apply changes.

"Do you really want to unsubscribe?

Yes. OMG.

I still get some newsletters, marketing email, and news in general. And I like mail from friends. The truth is those personal emails are the minority of what's sitting in Gmail. So I've unsubscribed to a lot of the noise and now there's less coming in every day. One of my goals this year is to spend less time being reactive to people and things, so I can spend more time being proactive with the most important people and things. So far, the formula of fewer inbound emails ––> less distraction ––> more time to focus is going well. It's one small step forward.

(Photo via Broadimage)