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Maybe shooting myself in the foot here... but is it time to clean-up your inbox?

Photo by Scott Evans on Unsplash

As far as I’m concerned, the only good thing to come out of Brexit was that wonderful day in 2020 when the new GDPR law came into effect, and every company that had ever gotten your email had to check whether you still wanted to be on their mailing list.

To which the answer was a resounding, no.

Our personal details are spread so widely these days, it’s hard to keep track – to know what is where and who knows what. Now I’m not particularly concerned about my information being used for ill purposes; I mostly just don’t like being on the list of some random brand I side-glanced once in 2006.

Plus, I love a clear-out, mental or physical. On more than one occasion I’ve helped friends and family declutter their homes; if I had to pick an alternative dream career, I’d join Home Edit. I like to sort, tidy and clear, I’m one of those people. (These days, with two young children in tow, my efforts fall pretty short of the mark, but still, I try!)

So yep, that day back in 2020 was basically heaven for me. The high I got from unsubscribing – of feeling like I was taking back some control over where my information was stored and minimising the demands on my attention – was powerful.

In 1971 the Nobel Prize winning economist Herbert Simon coined the term, “Attention Economy”, to describe our capacity to engage with the many competing demands on our mental focus. Simon explained the term by saying: “[I]n an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention”.

If only he could see us now! When Simon coined the term “Attention Economy”, I doubt he had any idea of the “wealth of information” that would flood our modern world, almost 50 years later. (He especially couldn’t have predicted Reed Hastings, Netflix’s CEO, describing his biggest competitor not as Amazon or Apple TV, but as “sleep”. Yikes.)

Technology is phenomenal, but as Hastings proves, it wants all your time. It may be making life easier in some areas, but it’s also draining our attention capacity and stretching our nervous systems to their limits. Like anything viewed individually, the demands on your inbox – a random marketing email here, a ‘how did I do’ form there – may seem inconsequential, or even banal. But taken together, they are contributing towards obliterating our attention.

A few weeks ago I noticed that I was immediately deleting about half the emails in my inbox. I realised that far too many of them had nothing to do with work or people/things I love, but rather were mostly things I didn’t care about at all. Lots and lots of small, but not inconsequential, demands on my time and attention that were taking up too much space (both mentally and digitally).

So I went on another unsubscribe spree, which of course, felt amazing.

And this is my invitation to you to do the same.

Your attention is limited, your time is limited. Where, how and with whom you spend the minutes and seconds of your day, make up your life. The small stuff matters. Don’t give your life away to just anyone. Unsubscribe from anything that takes energy away from what’s important to you. That way you’ll have more attention and space to prioritise what’s actually important to you. What actually matters.

And I’m definitely signing my own death warrant here, but if you’re not into hearing from me anymore, then delete me too.

Came to one yoga class in 2016 but no longer enjoying my emails or newsletters?

Read one of my articles but can’t quite remember why you signed up in the first place?

Going through some stuff where my messaging is actually just unhelpful?

Think I’m annoying?

Bye! Delete! Hit unsubscribe right now! Clear that space for someone or something else that means more to you!

I only want people here who want to be here. This newsletter will go out to thousands, but if most of you unsubscribe after reading this, I’ll be VERY happy. If you don’t want to be here, I don’t want you here either. I don’t want to be bothering you, I don’t want to be taking up space in your life. I want you to be here because you are actually interested in what I’ve got to offer.

(p.s. if you leave now, you’re always welcome back :))

For inspiration, here’s a few things I’ve unsubscribed from:

Printed Little Things – Bought iron-on name patches for my daughter’s clothes in Feb. (Needless to say, I’ve never actually ironed them onto anything.)

Flavia Moratelo – Signed up post birth of my 2nd child, thinking I would go for a lymphatic massage, never did.

Bronnie Ware – author of 5 Regrets of the dying. Like her messaging, but never enjoyed her newsletters. Out.

Unit London – London art gallery, must have signed up at some point. They seem to send me a lot of ‘It’s been a while!’ subject header emails when it has not, in fact, been a while. Too annoying.

Jomo Club – no idea what this even is.

The River Café – one of my favourite treat places to eat in London, but don’t need to hear from them on a bi-weekly basis.

Wardrobe Icons – 2-part delete for me. First, they email a lot. But also, they encourage me into an insane consumption mindset – always looking for the next thing to buy. Not helpful.

Away – Bought packing cubes. Love the cubes, less so their weekly updates.

Plus: Ruuby; Luxury Family hotels; Rochini Gallery; Linkedin updates; Frkl; The Trainline; Harvey Nichols; PRESS juice; Location Location; Wonderbly; Crocus; House Beautiful; Lewis of London; Farrow & Ball; No Guilt Bakes and more I’ve probably forgotten about.

That’s a minimum of 24 companies that were emailing me for absolutely no good reason. I feel much better now, my inbox is more manageable, and I have far fewer (tiny, but not inconsequential) distractions vying for my attention throughout the day.

Your turn! Who can you unsubscribe from right now?

And if you decide to stick with me, I’d love to hear how many you get to – pop your number in the comment box below :)