The average knowledge worker spends over two hours a day on email. That's not reading and thinking — it's sorting, skimming, drafting, and chasing. AI can cut that down significantly, but only if you're intentional about how you use it. Here's a practical approach that actually sticks.
Sorting and prioritization
The first job is figuring out what actually needs your attention. Paste your unread inbox summary into an AI chat and ask it to sort by urgency, identify what needs a response from you specifically, and flag anything with a deadline. This works especially well at the start of your day before you've opened a single email — you get a map before you enter the territory.
Drafting replies at scale
AI's best email use case isn't writing a single perfect message — it's handling the 15 routine messages that have piled up while you were in meetings. Give AI the context (who's asking, what they need, what your answer is) and let it draft. You review and send. Most people spend 80% of their email time on correspondence that requires 20% of their judgment. Flip that ratio.
Prep from threads
Before a meeting or call that originated in email, paste the thread and ask for a summary: key decisions made, open questions, who committed to what. This is faster than re-reading the thread and you show up to conversations with a clearer head.
The caveat
AI doesn't know your relationships. It doesn't know that a terse reply to your biggest client reads differently than a terse reply to a vendor. Always review AI-drafted responses for tone, especially with people who matter. The draft is a starting point, not a finished product — and the 30 seconds you spend editing is still much faster than writing from scratch.
Start with one workflow: end-of-day summary or morning triage. Once that becomes habit, layer in drafting. Don't try to overhaul everything at once.