You can't just read a book and magically expect to change.
Okay, let's back track there for a second. I don't mean self-help, I mean life-advice books.
You can't just expect to read a life-advice book and change.
I've read about of eight of them, and they did change me in that they gave me eight more little voices suggesting things to do. Ultimately though, my own personal accumulation of experiences is what propels me forward.
And each of those eight, they changed me significantly while I was reading them. While I was still trucking through the 48 Laws of Power, for example, I was a little Machiavelli for about a month. After I turned the last page, I eventually returned back to philip dhingra equillibrum. I wasn't quite back home though--many changes were temporary, some permanent.
If you really want to change yourself, my theory is that you also have to have your own plan for shifting your character in addition to assisstance from books or coaches or whatever.
Sure, your environment and what people teach you shapes who you become, but so much is the result of your own personal conviction.
