Here’s what I do - warning: MS Outlook on Windows XP-centric life. ** Turn off the sound of email coming in (except for boss) ** Turn off the new mail icon ** Work from the tasks window rather than the Inbox. ** copious use of rules: 1) if I’m cc’d it goes into CCfile folder 2) newsletters/e-zines go into Newsletters folder 3) auto-delete list continues to grow 4) auto-copy messages from boss to folder 5) auto-copy specific subject tags to folder ** process inbox and emails requiring more than 2min get added as a task in Outlook.

Learning from my boss the power of brevity (still not perfect).