✅ Today's Checklist:

• Make Gmail sort itself

• Rebrand without losing your edge

• Stop doing tasks, start solving problems

🤔 Riddle me this: I record every mile you don't move. What am I? (Find the answer on the bottom).

🗓 Mark Your Calendars: CREATE Conference is happening on Oct 11–14th (Salt Lake City). Women-led. AI packed. Grab your ticket here. (Joanna will be there, too—come say hi!)

QUICK LINKS

🥕 10 organic produce delivery boxes to make fresh food more convenient.

🌱 POV: You found Japanese walking, and the pounds started dropping fast.

🧠 Smarter ways to manage your workflow.

💵 Before the Fed cuts interest rates, do these 3 things to protect your finances.

PRODUCTIVITY

How to Automatically Sort and Label Your Gmail Inbox

Email overload is real, and manually sorting through hundreds of messages daily isn't sustainable. The fix? Automations that sort, label, and clear your inbox for you.

Here's how to create email rules that can help with the inbox bloat:

1. Start with Gmail's Built-In Features

Gmail's filtering system is more powerful than most people realize. To create a filter, search for emails using specific criteria (sender, subject line, keywords), then click the filter icon and select "Create filter." You can automatically apply labels, skip the inbox, mark as read, or forward messages.

Common setups include:

• Routing newsletters to a "Reading" label.

• Sending receipts to "Purchases."

• Shunt social notifications into "Social."

Tip: Keep filters specific so they don't over-capture.

2. Create Aliases for Easy Sorting

In Gmail, add a plus sign before the @ (like yourname+shopping@gmail.com). It still hits your inbox but creates a unique identifier.

• Use +work for professional sign-ups.

• Use +shopping for retailers.

Then filter those aliases into their own labels.

3. Train Gmail's Priority Inbox

Priority Inbox ranks mail based on your behavior. Spend a few weeks marking items as important/not important to "teach" Gmail. Set up sections like:

• Important + Unread (urgent stuff)

• Starred (your to-do items)

• Everything else (the noise)

4. Use Advanced Search Operators

Gmail operators supercharge filters. Examples:

• from:boss@company.com → only your boss

• has:attachment → emails with files

• older_than:30d → clears old clutter

• Combine: from:news.com OR from:promo.com → multiple senders in one rule

5. Add Time-Based Rules

Go beyond "who" and filter by "when." Here's how:

• Auto-archive promos older than 7 days.

• Auto-accept invites from trusted senders.

• Clear stale threads that don't need follow-up.

6. Organize with Nested Labels

Build hierarchies like Work/Projects or Finance/Receipts. Nested labels sync across devices and make bulk archiving painless.

7. Supercharge With Third-Party Tools

• Unroll.Me: bundle newsletters into one daily digest.

• SaneBox: AI that moves low-priority mail automatically.

• Zapier: turn emails into tasks, calendar events, or Slack pings.

8. Keep It Clean

Automation is a system, not a one-and-done. Once a month:

• Kill outdated filters.

• Tweak rules that misfire.

• Audit labels that just collect dust (and unsubscribe instead).

👉 Quick start tip: Set up 3 filters today (Newsletters, Receipts, Social). Let Gmail prove it can handle the grunt work, then expand from there.

ENERGY & PERFORMANCE

Brain Fog Is Real. Here's Your Way Out.

Your brain is your biggest asset. But when fatigue hits, even simple decisions feel like uphill battles.

Here's the good news: research shows creatine doesn't just help athletes—it sharpens focus, memory, and reasoning too. In a clinical Alzheimer's study, just 8 weeks of supplementation noticeably improved brain performance.

That's huge when you're the one making high-stakes calls, running teams, and carrying the mental load at home.

Momentous Creatine is made with Creapure®—99.9% pure, NSF Certified for Sport®—so you know it's safe, clean, and effective. One daily scoop can help you trade brain fog for clarity and protect against burnout before it spirals.

👉 Get your clarity back with Momentous Creatine.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE

Rebranding & How to Step Into What's Next

A reader recently shared: "I'm stepping into a new coaching arena and working on rebranding myself." —Alisa

Congratulations on making a shift to align yourself and your services as coach with something that truly inspires you! Switching coaching niches is pretty common, but there are a few actions I highly recommend (and a couple of mistakes that I see other coaches make a ton!). It's a major boss move to pivot when you realize it's needed.

For context, I've been a professional coach for nearly ten years. I started by working as a life coach for millennial women, pivoting into nonprofit coaching for a minute before finding my sweet spot: partnering with women leaders in 9-5 roles who needed help branding themselves in a way that set them apart.

Clearly, I'm pretty passionate about the rebranding process.

Here's what I'd do if I were in your shoes:

1. Clarify your why: Don't think about why you want to coach within this niche, but about the why that will make your coaching essential for your clients. For example, how will your unique makeup of experiences, interests and education help this particular client type achieve their goals?

2. Start telling the story in a way that makes people feel like you get them. You want them to trust you with their coaching, but that means trusting you as a person first. Let them see more of your story and talk to them about RSE: relevant shared experiences that both of you have.

3. Talk about what you're building and let them get the inside scoop. Don't waste time focusing on why you're shifting, or what you're leaving behind. Instead, start giving them a BTS look at what you're building for them to generate excitement.

These are direct reflections of the process I use with corporate leaders who need to reposition themselves: asses your unique value proposition, tell a story that sets you up for the next opportunity, and invite others on your journey.

Now for a few things I don't recommend:

1. Don't spend forever on this transition. I know it feels major, and it is! But the longer you draw it out, the more perfectionism will take over. And you want to be on the other side of the branding bridge, so build that bridge as quickly as you can!

2. The kiss of death in the online professional services world is being too general. You probably know this, but your potential coaching clients aren't sure if they need package blue or package yellow that you're selling. Try to get as specific as you can with promised results, and build them a process that makes everything feel easy from beginning to end.

Congrats again on your big moves! I'm excited to see where it takes you.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Are Your Productivity Tools Actually Slowing You Down?

You're working hard, but somehow still behind. Your productivity stack might be the real problem:

• Asana for tasks

• Google Docs for notes

• Slack for team chat

• Trello for brainstorming

...and 12 tabs later, you're still just trying to manage one project.

These tools are working against you.

Meet ClickUp: Where Work Actually Works

🧠 All-in-One Workspace

Tasks, docs, chat, goals, timelines—all in one place. No more app-switching whiplash.

🤖 Smart Automations

Set it and forget it. Assign tasks, track progress, and send updates automatically.

📊 Dashboards With Real Answers

See what's on track, what's overdue, and what needs your attention without the tab-hopping.

👉 Start for free with ClickUp and make your tools work for you.

SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT

Be Known for Bringing Solutions to the Table

"In 2014, my manager encouraged me to look for problems others overlook and solve them, specifically to 'find a hole and fill it.' Taking initiative to find solutions doesn't just help the organization; it helps each of us develop new skills, builds confidence, and expands our influence. Problem solvers earn trust, gain recognition, and create opportunities for growth. Trade 'doing your job' for 'bringing solutions'. You'll grow personally while making a real difference."

⭐️ Share your best career advice here so we can share it in a future newsletter.

STAFF PICKS

Stuff We're Loving This Week

💰 Talk to a financial advisor who listens, gives straight answers, and keeps planning simple.

🔪 The sleek, toxin-free cutting board everyone's obsessed with in 2025 (use code ASSIST10 for 10% off).

🧼 Make messy spreadsheets a thing of the past with Miss Excel's free Data Cleaning + VBA class.

🔘 Protect your Oura Ring in style with this sleek cover.

JUST FOR FUN

JOB LISTINGS

Your Next Gig = One Click Away

• Addison Group is hiring for an Administrative Assistant (Chicago, IL).

• Hirewell is hiring for an Executive Assistant (Wheeling, IL).

• Plug is hiring for a Project Manager (Santa Monica, CA).

• Robert Half is hiring for a Project Manager (Islip, NY).

• The Connor Group is hiring for an Administrative Assistant (Miamisburg, OH).

⭐ View more jobs here >

SPILL THE TEA

Take Our Poll

Have more feedback? 💌 Reply to this email and tell us.

⭐️ Answer to the riddle.

👉 See all of September's OG Tuesday Riddles.

✨ P.S. Want more inspiration and positivity to kick off your week? Sign up for our Motivational Monday texts (U.S. only).

👀 Want to see if your company is a good fit for our 250k+ ambitious readers? Join our Sponsor Waitlist here.

UPDATE YOUR PREFERENCES

Only Get What You Want

Here's how to update your preferences in just a few quick steps:

1. Click the link below and on the "Update Your Preferences" page, click the "Email me a link" button.

2. Open the email with the subject line "The Assist Subscribers: Update Profile" and click the link inside.

3. Choose the weekly email newsletters you'd like to receive from us (Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat).

4. Click "Update Preferences" to save your changes—and you're all set!

👉 Update my subscriber preferences here.