Do Yourself a Favor and Unsubscribe from Everything

The other day my wife's phone died early in the day and was off for almost 8 hours. When she charged it back up and turned it on, she had 30 some emails waiting for her. She was instantly stressed, not because they were work emails - she doesn't even have her work email set up on her phone - but simply because the act of clearing an inbox is stressful. Here's the kicker: I'd say about 28 of them were from shopping websites or mailing lists, maybe three or four of which she was interested in (to each her own - I don't care for email coupons and promotions at all, but some do).

I used to be guilty of this too. I'd allow all of these sites to email me when and what they wanted, and I'd dutifully delete each one, scanning through them. But it is stressful. Getting that many pointless emails a day is just unnecessary. So here's what you do: let them come in, and don't delete them for two or three days. Then, set aside a half hour (you might not need all of it), get a cup of coffee, and unsubscribe from everything.

Most shopping-type emails will have an unsubscribe link to give you a one-click unsubscribe. Knock these out. All of them. Some sites might require you to actually log in to unsubscribe from emails, because it's a "user setting." These are more of a pain, but don't stop. Even if you don't know the username and password you used to sign up, use the password recovery, get the login (this is why you have a half hour and some coffee) info via email, log in, and unsubscribe from all emails.

Now, enjoy your email-free morning.

Protip: apply this to facebook/twitter/instagram too. Unfollow or unfriend anyone you're not really friends with or don't bring you any positive interaction online. Tired of 5 selfies or cat pics a day? UNFOLLOW THAT SHIT.

Also, you may as well not even sign up for LinkedIN. You'll ever get rid of those emails.