EMAIL: It's Not Sexy But This Is FUN!

[@jerry-ic8id]

Carl is now my fav Productivity guru. Why? Cuz he is straight to point and actually knows pain points of a working professional (cause he is professional too unlike many other “Productivity Gurus”). He’s workflow are simple and effective. I like that he doesn’t showcase multiple apps n gadgets confusing subscribers rather he sticks to one or two apps/ workflows that just work. Before him I had 3 4 app/tools for each domain (like task, note talking, calendar, etc) now I have one for each and you have no idea how much that improved my life. Thank you very much Mr. Carl Pullein 🙏🏼😁

[@Carl_Pullein]

Awww thank you, Jerry. Glad you like this approach.

[@AZ-cg2ez]

It’s refreshing to see a professional gentleman providing actually useful tips. Although my email management is different from yours, I appreciate how simple and effective your tips are. All the best, Carl!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you. Really happy to hear you like the approach in these videos.

[@NicoleTeacher]

You've always been one of my favorite advisors. Pragmatic, sensible, clear and direct. Concepts are applicable and explained well.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Aww thank you, Nicole.

[@neo7779]

Great and timely email. I get so many emails a day it is overwhelming. I have let the practice of moving emails to action this day and leaving them unread in my inbox. This makes the overwhelm worse. Thanks for another great video.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Always good to go back to basics every once in a while.

[@pcktbrst69]

Great topic! My favorite email hacks are to have things automatically get sent to specific folders. If I need to move it then I can, but at least things are already sorted to a degree and it seems less chaotic. My next is that I’m only on a handful of email lists I actually want to see and even with those I do my best to keep those at a minimum.

[@sallybathgate2775]

Great tips! The dragging email hack works for Apple reminders as well.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, yes. I forgot to mention that one. Thank you for the reminder, Sally.

[@karlvestklev]

I’ve been using this system now for a couple of months (you have an older video explain this in a similar way) and it has totally changed my feelings towards that pesky mail app. So satisfying having a clean inbox ❤️

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha thank you, Karl. Glad this process is working for you.

[@Fabian.Vergara]

Simple but very efficient, thank you very much. Your videos are incredible.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Fabian.

[@sallywicks8724]

Interesting.... i will need to absorb this.... 😃

[@Progressanna]

This was very useful. But I think I’d rather put those emails that are tasks like in the mentioned example straight into my calendar. 🤔 I’ve been doing as u said and put it into my task manager but turns out I never „find“ the time to execute before the last minute. So instead I think during my „email processing“ time I’ll just put the task (+email) straight into my calendar to force a do date for me of sorts. Hope this solves my problem 😅

[@JimBerridge]

Great video Carl. I agree we need to decouple processing email vs actually doing the work. Thanks for pointing out the need to be nuanced about what emails we do assign as project tasks via Todoist and the need to be clear with an action verb based title. I need to be sharper about including the email link in the Todoist task and still being ok with archiving the source email! Cheers.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Jim. It does take time but with practice is soon becomes habit.

[@Janeway2807]

Thank you so much for this video, I have been looking for a way to make dealing with my emails easier and so I do not forget anything. Thank You

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome, Jane.

[@erniehayden]

Nicely done, Carl! With the end of the year coming and cleaning up my "systems," I like your emphasis on how to clean things up in email, take action on "real work," and continue to get organized. Wishing you well, sir! Ernie Hayden

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Ernie. Hope all is well your end.

[@benedictjazz]

Great video again, Carl! Do you think the task manager, -where you move the emials you have to deal with, - could be the Apple Reminder also? Instead of a To-doist, that could work well too, no?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Yes, that's correct. (It also works between Outlook and Microsoft To Do)

[@clashback80]

Hi Carl! Do you think implementing a bit of the COD system here could help? For instance, adding a 'This week' or "Next week' folder for email to respond to this week or next week? Or is that over complicating things? I think I know the answer but I'm curious on your thoughts😉 Cheers!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Email Is one of those things that you don't have control over the input. This means if you try to triage your response time you're going to find yourself with huge lists of emails to respond to. Better to just deal with it on a first in, first out basis.

[@johngough4626]

Since I’ve created two main folder (action today and archive), life is much easier😊. It’s also working for me: Changing subject on specific email i’am archiving to search it faster in future, creating additional folder for a strategic project and using shortcuts with the keyboard to send email to one of that two main folders.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ooh tht's a great idea, John. Change the subject name for easier search. 🙂

[@Maizeak]

Not related to the vid but do you have any videos on wording your tasks like being sure to use verbs ad things like that?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Here you go... kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXPKfGp-hcqbZq8si=JoarL6ZbTBf0pLSy

[@enicode]

Will def try it out! What do you do if in meanwhile you get a follow up with more details or corrections to the task or someone on the thread comes along? Do you create a new task and remove the old? Do you remove the initial mail link and add new? Or keep both?

[@Carl_Pullein]

If a task is big enough to involve multiple people or have many moving parts, it'll be tracked in my notes. It sounds like what you're describing is a project.

[@sergiorodrigues6694]

Do you utilize any kind of previously prepared e-mails in order to answer some recurring questions?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I do use TextExpander for my regular emails--the ones I send out. But each question I get asked is nuanced and creating a "standard" answer would appear fake, so I don't do it.

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

I’ve tried the inbox zero method but didn’t work with me. When I start reading emails most of them take seconds to reply which is easier to do than put them in an action inbox and get back to them..etc. Also some subjects require immediate action so I need to jump to them and cannot triage from top to bottom way. When too many emails in an inbox and I have an hour to check I won’t have Enough time to go over them all and that my issue. Not to forget that emotions play role, where I get distracted heavily from negative emails received. Hate doing emails and always looking at different ways to get done with them easily.

[@sookythehousecat]

What do you do with the emails in Action Today once you’ve responded to them?

[@Carl_Pullein]

They are archived. Everything is searchable, so nothing's lost.

[@aussiegruber86]

I would prefer to go back to letters with a stamp.

[@bartradv]

It’s too complicated and requires additional software outside the Apple ecosystem. The most effective way is to select the email subject or header and share it with Apple Reminders.

[@booksnphilosophy]

My biggest problem is emails that are invoices and receipts, or sometimes discussion threads - such as with a landlord - that need to be retained. I've gradually been going through and trying to save attachments or print-as-pdf but some I worry that if they're not searchable in an email inbox, the information may be lost.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You could try this workflow: Invoice in ➔ save to Action This Day ➔ when clearing your actionable emails, save as PDF and save to a Receipts/Invoices folder. ➔ Archive original email.

[@booksnphilosophy]

@Carl_Pullein that sounds good, thank you! I guess archiving still clears the inbox, I don't necessarily have to delete.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@booksnphilosophy That's so true. My "rules" for archiving Vs deleting is if I think I might need it again, I'll archive. If not I'll delete.

[@Maizeak]

You don’t use any categories? I find it so messy having all different emails mixed together and so have categories correlating to projects although that brings its own organisational problems

[@Carl_Pullein]

Not anymore. The search function is so powerful I don't need to do that anymore. I can also link an email directly to my project notes if I need to reference it. The Archive doesn't have to be clean. It's meant to be messy 🙂

[@Maizeak]

@@Carl_Pullein so do you make a project task or task manager task for each email that requires action ?

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@Maizeak Ooh no. All actionable email goes into my Action This Day folder. Only emails that contain tasks which will take more than a hour to complete go into the task manager.

[@Maizeak]

@@Carl_Pulleinare your emails all really short term? how doing you deal with emails that are important and to dos but don't need to be actioned right now

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@Maizeak I'd say my email are about the same as everyone else. However, no email will go unreplied--that would be rude and unprofessional. Instead, I acknowledge the email and then give the sender an estimated time for when I will finish the work asked for. Then it goes into my task management system and is processed from there.