The Polymath Project

For some reason I am repulsive towards 'self-help' books.
I always have a feeling that you just cannot sum up all the things to be "happy" or "content" or whatever in one book.
I have seen numerous people who read inspirational quotes/books but the act the opposite way.
I feel it is very difficult to change how the internals of a person work, reading a book will definitely push you in the right direction, motivate you, elate you, change your mental models[0]. But to bring those changes in your actual life, seems quite difficult and time consuming. Can your "mental model" be modified just by reading 1-2 books ?

I am interested to know, how often when you face a situation, you stop and think, oh I read this and that in a book, I should act this way instead of my natural intuition to do the other way.

Given the limited experience with life I have and the fact that I haven't read any of the self-help books, I am willing to change my perspective regarding this. Will give a shot to '12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.'

[0] => "It’s Okay to “Forget” What You Read" https://medium.com/the-polymath-project/its-okay-to-forget-what-you-read-f4ef1c34cc01

Also not mentioned: He was a gay man, which he never seemingly really came to terms with after coming out to his father at 18 and then being unwillingly outed to his mother who declared him an "abomination", and it clearly fucked him up. He remained celibate for decades and never directly addressed the issue until his memoir written/released when he had terminal cancer. It's hard not to think of his interest in weightlifting as related to his internal conflicts over gayness and masculinity.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/31/the-tragic-story-of-oliver-sackss-celibacy-and-homosexuality/?utm_term=.2258d109e9d8

And not mentioned: He also had some serious lasting physical problems from weightlifting, as did other of his competitive weightlifting friends:

https://medium.com/the-polymath-project/oliver-sacks-on-how-our-hobbies-can-kill-us-2342f95c08

I am an avid weightlifter, I think its really great and overall healthy, but the linked article paints a rosy picture of something more complicated for Sacks.