As I pointed out in yesterday’s post, I realized that I’ve been saying more to things that are distracting me than telling people no (although I’m doing that, too.) See? That’s the beauty of doing a challenge like this. You see what unfolds and how it applies to different areas of your life.
Such is the case with my emails. Can I get an oy vey?
The barrage of unwanted messages is unreal. I don’t mean the ones that you don’t want to deal with although there are plenty of those, too.
I’m talking about the mailing lists that I’m on that I regularly don’t look at because:
I’m not interested in their content anymore, but I’m so used to just deleting them that I do.
I always think I’ll look at their content someday, but I never do.
I never signed up for the email.
The last one makes me crazy. I’ve worked in marketing, advertising and social media for the better part of my life and I am aware of lots of best practices. One of which is that you do not opt someone into your mailing list without their permission.
It seriously makes me nuts.
For what it’s worth, I have tried Unroll Me for the first two mentioned above, but I never go back and look at those messages, so I may as well bid them “Shalom.”
Anyway, I unsubscribed from a bunch of mailing lists yesterday and that felt so good.
Appropriate that my battery was at 86%, since I 86’ed these emails. :)
I also unsubscribed from some Google alerts I’ve had set up for the past few years that aren’t giving me the search results I was hoping for like:
Call for storytellers
Call for speakers (I get more info about Echo and home speakers than I care to mention)
Call for female empowerment speakers (It’s usually after the conference has ended. Yeah, no.)
In other words, they’re not sparking any joy, so they need to go.
Thanks Google, but I’ll find opportunities to share my stories elsewhere.
Saying no to all of this unwanted content and yes to getting a few seconds of my time and energy back is a great thing. Plus, it’s helping clear my mind and stay focused.
PRO TIP: If you’re getting promotional messages from someone who you know and don’t want to hurt their feelings by unsubscribing, you can always add them to your junk mail.
If you don’t want to be passive-aggressive about it, then be honest with them. As a performer, I get a ton of messages about shows, so usually if and when I’m going to unsubscribe, I tell them that I’m following their invites on Facebook because it’s true.
Are you good about saying no? Keeping your inbox clean(ish)? Clearing the clutter? Tell me below and if you like what you’ve read, please share it and subscribe below. Thanks!