consumed by e-mail?

"You know you're an e-mail addict when … you check your e-mail. It says 'No new messages.' So you check it again." So goes one of those oft-circulated Internet jokes. But it's not so funny if you're one of the afflicted.

Now, there's new hope for e-mail junkies. Marsha Egan, an e-mail productivity expert and CEO of Egan Email Solutions, has developed a 12-step program for battling e-mail addiction.

"E-mail addiction is an unseen productivity blocker," says Egan. "While email has allowed all of us to communicate faster and spread incredible amounts of information, it also adds an immense amount of work to most people's already hectic lives. Now, we have become a nation so reliant on e-mail that if our Internet connection shuts down for an hour, we feel lost, unable to accomplish anything."

So how do you go about kicking the habit? The first step, of course, is to admit that you have a problem. As for what to do next, Egan offers the following tips:

• Set up rules for e-mail use: Let all of your clients and co-workers know how you prefer to use e-mail, and then practice what you preach.
• Turn off automatic send and receive: It may seem hard, but learning to check your e-mail only at designated intervals will minimize distraction and productivity losses.
• Regain control of e-mail by reconsidering its function: E-mails shouldn't trump the rest of your work; they should be just another factor in your day. Learn to manage, sort, and prioritize your email messages—and most importantly, to delete them.

For more on the 12-step E-ddiction Detox program, visit www.eganemailsolutions.com.