I recently picked up a copy of "Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better" by Gina Trapani and quickly figured out three ways to optimize my email.

1) Color Code Email Sent Directly To You

If you click on Tools > Organize in Outlook, you'll notice the following pane:

Click on the Turn On button next to "Messages sent only to me now appear Blue".
Now all the email directly emailed to you will be highlighted.

2) Create a "Message Sent Directly To You" Rule

In this rule, it will look for messages not addressed to me, however the messages with my name (JL or Jean-Luc) will remain in the inbox.

3) Create a Facebook/Twitter Rule

I find myself getting a lot of "noise" email from Twitter and Facebook - I want to know what's going on (new friends adding me, messages, ect) but want to avoid jumping into the inbox everytime a message pops up. I've added the major Facebook aliases (groupmaster+mdvvmuv_@facebookmail.com, confirm+mdvvmuv_@facebookmail.com, notification+mdvvmuv_@facebookmail.com, ect).

Everything looks good so far. If you have a handy tip to optimize your own email, post it in the comments!