I've found that the main reason why so many of these articles and books don't have an effect on my life is that I read them and then forget to apply what they s

I've found that the main reason why so many of these articles and books don't have an effect on my life is that I read them and then forget to apply what they suggest. Sure, it's possible that many of them suggest approaches to 'happiness' that do not apply to me, but I really don't know because I never took the time to actually spend, say, 30 days committing to their advice. And my impression is that this seems to be the case for most people who bother with 'self-improvement'. (That said, I'm not disagreeing with you. Finding what makes specifically you happy is important.)