I’ve been in a toxic relationship for years — with my inbox. You know the feeling: that constant pull to check notifications, the anxiety of an unread count climbing higher, the Sunday night dread of Monday morning’s email avalanche. But I’m here to tell you that I’ve finally broken free, and the liberation has been nothing short of transformative.

For over a decade, SaneBox has been my faithful companion in this battle. It’s like having a personal bouncer for your inbox — muscling away the riffraff so only the VIPs get through. The AI learns which emails deserve your immediate attention and which can wait their turn, shuffling the noise into folders like SaneLater (genius naming, by the way) and my personal favorite, SaneBlackHole — where promotional emails go to die a quiet death.

This digital triage alone saved me countless hours of decision fatigue. You know that mental drain from constantly deciding “Is this important? Can this wait? Should I reply now?” SaneBox eliminated most of that, and I thought I’d reached email nirvana.

But then — plot twist! — I discovered Cora from Every, and my relationship with email fundamentally changed.

Cora doesn’t just filter my emails; it transforms them into something entirely new. Imagine receiving a beautifully crafted brief twice daily that summarizes everything needing your attention. It’s like having a personal executive assistant who reads all your emails, identifies what matters, and presents it to you in a scannable story with actionable items highlighted right at the top. The truly urgent stuff still comes through immediately (because some fires do need immediate extinguishing), but everything else arrives in these delightful batched summaries.

What’s truly game-changing is how Cora drafts responses in my voice. Those repetitive emails we all get? “Can we schedule a meeting?” “Could you send that document again?” “Are you available next Tuesday?” Cora drafts perfect replies that sound exactly like me — casual where I’m casual, formal where I’m formal. I still review everything before it goes out (I’m not quite ready to hand over the keys completely), but the time saved is substantial.

The combination of these tools has created something greater than the sum of its parts. SaneBox provides the initial filtering muscle, while Cora adds the intelligence layer that transforms how I interact with what remains. It’s like upgrading from a paper map to a GPS, and then suddenly getting a self-driving car.

The results have been profound in ways I didn’t anticipate. Yes, I expected to spend less time in my inbox — that was the goal, after all. But what I didn’t expect was how this would cascade into other areas of my life:

My ability to focus on deep work has skyrocketed. Without the constant ping-check-reply cycle, I can sink into complex problems for hours at a time. That mental state where ideas flow and connections form? I’m there more often now.

My creativity has surged. There’s something about not having your brain constantly interrupted that allows the subconscious to work its magic. I’ve had more breakthrough ideas in the past few months than in the previous year.

My presence in meetings has improved dramatically. I’m no longer that person sneaking glances at their phone under the table (we all see you doing that, by the way). I’m fully engaged, listening actively, contributing meaningfully.

Perhaps most surprisingly, my relationships have benefited. When I’m not mentally composing emails during dinner or feeling the phantom vibration of notifications during conversations, I’m simply more present with the people I care about.

This isn’t just about productivity — though that’s certainly improved. It’s about reclaiming agency over my attention and, by extension, my life. My inbox no longer dictates my day — I do. And that shift in power has been the ultimate upgrade.

If you’re still trapped in the email hamster wheel, I urge you to consider a similar approach. The tools themselves matter less than the philosophy: your attention is your most precious resource, and your inbox is probably your biggest attention thief. It’s time to take back what’s yours.

After all, none of us will look back from our deathbeds and think, “I wish I’d spent more time managing my email.” We’ll wish we’d spent more time on what truly matters — and getting there starts with taming the digital beast that’s eating our days alive.