I have a theory that anything "self-help" doesn't really work.

If self-help really worked, then there would NOT be an industry of books, videos, techniques and websites.

You would read one or two self-help books and voila, you'd be improved. No more need for self-help. The self-help gurus like Tony Robbins or Dr. Phil would only have one book published. One system. The book stores wouldn't have a self-help shelf. And so on.

Of course that's not the case. Robbins and the other self-help gurus have a plethora of books and systems and seminars and followers. That just proves to me that self-help doesn't work.

Besides, we all know what we need to do to improve things right? Deep down we know the answers? I think so. We all know what we should do. Most of us just don't bother doing these things - because they're too hard.

A real self-help program wouldn't be about telling us what we need to do. It would be about making us actually do them, actually complete the tasks. And since we can't be forced to do anything we don't want to, self-help fails.