[dkersten]

I'll add to your last point with:

Email never interrupts me. I have all audible and popup notifications turned off and generally check if I have new email only when it suits me. I make this super fast and simple by checking if my email icon on my phone has a little red number. Takes two seconds. If I have email, I can read them, if I don't, great.

Like you, I use filters and labels to keep my inbox clean. Automated emails and mailing lists get filtered away right away (and I check them manually when I feel like it). My inbox itself then takes a few seconds to clean leaving only stuff I have to act on. I use the Spark mail client which is very similar to google inbox in that I can quickly deal wia h messages or "snooze" those I can't deal with right now.

This way, I have zero unread messages in my inbox most of the time. (And I get OCD when I see other peopl ea phones or screenshots with 30k unread messages... wtf is wrong with people!)