Never Check Email in the Morning

"Change the rhythm of the workday by starting out with your own drumbeat. The most dramatic, effective way to boost your productivity is to completely avoid e-mail for the first hour of the day. Intead, devote that first hour every day to your most critical task. When you devote your first hour to concentrated work—a dash—the day starts with you in charge of it rather than the other way around. It's a bold statement to the world (and yourself) that you can take control, pull away from the frenetic pace, and create the time for quiet work when you need it."

—Julie Morgenstern, Never Check Email in the Morning, and other Unexpected Strategies for Making your Work Life Work (Fireside, 2005, page 97).