That's what finally got me to empty my e-mail inboxes 3 weeks ago and they are still empty today! It was about
processing the inbox. Which is far not close to completing the items in there. I have transferred the items that need action to be taken to my GTD system. "So what?" you might ask, "now you have the same tasks at some other place but you haven't moved forward". But that's not true. Now I have them in my trusted system so my head and inboxes are empty and I can focus on whatever I do with no distractions.
Why not go empty your inboxes now? Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. Remember, the goal is to get
everything out of there, not to finish anything.
This has also helped me to finally establish the habit of answering e-mails in 2 minutes after they arrive.
If this all hasn't convinced you, allow yourself 20 minutes to listen to
Getting Things Done with Email.