Two easy tips for reducing email distraction

There are a number of tricks people use to minimise distraction by email such as turning off email alert sounds, but here are two tips which I’ve been using lately which are even lower tech than that.
I work from a home office, so I don’t get to go home and leave my computer behind at night or on the weekends – it’s always there, even when I am doing non-computer related things. I found that as a result I was wandering over and checking my email when I should have been focusing on reading a book or doing other things around the house. Very distracting.
My solution? I put the computer to sleep! Glancing at a turned off computer screen is, for some reason, much less tempting. If your computer must be on 24/7 because you’re downloading or something like that, easy – just turn off your monitor. Works for me!