Purposeful Parent Tip: Unclutter your email box and you unclutter your life.
Recently, my Yahoo email account was hacked…for the second time. This annoying situation nearly sent me over the edge the first time it happened. The second time, I was just mad. After the first occurrence, I changed my password in all of my email accounts and made sure I exited out of email frequently instead of leaving it open as I had in the past. In short, I listened to the computer tech guy and it made no difference.
Someone who has more time than me on their hands, found a way to hack my email account again. And once again, I had the pleasure of hearing from several of my friends and colleagues that it had happened. Great. Now I can waste more of my precious time sending out “Sorry, my email has been hacked” emails to my entire distribution list.
As I said in my apology email, “Hack me once, shame on me. Hack me twice, switch to Google email,” which I did. I’ve had my Frittabello business email on Google for nearly four years and I’ve never, let me repeat; never had an issue with it. I’ve had my Yahoo account for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been hacked twice.
Switching over to my new personal Google email has been a journey. First letting everyone know that I have a new email, (I’m still reminding them weeks later. Come on people, let it go!), and then going through all of the emails I was getting in my old Yahoo account. This has been a cathartic exercise. I can’t believe how many email lists I belong to! Everything from Snapfish to Kohl’s to airlines which I don’t even use anymore. I realized why my email box was filled with so much junk. Ok, yes, occasionally, there’d be some useful information in these emails or a treasured coupon, but not enough to keep me subscribed.
I started a rampage of unsubscribing from nearly every single email list. (See my previous post about not reviewing my spam email.) Yes, I even unsubscribed from some of my friend’s newsletters. That was tough. Really tough. But, they and I both know that the only reason I was on their list was because they needed to build their list when they started their businesses. For many, their businesses are now flourishing and they don’t need me anymore.
Now when I turn on my computer in the wee hours of the morning, I open my hack-free Google account and there waiting for me are a handful of emails, that is, only the ones I REALLY want. Ahh…life is good.
We hear so much about the importance of taking the clutter out of our closets, our homes, our garages. We hear this because as painful as it is to do, it really does open up the doors for the right things to come into our lives – whether it is a new job, a new habit, or whatever good we are secretly wishing for. Our email accounts need to be included in that de-cluttering.
Think about how you handle junk mail that comes to your house. You don’t give it a second thought. It’s tossed immediately into the recycle bin. Why then, do we allow our email box to be filled with junk mail that we don’t want? What message does this send?
May I suggest to you that each day as you peruse your email, that you consider unsubscribing from those lists that do not serve you. There’s no need to go on the rampage that I did, just take a little each day. I’ll bet that after a few weeks, if not less, that your email box will have only the emails you want, AND, you will be opening the door for something wonderful to happen to you!
Want even better tips on how to deal with email? Check out my friend, Robin Roscillo’s cool business, Back Office Solutions.