The Power of Unsubscribe

Every so often, I make it through the better part of a day without checking email. Not only is this glorious from an untethered perspective but also from a time-saving point of view. However, when I finally do check, there is often more junk than content. I delete emails as I go—same as most. Every so often, a spark of action strikes and I see the unsubscribe button (so easy!) and actually take the two seconds to remove myself from future correspondence.

Why didn’t I do that three months ago? How many times have I trashed emails from this same listserv? How much time could I have saved myself from manually managing my inbox? Wouldn’t unsubscribing also tailor my inbox to ensure I don’t miss an important email that does require a timely response?

While email is an obvious example, social media can also be a place to curate what is grabbing your attention. Have you followed accounts historically but may no longer be helpful or possibly negative? For example, if you have a broken engagement, but continue to follow wedding prep accounts, this likely does not serve your current agenda. When you log in to catch up on friends and family, you may be bombarded with messages and images that change your midframe for the worse. A quick unsubscribe/unfollow can do the trick!

This begs the question: where else can we take a small pause to “unsubscribe” from small but consistent stealers of time and/or attention? Have we committed to rather insignificant things that regularly detract from our days or goals?

While I search for more ways to streamline and unsubscribe, this minor action leaves me with fewer notifications, fewer prompts to spend money, less sorting of information, and ultimately more time and focus.