About two weeks ago, I was going through one of my periodic states of overwhelm…occurring each time I went in to check and respond to email.  This sense of overwhelm would begin from the moment I got up and checked it for the first time.  It would take me several minutes to sort through everything that came in while I slumbered deep…

• Leading expert email….great stuff…don’t have time to read.  Put in a folder so I can look at it later (which never happens).
• TUT Messages from the Universe…short and sweet…always makes me smile.  Read and delete.
• Groupon travel deals…well, I’m not going anywhere soon. Delete.
• Another expert email…more great stuff…don’t have time to read.  Put in a folder so I can look at it later (which still never happens).
• Living Social…no extra money this week.  Delete.
• Another expert….didn’t she send me a similar email yesterday?  Delete.
• Grateful160…what am I grateful for today?  Makes me smile and reflect.
• Another expert….it says “oops” in the header. Must be really important if she had to email me to correct it.   Dang, sucked in again by another marketing gimmick.  Did I just reveal one of the latest secrets out there?  Yep, this allows them to get in front of you twice and make you feel like you have to check it because it might be really important.
• My best friend…wonder what’s up.  Hate having to wait.  Gotta get this cleaned out so I can focus.
• Client needs something…worry I might have missed it in the middle of all this crap.
• Another expert….oh, just another sales pitch, no tips.  Delete.

And so it goes, morning after morning.  I wasn’t even getting weekends off.  Until that fateful day when I started furiously unsubscribing.

Since the bulk of these emails seemed to be coming from “experts” out there, I reminded myself that when we look for a mentor, for help in our business, it is NEVER a good idea to follow many “experts.”  Most of them are either sharing the same thing, maybe using different language, but the same concepts or they are in conflict with each other.  Here’s a few examples…

• One expert told me to work really hard to build up my social media presence and another told me to focus on driving traffic to my site.
• One expert told me that lists make great blog posts because they are easy to write and people love them.  Another told me to never write a list post.  They get stuck in a folder, never to be read again (like I was doing with my inbox), and nothing ever gets implemented because it overwhelms the reader.
• One expert told me I had to be on google+ and my business depended on it.  Another said it wasn’t my target market and there was no need.

So unsubscribe has been my theme and I’ve got it down to a manageable amount and filled with things that feed my soul, updates from my community, notes from loved ones and clients.  I’m proud to say my inbox is filled with meaningful emails each day, focused on what I need and want to spend my time on.

What can you do to simplify your inbox and give yourself more time to spend the way you want?

• Find one, maybe two, experts you really resonate with…that give you ideas you can easily implement…preferably ones who focus on building a foundation for your business and/or your life, rather than the latest trend (these change all the time…it’s almost impossible to keep up).
• Ask yourself how often you benefit from the emails you are receiving.
• How many nuggets have you implemented?
• Is your inbox just busy work?  A way to avoid what you really need to be doing?
• Is it a distraction or a valuable means of communication?

You get to decide but the bottom line is this…it’s time to shit or get off the pot, people. We’ve got work to do.  If it’s not getting you closer to your goals, get rid of it.  Enjoy life…save your time and energy for what’s really important.