Get your life back!

I think it’s only appropriate to talk about newsletter subscriptions management in August when most of us enjoy a little bit time off work and start to appreciate the silence in our inboxes (even though I work in social media I do feel this month is a bit quieter then spring, fall or winter months). Unroll.me is a simple tool helping its users in mapping out and managing newsletter subscriptions for gmail, Google apps and Yahoo email accounts. (More here).

Why is it so important?

Well, people subscribe to many newsletters and updates for numerous reasons, of course. The majority of my readers work or happen to be interested in social media or non-profit sector so we tend to subscribe to many industry related newsletters. I used to think that managing a large chunk of incoming emails is a simple task because I happened to be blessed with a customer service job in the past. Responding to 350 emails each day is not a big deal, logging their content and completing team management tasks on the top of that somehow trains you to love the noise. Noise is good as it helps you find little treasures, I dare to say that it is noise that’s the best thing about the web. However, you need to know how to handle the noise and if you cannot do that you might suffer, a lot!

Recently I started to fall in love.

With minimalism.

With emptiness.

With silence.

With clean.

It’s strange. I did not live the phase of information overload but I did get infected with the minimalist trend probably since I started using Apple devices – I give it to Steve, he was a genius. So is his team even today. So is Google. So is IKEA. And all other companies introducing simple but functional solutions. Their products and services affect the way we live and I would like to think they do so in a good way.

I see how many of my overloaded colleagues, who did not have the opportunity to experience or were not trained to manage a higher volume of data, can feel almost physical need to switch off and de-clutter their lives. Why? Because moving away from clutter leaves space for thinking, feeling and enjoying what we have. Nothing more. And that little thing we have SHOULD be enough.

It is exactly when we leave space for less that we start to appreciate and grow what we have and choose carefully what we ask for. I like black, white and all their shades. I appreciate, digest, take in and celebrate colours more than ever before!

So I have decided to declutter my inbox of many useful newsletters to ensure that I actively go out there and keep an eye on all the amazing projects I have so far expected to update me. This way, I think, I am participating a little bit more. With a clear head;)