The Best Gmail Inbox System We’ve Ever Seen

by Sarabeth

Meet Kelly Stocker, a Type A personality who constantly wrestles with a procrastinator’s brain.

Kelly works in web content and consulting. She started a productivity side hustle when she realized that everyone — from startups to big corporations — struggles with digital overwhelm: the feeling that there is never enough time to get the big wins.

She helped the entire AppSumo team achieve ✨zen Gmail inbox magic,✨ so we were super excited to sit down and share her productivity brilliance with the world.

Ok but seriously, Kelly’s gonna teach you how to:

  • Turn your Gmail into multiple inboxes
  • Become far less reactive to email
  • Easily achieve “inbox zero” every day

Your 5 o’clock will look something like this:

zen Gmail inbox magic

Here are Kelly’s 6 lessons for hacking your work life (including tools, tutorials, and strategies):

Lesson #1: Your brain is not to be trusted


Most of us don’t move toward our most significant goals automatically because our brains crave immediate task execution.

“One of our biggest things we need to work on is governing our monkey mind. It’s the way to hit big goals. So the first thing we have to do is (surprise!) identify your big goals: for the product, for yourself, for your business.”

Kelly’s advice:

Lesson #2: Your brain loves a good “ping!”


“We are designed to be distracted. We are designed to pay attention to distractions. And so I think of them as ‘discracktions’… When I researched distractions, I found that the average distraction time is 26 minutes.”

We’re not just guarding against outside distractions… we’re guarding against our desire to be distracted.

Kelly’s talking points:

  • Set the scene: prep a non-distracting work environment
  • Ditch the distractions: de-tab your life
  • Get a digital parent / use built-in tools
  • Reduce IRL time sucks

Lesson #3: Mono-tasking = doing more in less time


“But I think what we’ve figured out [instead of multi-tasking] is doing multiple iterations of single-tasking. Focusing on one task at a time increases the quality of work that you do.”

Kelly’s talking points:

  • Focus up, soldier: rebuilding your focus
  • The costs of switching: time, mental lag, and EOD exhaustion
  • Try: Pomodoro Technique

Lesson #4: The power of R(emind) R(outine) R(eward)


“So if you’ve read Atomic Habits or you’ve ever heard of the habit loop, these are essentially how you create a habit. If you have good habits, you get more stuff done.”

The reminder is the trigger that initiates the desired action, your routine is the actual behavior you perform, and the reward is the reinforcement, or benefit, from doing the behavior.

Kelly’s talking points:

  • Creating good habit loops with the R + R + R method
  • Decisions are the enemy of routine: streamline some daily choices

Lesson #5: You are the boss of you


“I feel like people are victims of their calendars. ‘Oh, I gotta do what my calendar says!’ Well, as it turns out, you set your own calendar. So yes, in theory, you have to do what your calendar says, but maybe it’s time to take a step back and look at it and be conscious about it.”

Kelly’s talking points:

  • Stop before agreeing, start canceling meetings, and save sacred time on your calendar for big ideas and projects
  • Calendar strategy and tools
  • Your inbox is not a to-do list… it’s a communication tool

Lesson #6: The robots are here to help


  • All of Kelly’s recommended apps, sites, books, and podcasts

Workshop your gmail inbox to perfection

Kelly’s freaking magic email system using GTD, stars, and multiple inboxes. Here’s the step-by-step tutorial:


“Based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done, it’s essentially a way to hack your inbox using native tools in Gmail and setting things into multiple inboxes.”

Chris: “Everyone get ready. This is the crème de la crème that you’ve all been waiting for!”

Follow this link to connect with Kelly and request the slide deck with all her links: Gimme That Stuff!

Okay, if you haven’t implemented Kelly’s Gmail system yet, what are you doing? Go back up to the workshop video and MAKE IT HAPPEN. It will change your life.

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What did you find valuable from Kelly’s webinar? Let us know below.