This is my e-mail client, as of right now. No unread messages, no messages in the Inbox, and only 3 flagged messages (none urgent).

I read about the GTD (Getting Things Done) system several months ago, and while I didn't subscribe to the whole system, I thought the philosophy of immediately responding to all quick messages, storing long-term messages, and using other messages as a to-do system was excellent. Since then, however, my admiration of this system has turned into a phobia of messages of all forms.

I quite often get comments saying I responded to e-mails very quickly or performed some task or another (often client demands or FeedDigest support requests) in a curiously short amount of time.. and this is the whole reason. I absolutely hate having mails to respond to, because, in my mind, mails == someone else waiting for me. I'm the same with voicemails or any other sort of communication that means I suddenly have something waiting to do.

I have, however, come up with a solution to my message phobia.. I just convert messages into calendar entries. Rather than try to do everything as immediately as possible, I respond saying what date/time I'll do it, and then it goes on the calendar. That way I don't overload myself, but I don't have to sit watching messages stagnate in my e-mail program.