If you are serious about self help, you will have to develop a management approach to your personal development that you can turn to in times of need. Self help isnt just about an occasional book or a brief visit to a group. Self help is about ongoing practices and long term devotion to certain principles that will eventually transform you into a better person. For this you will need a long term management policy or procedure to help you mark your progress and outline your plan of action.
A management procedure often involves organizers, calendars, journals etc. These can all be used together to plan out your goals and practical efforts as you set out to improve yourself. Typically, people who are setting out to improve themselves dont have a very good relationship with themselves and cant always trust themselves to follow through on their goals. Just how bad are you at following through? This will be the first question you need to answer before you can make a serious plan for yourself. In fact, answering the question of how well you can trust yourself to follow through may be the central issue of your whole spiritual path.
Lets look at an example. You have a goal...