What you told me about your inbox — and three email situations fixed with AI 🐾
The hours added up fast. Three readers, three email headaches, three AI conversations that resolved them. Including the one where email was the wrong channel entirely.
I asked on Monday: how much time do you spend on email in a typical week? The replies came in fast. The range was striking — some of you said an hour, some said two or three, and more than a few said something along the lines of “more than I want to admit.”
What struck me more than the hours was the emotional tone of the replies. Almost everyone described email not just as time-consuming but as exhausting in a particular way — the mental weight of the ones waiting, the guilt of the ones unread. Several of you used the word “dread.” That word stayed with me.
Here are three situations from this community this week — and what happened when AI entered the picture.
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From Patricia, 67, Virginia — the client complaint that had been sitting for five days
“I run a small consulting practice and I received a complaint from a long-term client that felt unfair. I wrote three drafts and deleted all of them because I kept sounding defensive. I used the overthought response prompt — I described the situation, told AI I wanted to acknowledge her concern without conceding fault I didn’t believe I had, and said I absolutely could not sound defensive. The draft it returned was more measured and professional than anything I’d managed on my own. I edited it for about ten minutes. She responded that afternoon and thanked me for how I’d handled it.”
Patricia — “more measured than anything I’d managed on my own” because you were too close to the situation. AI had the distance you couldn’t have. That’s exactly what the prompt is designed to give you.
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From Robert, 71, Minnesota — the HOA newsletter he dreaded writing every month
“I’m the secretary of my neighborhood HOA and I send a newsletter to sixty-eight households every month. I’ve been writing it from scratch every single time for three years. I used the recurring template prompt. In twenty minutes I had a template with a flexible subject line formula, three standing sections with placeholder text, and a closing I actually like. This month’s newsletter took me fifteen minutes instead of an hour and a half.”
Robert — three years of an hour and a half every month. That’s over fifty hours you’ll never get back. But from this month forward, fifteen minutes. Build it once.
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From Susan, 64, Georgia — the email that was making everything worse
“I had a difficult situation with a family member — a misunderstanding about some holiday plans that was escalating in email. Every reply made it worse. I used the right channel prompt and described the email chain. AI told me very directly: ‘This situation has moved beyond what email can resolve. Every exchange in writing is giving both of you time to construct arguments rather than respond naturally. Call her tonight.’ I called her that night. It was resolved in twelve minutes.”
Susan — twelve minutes on the phone versus what might have been weeks of email damage. The right channel decision is the most underrated prompt of the week.
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What email situation is costing you the most right now? Hit reply and describe it — specifically. What kind of email is it, why is it hard, what have you tried? The most instructive situations become Thursday content. 🐾
📅 Catch up on this week:
🎬 Sunday: How I Stopped Letting Email Run My Day
🎬 Tuesday: The Morning Email Audit
Come back Thursday for the full lecture — the complete AI Email Management System. Five components. One workflow. Email under control for good.
— Debbie
AI Puppy Playbook