When does self improvement become self help?

Pretty early on, it seems. I'll illustrate how the idea of Inbox Zero is really about self respect. Suppose while working at your desk you immediately read every single email you receive and do your best to respond to each one as quickly as possible. You do this all day, every day. Many in the productivity field would argue that you need to think about how you're managing your inbox. I argue that you need to think about how you're managing your self image. Inbox Zero proponents suggest scheduling times during the day to check email while keeping the email application closed at all other times. Great! You can focus on the work that requires your full attention and you have a plan to respond to the people who depend on you to forward the team's objectives. What you've really done is drawn a line in the sand on two fronts-with yourself and with others. You've said "How I use my time is for me to decide. What I'm doing now deserves my full attention. If someone needs an answer from me, they'll have to wait." Now, that sounds more like something from a post on assertiveness in Psychology Today than one on productivity in Forbes. Maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise, given that our work is such an important part of our identity. If we are going to advise each other on productive matters, we're quickly going to get into the nitty gritty of discipline and self respect, which go much deeper than how you deal with email. Does any of this matter? More to come on this topic as I think about productivity some more. Of course, I might just wait another two years and talk about something entirely different.