Sift an inbox with an agent

What you need

• The inbox you actually use. Gmail or Outlook is enough
• Twenty minutes
• A tool that can read mail and, if you want, save drafts

Make three labels

• Reply today
• Waiting
• Skip

Reply today is a person who asked you something. Waiting is a receipt, a newsletter, or a thread you already answered. Skip is noise you will not open.

Write the instruction

Paste this, then edit the examples so they sound like your mail.

Sort each new message into Reply today, Waiting, or Skip. Reply today means a customer, a vendor, or a person who asked a question only I can answer. Waiting means receipts, shipping, and threads where I already sent the last note. Skip means promotions and mail I never open. Do not send, delete, archive, or forward. Do not open attachments. If a message might be a customer, put it in Reply today.

Test on ten messages

Run it on mail you have already read. If two of the ten land in the wrong pile, fix the instruction before you point it at today's inbox.

Drafts, not sends

If the tool can write a draft, let it draft replies only for Reply today, in your voice, and leave them unsent. You send. That one rule prevents the mistake people regret.

What this covers

This sorts mail. It does not book jobs or take payment. When the sort is right, the usual next step is a draft, then a reminder, then a person who builds it into the tools you already pay for.