The default setting of most email applications is to notify you on new incoming mails immediately. These notifications often lead to an interruption of your current ask since you might check the detailed contents of the arriving mail. It is better to deactivate the instant notification option, so that get less interrupted and work more effectively.
It also avoids that your computer is connected to a projector in a meeting room whilst you are making a presentation and the entire audience can the see the notification of an incoming mail including sender and subject information. This can be an issue regarding confidentiality.
It might also be a good idea to change the standard view from your Outlook to the calendar instead of your mail. Once you had a look on the list of new mails it might be difficult to resist the temptation to start checking the mails.
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