I’ve been doing something this week that I always put off doing. I can organize my closet, empty the dishwasher, and clean out the kitchen pantry no problem, but for some reason, I put off doing something so simple…cleaning out my inbox. I realized that I’m getting emails from brands that I haven’t shopped in years, have never shopped, or have zero interest in shopping ever again. So why do I keep receiving their promotional emails for months and years on end? I’ve gone through the motions time and time again of deleting all of these emails, but I finally decided to actually take action.
The reason that this has snowballed is that it takes less time for me to delete an email than to open it, scroll to the very bottom, read that teeny tiny print, click the link, and then either select a box, input my email, or deselect options. This past week, I rolled up my sleeves and committed to doing something about my ever-overflowing Promotions section. Am I furniture shopping right now? No. Do I need to read about every “Final and best sale of the season!” No. Do I need to purchase more clothing or shoes at the moment? Yes No. Now every day when I check my Promotions section, instead of bulk deleting, I go through and decide what emails I can let go of, and I take the mind-numbing steps listed above in the hopes of decluttering my inbox.
While I was taking control of my email inventory, I kept wondering why I didn’t do this sooner. Wouldn’t it have been better to periodically unsubscribe from emails along the way rather than ignoring the problem by just deleting them? It was easier to take an “out of sight, out of mind” approach than to put some energy and (very little) time in. It boils down to laziness on my part and avoidance of an annoying-yet-not-super-pressing issue.
All of these little things add up, and we all put stuff on the back burner, yet by ignoring it, we can allow the small stuff to slowly turn into the big stuff. Why waste my time every morning going through emails I don’t even want to receive in the first place? Why be tempted by sales that I don’t need to shop?
Every year, people think about their exercise plans, shoot for business milestones, vow to eat healthier, start saving money, or get out of debt. We all make big plans and map out the steps to achieve them. However, we can also sweep over the little things. The not-so-fun, daily grind kind of stuff that we ignore and postpone addressing.
These items may not be as sexy or the most attention grabbing, but taking care of those lingering annoyances can free up time and energy to be put towards our larger goals. So maybe you finally clean out your desk drawer. Or listen to and delete voicemail messages. What about cleaning out your dirty car (I also need to do this desperately)? Maybe you rearrange a room because you’ve never loved how it looked? Small changes can lead to big changes that leave us unencumbered as we move forward.
I’m no longer starting my day with a bunch of invaluable, consumer-culture noise. Every “You’ve been successfully unsubscribed” response email feels pretty good, and day by day, my Promotions emails are dwindling. I might miss out on the latest sale, but I’ll gain back peace of mind and a less stressful morning. This also leads to the bigger questions of: What else am I letting pile up and what else have I resisted tackling instead of taking action? I hope you can also opt out of what you don’t need and opt in for what you do. Even if you have to glue your seat to the chair and grab your glasses to read a font size that was made for ants. In this particular instance, I hope you do get ready to sweat the small stuff.
*Originally posted 1/22/2021*
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