Shad Helmstetter always felt there was something missing from what is sometimes called the “science of success”.

Helmstetter had studied the self-help and success literature for years. As a well-known speaker, he had given plenty of motivational seminars.

But he wondered: “If there are so many keys to success, why are they so hard to use?” Why do more motivational books have to be written, if each one promises the answer?

People go to motivational seminars and get inspired and pumped up, ready to change the world. A week later they appear to have dropped back to their old ways of thinking and behaving.

The event has no real lasting impact because it involves a type of motivation that is: 1) external and 2) temporary. Helmstetter’s PhD in motivational psychology taught him that, “it is physiologically impossible for momentary external motivation to create permanent change”.

Nearly all self-improvement methods depend on strong will and self-discipline to work. But most us are simply overcome by the obstacles of daily living to stick to such programs.

Helmstetter was excited when he discovered a method that he knew could change his life for the better: spending just 20 minutes a night writing and reviewing his goals.

The only problem was, amid an exhausting schedule of working full time, raising a family and doing evening study, even 20 minutes was hard to find.

So many great ideas for self-change work in theory but are difficult in practice. Any genuinely revolutionary method would have to be easy and quick, something people could do while doing other daily activities.

In What To Say When You Talk To Your Self, Helmstetter presented what he believed was the missing link in success. Showing how your attitudes and beliefs create your world, it’s been a best seller since the mid-1980s. Let’s explore further.