Filters and labels in Gmail.

Any email I send to myself is automatically marked as read... then based on what’s in the subject line a label is automatically applied. For example, if I have an idea for a design I send an email with a subject of “Design - blah blah” and whatever text in the body. The filter I set up in Gmail looks for the word “Design” in the subject, marks it as read so I don’t get notified of a new email, and then applies the Design label. From there, I usually start an email thread on that subject line as I have more ideas.