How I Answer Email in 17 Minutes a Day - My System

Summary

The video outlines a 5-step system to streamline your email inbox and achieve 'inbox zero'. It advises unsubscribing from unneeded emails, using email solely for collecting inputs, setting up calendar/task apps to handle downstream tasks, enabling email shortcuts like 'auto-advance', and quickly triaging each email (archive/delegate/calendar/task/read later). The goal is to process emails ultra-efficiently, only touch each email once, and reclaim time lost to distracted email checking. This clears both physical and mental space to focus on important tasks.

Takeaways

• 😀 Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails to declutter inbox
• 📝 Strip email to core function of collecting inputs
• 🗄️ Set up downstream productivity systems to process emails
• ⚙️ Streamline email workflow for quick processing
• 🤔 Make quick triage decisions on each email
• 📆 Use calendar app to schedule events from emails
• ✅ Use task manager to capture action items
• 📚 Use notes app to store reference information
• 📥 Use read later app to save articles for future
• 😊 Process email quickly to focus time on important tasks

Q & A

What are the 5 steps outlined to process emails efficiently?

The 5 steps are: 1) Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails; 2) Strip email down to its core function; 3) Set up downstream productivity systems like calendar, task manager, notes app, read later app; 4) Streamline workflow with shortcuts and auto-advance; 5) Make quick triage decisions on each email.

What is the purpose of stripping emails down?

It aims to limit email just to its core function of collecting new inputs rather than trying to use it for everything.

What are the 4 downstream productivity systems suggested?

They are: a calendar app, a task manager, a notes/reference app to store files and info, and a read later app for saving content to consume later.

What is the benefit of auto-advance in email?

It advances you to the next email automatically after archiving/deleting one, helping you stay focused on processing emails rather than getting distracted.

What are some important keyboard shortcuts mentioned?

Compose (c), send (command/ctrl+enter), archive (e), quick entry for task apps (ctrl+space or ctrl+option+space).

How can you efficiently save emails to Evernote?

Add your unique Evernote email address as a contact. Then when viewing an email, hit forward, start typing the Evernote contact, and hit send to save that email in Evernote.

When would you send an email article to Instapaper vs Evernote?

Send to Instapaper if you just want to read it later. Send to Evernote if you've read it and want to reference or save portions long term.

Why insist on only touching emails once?

It encourages you to avoid opening emails unless you have time to process it. This reduces distraction and random checking.

What's the core psychological insight when processing emails?

Insist on only touching emails once you can archive or act on. If you can't process it, avoid opening emails altogether to stay focused.

How is email intended to be used for productivity?

As a collector of inputs and new information rather than an overflowing to-do list or knowlege management system.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Setting up an effective email workflow

The first paragraph outlines 5 steps to set up an efficient email workflow to reach inbox zero: 1) Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails; 2) Use email only for its core function of gathering inputs; 3) Set up calendar, task manager, reference and read later apps to handle email outputs; 4) Streamline the workflow to process emails faster; 5) Make quick triage decisions on how to handle each email.

05:00

👨‍💻 Stripping down Gmail to focus on essentials

The second paragraph walks through implementing step 2 by stripping down Gmail to remove non-essential features like Chat, Priority Inbox categories etc. This simplifies the UI to focus only on Important, Reading and Other basic categories.

10:03

📥 Setting up downstream systems

The third paragraph covers step 3 on setting up calendar, task manager (Things), reference manager (Evernote) and read later (Instapaper) apps. It shows how to leverage automation and keyboard shortcuts to easily save items from email.

15:05

⚡️ Streamlining the email workflow

The fourth paragraph focuses on step 4 to streamline the workflow. It shows settings to enable auto-advance, conversation view, and keyboard shortcuts to process emails much faster with less distraction.

Keywords

💡inbox

The inbox refers to the email inbox, which is overflowing and hard to manage for many people. The video focuses on strategies to organize, streamline and process emails efficiently so the inbox has less clutter. For example, it suggests setting up downstream systems like calendars and task managers so emails don't just pile up without a place to go.

💡unsubscribe

Unsubscribing refers to unsubscribing from email newsletters, notifications and distribution lists that are not essential. This helps declutter the inbox over time by removing unnecessary emails. The script suggests actively searching for 'unsubscribe' to find and remove subscriptions.

💡reading

The 'reading' label or tab is a separate inbox suggested for saving content-heavy emails or articles you may want to read later. This prevents your main inbox from getting filled up with longer emails that require more attention.

💡workflow

Streamlining workflow refers to processing emails seamlessly and efficiently, with as little friction or distractions as possible. This includes using keyboard shortcuts, auto-advance and conversation threads to move swiftly between emails.

💡calendar

The calendar app is one of the four 'downstream systems' suggested to capture tasks and appointments from emails so they don't pile up inbox. Syncing the calendar across devices helps ensure emails don't just disappear once archived.

💡task manager

A task manager app is another downstream system to capture action items from emails as searchable tasks. This prevents losing track of things needing to get done. The video shows how to easily create tasks from emails using keyboard shortcuts.

💡reference app

The reference app, like Evernote, is used to save key information, files and other content extracted from emails for later reference. This gets the content out of the inbox while still being retrievable.

💡read later app

The read later app like Instapaper lets you save emails or articles you want to read later or haven't fully processed yet. This prevents bogging down your main inbox with content needing more attention.

💡triage

Triage refers to making quick decisions about what to do with each email, like archiving, replying, adding a calendar event etc. This rapid sorting prevents emails from lingering too long in the inbox.

💡one touch

One touch refers to the goal of only needing to process each email once, rather than having emails pile up that require further attention. This makes inbox maintenance easier over time.

Highlights

Unsubscribe from every newsletter, notification list and broadcast list that isn't absolutely essential

We have to stop using email for everything and start using it only for what it does better than any other tool collecting new inputs

Set up four essential productivity systems - a calendar, a task manager, a reference app and a read later app

Process emails quickly without feeling there's a ticking bomb in our inbox

For each email decide - archive, reply, add to calendar, create task, store as reference or send to read later app

With the right shortcuts you can process emails in moments

It's easier to maintain your inbox once it's empty than to get there in the first place

The reason your email overflows is you likely don't have anywhere for it to go

Remove every tiny bit of friction from your workflow

Think of email as a high velocity, high speed production line

Use keyboard shortcuts to avoid touching your mouse and stay focused

When you insist you can only touch an email once, you'll check email less

Train your inbox to not show unimportant notifications

Use email only as a collector of inputs, not a to-do system or knowledge management system

Cultivate personal habits around email, note-taking and productivity

Transcripts

i'm gonna share with you the five things

i do with each and every single email

that enters my inbox so that i only ever

have to touch each email once

first the essentials it's actually

easier to maintain your inbox once it's

empty than to get there in the first

place so let's do this simple stuff

unsubscribe from every newsletter

notification list and broadcast list

that isn't absolutely essential second

strip email down to its core function we

have to stop using email for everything

and start using it only for what it does

better than any other tool collecting

new

inputs third we're going to set up your

downstream systems see the reason your

email is overflowing is that you likely

don't have anywhere for it to go instead

all you need to do is set up these four

essential productivity systems a

calendar app that syncs to every device

you need a task manager to capture and

this is the important part link back to

tasks that arrive in your email third

you need a reference app a digital notes

app for storing files and key

information and finally you need a

relator app to save all the things that

you want to read or watch later step

four it's time to streamline your

workflow instead of checking email

before you start work we want to create

a small habit that allows us to process

quickly dozens of emails within 10 or 15

or 20 minutes so then we can get to the

real work without the feeling that

there's a ticking bomb in our inbox step

5 make triage decisions the word triage

just means deciding how to sort things

in seconds for each email decide do i

archive reply add it to my calendar

create a task store it as a reference or

send it to my read it later app there's

only six possible options if you do this

right and consistently you can set this

up to happen with a single keyboard

shortcut in moments

that is it that's the steps of one touch

to inbox zero i'm mark koenig and i am

today's reluctant test subject mark is

our director of content he's pretty good

at email and he's developed his own

system that's not bad but he could do

better so we're going to go through the

five steps and apply them in real time

for you so he can start being even more

effective and spending his time on even

more important activities okay so i've

got my gmail open it's ready for us to

do what we have to the first step is the

basics are there any newsletters or

recurring emails that you can

unsubscribe from probably i could search

my inbox for like the word unsubscribe

that's probably smart unsubscribe so

thomas yeah let's get rid of thomas

frank

see ya

just getting in the spirit of it thomas

no offense no offense i've gotta log in

to unsubscribe what should i do in this

case well you can see how this might

take some time actually especially if

you don't regularly unsubscribe okay you

may need to set aside some time because

you're right they do sometimes make you

jump through hoops you have to you know

open up a webpage and then unsubscribe

you have to log in all these different

things well here's a question too so in

theory alex garcia makes a really

amazing email list what if i don't want

to unsubscribe because that makes my

heart hurt yeah good question in that

case i would create a separate inbox or

a separate tab depending on your email

platform what do i call that i call mine

reading so anything that has articles

lots of text or that i just kind of want

to casually peruse

automatically gets forwarded to the

reading tab let's see so i am going to

filter messages like these

so from alex

create filter and then apply the label

new label

i like this so reading

and apply it to all the matching

conversations

dope so alex just went into the reading

and one day i might even give it a color

i don't need these weekly digests

wow that's actually really satisfying

now it's time to strip email down to its

core function and this depends on each

person but i want you to turn off as

many tools that have made email into

anything more than just a linear inbox

just looking at the screen i see my chat

go to the chat tab and then off

perfect

can you turn off the action categories

so in terms of our like a priority inbox

you want me to basically have just two

categories is that i'm hearing or three

three if you include the reading one

that you created so it's basically

important reading and other okay cool so

important

i'm gonna apparently have that hidden so

i clicked show on that but i would hide

the other ones hide starred hide snooze

okay

hide hide hide scheduled

drops is okay

okay cool so this is what we what it

looks like nice and streamlined nice and

clean okay all right here we go so there

were some other things you can turn off

things like stars okay which is in

settings general tab

okay we've got stars

you can just set it to one star and then

just don't use stars okay cool perfect

um also personal level indicators okay

they're the personal level indicators so

we're gonna kill those

okay next is categories which is also in

the same tab and i would hide all of

them nice

actually i'm starting to feel pretty

good about myself i've done about half

of this so far now we're finally ready

to set up some downstream systems if

emails have nowhere to go there's no

place downstream to flow they're just

going to continue piling up so we want

to create four of them first is a

calendar do you use a digital calendar

yeah we use google calendar so i think i

think this is already set up just fine

unless there's something more to do nope

as long as it exists and you know how to

use it we're good okay great second is a

task manager a digital to-do list i have

this spread across a bunch of different

things so i think i want to just start

trying to do a dedicated to-do app

rather than integrating it with my pkm

it looks like you had things on this

computer and it looks like it's just

fresh right now so i can just experiment

and play with it to use things

effectively there's two little things

you need to turn on in the preferences

okay let's go to the preferences

go to quick entry tab

okay so the first one is already turned

on it says enable shortcut for quick

entry and you can even test that out

right now do control space

whoa

this is a magical feature i remember in

my first professional job in san

francisco my manager his name was

charles and we would be mid conversation

and i would mention something i needed

or wanted from him he would turn to the

side without even looking at his

computer hit control spacebar type it

while maintaining eye contact

hit enter

and it would disappear and i would say

what the heck just happened

i like it

um so you can try out just you know

typing something you have to do and then

hitting save

unsubscribe from the rest of my emails

good and now it appears right there in

your inbox boom so i'm basically all day

long doing that to the point i'm

probably creating five to ten of those

kind of little open loops every day but

there's another one which is the second

box there enable shortcut for quick

entry with autofill and you're gonna

have to download a little plug-in on

their website just hit start download

just takes a second just double-click it

and then open

and there it is so i want to show you

what this does you can open any email

and while the emails open on your screen

hit control option space

now

witness the beauty of this moment what

just happened

the app the things app got the subject

line of the email which is highlighted

there which i always tend to replace but

then in the notes just below it has a

unique link which if you click it

anytime anywhere will open up this email

nice

let's try it

so things

so double click it

and then click the link and there it is

awesome is this just gmail or is it any

web page it's any web page

so this is where an app like evernote

that's been around for a while really

shines they have so many different ways

of getting content into the program for

example every single evernote user has a

customized special email address what i

recommend you do is save that address as

a contact in your contact book such as

the contacts within gmail and save it

with a name like evernote capture or

something like that so as soon as you

get an email you're looking at an email

that you want to save you just hit

forward start typing say evernote it

will autofill you hit return and then

you hit send and it's forwarded directly

into your evernote account go to account

info yeah okay great

for some reason they make you open up

the site and then it's down there at the

bottom so yeah

oh awesome cool yeah

okay

and then i'm going to go back to gmail

i think was the next step and make it a

contact i think you have to go to the um

the grid of dots there okay i think

you're right there it is create a

contact your first friend oh my gosh

i'm so much less lonely thanks evernote

it's just what i'm going to call

evernote capture

there's their email

how do we use this effectively it

sounded like there's some sort of

wizardry beyond just adding them as a

contact yeah so find an email that has

content you want to save uh let's go to

that reading tab perfect

so what you can do since you have

keyboard shortcuts enabled is just hit f

for forward all right start typing

evernote

hit return and then i believe it's

command enter

command enter don't forget the final

step which is to archive it e

there you go so then if i go to evernote

will i see that is it that quick yep

let's take a look i need to do this oh

damn there it is

beautiful oh just and it's got all the

formatting and everything uh so we did

the notes app and the last downstream

system is a read later app i feel like

instapapers worked the best for me so

how do i do i just need to if it's

already set up am i good so the key

feature is just as we did with the notes

app you want to find the special custom

instapaper email address all right so

i'm in instant paper i've got an email

i've gotta find so to do this we figured

out you have to go to instapaper.com

save slash email

which then if you're logged in it will

show you this unique email

okay so now we've got that and we can

set that up here too as a contact maybe

you have a browser tab uh for google

contacts open oh perfect

great contact

insta paper

capture

you know i almost have too many friends

it's trying to become a little bit you

just doubled your friend's circle

so when would i send something to

instapaper versus evernote if that's not

too heavy of a question no good question

so i only like to send things to

evernote that i've read i don't want to

encounter something and have no idea

what it is and never know oh so

sometimes i'll just happen to read an

email or just really catches my

attention and then i decide i want to

say this it goes basically directly into

my second brain yeah other times it's

more like well i want to get to this

later and then it goes to essentially

like the waiting room which is instant

paper so that article actually just now

if i wanted to read it i'd send it to

instapaper if i just wanted to destroy

it to refer to as like a good case study

or copywriting example yeah i would send

it to evernote yeah okay cool is that

our systems is that all of them that's

it nice that wasn't so hard the fourth

step

is to streamline your workflow you

really have to think of email as a high

velocity a high speed production line

knowledge production line

so you might think oh it's not a big

deal you know if i archive an email it

kicks me back to my inbox and then i

just click on the next email right wrong

those extra few seconds combined with

the much higher likelihood of you

getting distracted by probably the

latest newest email at the very top of

the list makes it very dangerous you

really have to remove every tiny bit of

friction from your workflow and that's

really three features turning on auto

advance so when you archive or delete

one email it sends you right into the

next email there's a setting you need to

turn on where when you archive a message

instead of kicking you back to the inbox

you so easily get distracted and taken

off the track then it just takes you to

the very next email oh here it is under

the advanced tab auto advance show the

next conversation after you delete

oh my goodness actually this is going to

be life-changing so thomas

is going to get picked on a lot in this

video i can tell already so e

nice oh my goodness this is amazing

there's just a handful of important

shortcuts that will really save you a

tremendous amount of time okay here we

go

keyboard shortcuts on

there you go

i'm just going to test out my e button

oh my gosh that feels so good the

shortcuts that i use are compose which

is c so compose is a new message yeah

cool and then uh to thiago

hey thanks for teaching me about things

uh and then command enter yep

nice okay

and third it's turning on conversation

threads

so it looks like in settings if we go

down here okay conversation view on and

the reason that's important is if you

process emails in the way that i'm

suggesting you don't want to find an

earlier email reply to it but there's

been a more recent reply to that thread

and so you're basically that's what this

is that's what this is so if someone

else replies to a group thread it will

kick that message back up to the very

top of your list with all the replies in

the same thread oh we gotta save this

always click save changes

that was all the preparation now it's

just practicing okay making these these

decisions as decisively and quickly as

possible you want to just start at the

oldest message okay

and remember you can archive a reply or

send it to one of the four downstream

systems so this was julia being a boss

in a very literal fashion and i'm just

on here for reference i don't think

there's anything for me to do here other

than admire julia so should i just

archive it yeah okay e

done click up notifications it's

interesting these notifications from

other apps i can't actually use click up

as my own task manager there's always

this friction of going there yeah and so

i would do control option spacebar oh

yeah yeah yeah yeah and if you can

identify what the action i would write

it in there but if you can't i would

just say review onboarding task

that's actually really good don't use

your mouse just do enter oh

you should ideally be able to get

through like 20 messages without

touching your mouth i'm going to put

that out of my hand arms reach to punish

myself okay cool so i'm on my keyboard

now so now i can click e right yep okay

that's pretty satisfying actually do

have a signed vendor contract for claire

i'm just going to let julia handle this

good nice deal with it will man and be

careful yeah that guy's a shady

character this is probably fishing uh so

i don't care about this this is uh

probably something i should unsubscribe

from yeah actually i would do that yeah

just got a new referral this is the kind

of thing i try to just eradicate as soon

as possible like something i truly just

do not need to know

i'm gonna create a task to unsubscribe

once i get to a computer victoria

interesting this is another kind of

thing that i would train it to not put

in your important inbox um

like you can receive this but you you

basically never want to see it unless

you're looking for it interesting

so uh i could filter out drive shares

and that would be fine probably yeah

okay so

let's do that

so there's a there's an interesting

psychological psychological thing that

happens here

which is when you insist that you can

only touch an email once

you'll actually start checking email

less in situations where you can't

archive emails yeah if you only have

like 30 seconds or a minute you just

won't even bother going there because

you don't want to see something that you

then have to remember to come back and

archive later interesting so what i'm

noticing too is i'm just automatically

archiving anything or turning it into a

to-do basically yeah so for my work

email there actually isn't a lot of like

reading material that naturally comes to

my inbox yeah whereas if we were doing

this for my personal email there would

be a lot more that i'd be like let me

send that insta paper well thank you

you're very welcome thanks for being

open to it

using email how it's supposed to be used

as a collector of inputs

not a to do system not a knowledge

management system is just the very first

step to creating a system that i call

your second brain if you'd like to learn

more about how to cultivate personal

habits around email around note-taking

and productivity in general subscribe to

the channel first and check out building

a second brain our book and online

course thanks for watching and now i'm

going to go use the time i reclaimed

from mindlessly checking my email and

enjoy a wonderful day outside

[Music]

you