Why does reading so many "self help" or "personal growth" books not seem to work ? Why Change Is So Hard (and What Really Works)

Why does reading so many "self help" or "personal growth" books not seem to work ?
Why Change Is So Hard (and What Really Works)

Have you ever walked into any bookstore today and seen those huge shelves full of self-help and personal growth books? You’ll find entire sections filled with books on personal growth, motivation, and self-help. There’s no shortage of wisdom in print or online — countless authors and speakers tell us how to think better, live better, and become better. 

But here’s the thing...
You can read one after another, spend years filling your mind with motivation — and still, nothing really changes. Why is it that we can spend a lifetime reading about transformation and still struggle to transform?

Why?

Because of something I call the inertia of change.

Remember physics class?
Inertia means “resistance to motion.”
An object stays still until a force moves it.
Well, our minds and bodies work the same way.

• The mind  may understand what needs to be done.

• The body says, “Not today.”  The body and habits built over the years often refuse to follow.

• And old habits quietly pull us back to the same routine.

That resistance — that invisible pull — is why change feels so hard.

So how do we break it?

Not by reading more.
Not by waiting for the next burst of inspiration.

Breaking through this inertia requires more than insight or inspiration. 

It calls for discipline and repetition — small, deliberate actions repeated regularly, even when motivation fades. Change does not happen in a single moment of realization; it unfolds gradually through steady practice.

Books and talks can light the spark. But only practice keeps the flame alive.

Change isn’t about knowing more — it’s about doing what we already know, one steady step at a time.