Taking the scenic route

Beach at Port Erin, Isle of Man

Two weeks.  Fourteen days.  That’s how long I had without phone calls, meetings and email.  

Bliss.  

I seem to have a love-hate relationship with my inbox.  Email is a necessary part of my life, my business, but when you switch off, which I did, you discover that life does go on, and you can focus your energies on something else – like relationships.

I do find it is only when I leave home, leave Canada that is easy to close the email door behind me when I go.   When I stay here, it is much harder to switch off.  It is all too easy to sneak off and check the iPhone, but I highly recommend taking time to switch off and leave the electronics at home.

We had a wonderful time visiting family in the UK and reconnecting with old friends on the Isle of Man.  Those windy days on the island just blew the cobwebs out and nothing beats a walk along the beach surrounded by nature at its best.

I was struck by our different worlds when we drove home from Pearson Airport.  On the one hand on the island, it was sometimes a challenge to have two cars on the same road and the same time, because in reality there was only room for one.  While at Pearson there are multiple lanes, with cars going at a fast pace to reach their destination.

I guess in one situation, it truly is about the journey and the beautiful scenery to be enjoyed, while with the other, the pleasure (hopefully) is on reaching the destination.

As I look at my bulging inbox with over 1,400 emails, I kinda wish I could delay getting back on the fast track.  So learning from my vacation, I am taking the scenic route and taking some detours, before I rev up to go on the multi-lane highway.

Just voting myself off your island

One thousand, three hundred and fifty eight.   

That’s the number of emails I found lurking in my in-box when I got back from vacation.

While the new CASL requirement is a bit of an administrative nightmare in terms of capturing people’s permission and opt-in to your mailing lists, I have enjoyed responding, or more to the point, not responding (in other words choosing not to opt-in) to the numerous mailing lists that I appear to be on.

Many of them I would never, ever, have signed up for in the first place and you do wonder where exactly a website devoted to having better ankles or one around chocolate fountains got my email address?  I guess these spam tactics will be greatly reduced by the new legislation.

The timing is great too, because the size of my inbox clearly indicates my urgent need to unsubscribe, and I have been, with great energy and enthusiasm. It is very empowering to take charge of your inbox.

And to friends and members to whom I have also unsubscribed – nothing personal.  While I am always interested in what you are up to,  I just don’t have the time to read all the newsletters.  I wish you well, but I am in decluttering mode.

Everyone seems to have been in panic-mode to clean up their database, and that is a good thing. But actually you do have a two-year window in which to meet the new legal requirements.  So that’s what I am going to do… take my time and do it properly.