Here we are, nearly halfway into the first month of 2017. Some of us have new year's resolutions, some of us don't. Those of us that do may or may not have made progress towards these resolutions.

Perhaps the best approach to feeling like we are actually accomplishing a new goal in 2017 is to set goals that are achievable. Not a lofty goal that could take months or an entire year, but a goal that can be accomplished fairly quickly and easily with a little bit of focus. A goal that, when achieved, can provide immediate benefits.

For me, that achievable goal is to reduce the size of my email inbox. 

Over the course of the year, I buy stuff online, sign up for services and sometimes sign up for email newsletters. While I try to pay attention to un-check the box asking me to sign up for a newsletter, in my haste I sometimes don't do so.

As a result, the daily email inbox grows and grows and grows. Sometimes to 100, 150 or more emails a day.

My daily routine includes deleting emails, usually by quickly clicking a box next to the email, then clicking the delete button. It doesn't take a lot of time to do, but it is a distraction, especially when it continues to happen all day.

If your email inbox is an annoyance to you, consider doing the following:

1. Instead of deleting unwanted emails daily, consider letting them accumulate in your inbox for a week.
2. Then take an hour of focused time to open up each email and decide if this is an email you want to receive on a regular basis.
3. Click the Unsubscribe button. Sometimes that one click unsubscribes you. Other times it leads you to a page that asks "are you sure?" Of course you're sure! Other pages ask multiple questions; would you like a weekly or monthly digest, would you like to receive these emails but not those, etc. Look, decide and take action!
4. A "digest" option is sometimes offered as a way to receive individual messages consolidated into one email. The Nextdoor neighborhood social network website offers a "Daily Digest" feature as one example that can certainly take a load off your inbox.
5. Do you get reminders from Facebook, like birthday reminders? That's something else you can put an end to if it is causing too much clutter by simply clicking the link at the bottom of the email to opt out.

Now one thing you don't want to do is click a link in an email from an unknown sender, otherwise known as Spam. You may be telling a spammer that yes, this email is active, so send me more spam. You don't want that. Gmail does a good job of identifying spam and placing it in the spam folder but there's also an icon you can click for true spam from unknown senders in your inbox.

Now that you have freed up all that space in your inbox and have created hours and hours of extra time, be sure to sign up for the weekly Conejo Valley Guide Updates Email for highlights of things to do and see in and around Ventura County. You have plenty of room now to enjoy these! :) SIGN UP FOR CVG UPDATES VIA EMAIL

One more aside, there also some free online tools out there that do the unsubscribing on your behalf. While I have not personally used them, they may be of interest: Unroll.me  getunsubscriber.com