Why I Mention Email Me 27 Times in My Book
Author Steve Kahle explains why he mentions Email Me 27 times in his book Leadership Recall — and how it powers his Capture, Catalog, Recall learning system.
ProductivitySteve Kahle is the author of Leadership Recall and creator of the Learning Operating System — a framework for capturing, cataloging, and recalling what you learn.
If you've read my book Leadership Recall, you may have noticed something.
I mention the app Email Me 27 times.
That wasn't an accident.
It reflects something I've become deeply convinced of after years of studying learning, leadership, and personal knowledge management.
Most leaders don't have an information problem.
They have a retention problem.
Every week, they read books, listen to podcasts, attend meetings, have meaningful conversations, and generate valuable ideas.
Then they lose most of them.
Psychologists call this the Forgetting Curve. Research shows we forget the majority of what we learn unless we intentionally reinforce it.
The Solution: A Learning Operating System
That's why I built what I call a Learning Operating System.
Its purpose is simple:
Capture. Catalog. Recall.
Every insight that matters moves through those three stages.
- Capture means preserving valuable ideas before they disappear.
- Catalog means organizing them so they remain useful months or years later.
- Recall means bringing the right insight back precisely when it matters, whether you're in a meeting, speaking with a client, leading your team, or making an important decision.
Why Capture Comes First
Capture is where everything begins.
If you don't capture the insight, there's nothing to catalog.
If there's nothing cataloged, there's nothing to recall.
Capture isn't the finish line. It's the beginning of a Learning Operating System.
That's why Email Me has become one of the most important tools I use every day. It has earned permanent placement on my phone's home screen, in the bottom-right corner where my most frequently used apps live. I probably recommend it more than any other productivity app I use. Almost everyone I recommend it to downloads it immediately, falls in love with it, and eventually recommends it to someone else.
For anyone wondering how much I actually use Email Me, here's my home screen. It occupies the bottom-right corner of my dock, reserved for the apps I use constantly throughout the day.
Email Me Is The Capture Tool
Email Me is my primary capture tool.
Whether I'm listening to a podcast, an audiobook, attending a conference, reading a book, or simply have an idea while on the go, Email Me gives me a frictionless way to capture the insight before it disappears. Those captured insights become the raw material for everything that follows in my Learning Operating System.
It helps ensure that great ideas don't disappear before I have the opportunity to develop them further.
But it's important to understand something.
Capture alone isn't enough.
Capturing ideas without a system eventually becomes another pile of digital clutter.
The real advantage comes from combining great capture with an intentional process for cataloging and recalling what you've learned.
The Bigger Picture
That's exactly why I wrote Leadership Recall.
The book walks through the complete Learning Operating System I use to consistently retain and apply what I learn.
It has now earned more than 30 five-star reviews from leaders across a wide range of industries because the challenge is universal.
In the age of AI, information is no longer scarce.
The competitive advantage belongs to leaders who can consistently capture, retain, and apply what they learn faster than everyone else.
If that sounds like the kind of leader you want to become, I'd encourage you to read the reviews and see whether Leadership Recall resonates with you.
You can download a no-cost PDF or audio version at LeadershipRecall.com.
Remember what others forget.
Command the room.
— Steve Kahle
Share on Facebook
|
Share on X