Who in their right mind would start a blog post with the suggestion to unsubscribe from the blog? Someone who cares deeply about your well-being and who is focused on self care, that’s who.
Does your inbox cause you stress every time you open your email and you see that little number on your smart phone that says you have 3,273 unread emails?
Do you feel stressed each time you have to look for an email that you know is “in here somewhere” or when you receive a text from a friend who asks, “Did you get my email last week?”
You are not alone if you suffer from what I like to call “email anxiety.”
Imagine how much time each day you could save if you didn’t have to scroll down through 50 (or more) emails to find that one from your kid’s teacher or that one from your mother-in-law with directions to lunch today?
Imagine if you just said “No!” the next time a marketing email came into your inbox and you unsubscribed to it immediately.
If one of your new year’s resolutions is to clean up your inbox and de-stress your life, thereby providing a good dose of self care on a daily basis, try the ideas listed below. Can’t mentally wrap your brain around deleting all 3,273 emails at once? Start today to incorporate these three simple steps and see how quickly you can transform your inbox into a place of empowerment instead of a place of high anxiety.
1) Unsubscribe to 3 emails you receive regularly that you know you rarely read or use. You know which ones they are. You’ve been scrolling through them for months now and haven’t opened one from that company for years. Take the time to open one of those emails, scroll to the very bottom and click “unsubscribe.”
2) Pick 3 emails that you have read, and believe you may need in the future “so you hate to delete it.” Then create a folder for each, and transfer them out of your inbox and into each of their appropriate folders. I have folders for the organizations I’m part of, important people in my life, travel destinations, etc.
3) Delete 3 emails you have read and will never need again. Go ahead, do it. It is like throwing out that pile of old magazines you have been meaning to read for the past five years, or giving away those old clothes you never wear, or clearing off that counter in the kitchen you look at every day. It will feel good and every time you practice this, it gets easier.
Starting a new habit is like building muscle when exercising. The more you work that muscle, the easier it is to lift the weight, go into the yoga pose, or run that extra mile. Eventually you will feel more comfortable doing these things for larger numbers of emails and before you know it, your inbox will be clean, organized, and a joy to go to.
Imagine an inbox that only represents subjects you care about, not a constant reminder of things you haven’t done. Imagine an inbox that reminds you to self-care each time you open it because you are regularly unsubscribing and saying no to things you don’t want.
For more ideas on how to clean up your inbox go to:
Here’s How to Clean Up Your Gmail Inbox, You Hoarder by Gordon Gottsegen from Wired Magazine. Wired.com
Todd Haselton from CNBC says “Dozens and dozens of pointless emails hit my inbox every day, so I set out to stop it once and for all.” CNBC.com
This wikiHow teaches you how to get rid of unwanted emails in your Gmail Inbox. WikiHow.com
For more info on self care go to Fuzzy Red Socks.