How do I figure out what emails actually matter?

You can read the inbox fine. The hard part is knowing which messages matter and which to act on, and that leaves you second-guessing. This is not a reading problem; it is a judgment you have not yet built. Judgment comes later than skill, and only from seeing how things play out.\nStart with a plain question for each message: does this need me, and does it need me now? Most emails fail one of those tests. Someone copied you for cover, or the thing resolves itself, or it can wait. The messages that truly matter usually have a real consequence attached, a person waiting, a decision blocked, a deadline moving. Learn to feel for that consequence and the noise falls away.\nWhen you are unsure, do not freeze. Ask someone who knows the work, or simply act and watch what happens. Over time you will remember which kinds of messages mattered and which did not, and that memory becomes the instinct you are missing now. You are not slow at this. You are new to it, and it is exactly the kind of thing that gets easier with a few months of paying attention.