For me, trying to commit to big, sweeping, dramatic, permanent changes on a dime in my life has always resulted in failure and been a mistake. Whereas when I make a decision to make some small incremental progress/task today, and worry about re-committing tomorrow, tomorrow, I've had success.
Otherwise, I buckle under the burden of my own commitment and in failing, come to hate myself more and sabotage myself more.
After more or less discovering this on my own I found St. Alphonsus Liguori discussing this in his book Preparation for Death. In his case he's discussing the limited issue of the folly of making overly-sweeping spiritual commitments, but I find it true in the abstract.
* Also: I found that, there's a complicated problem where introspection can be immensely valuable, but can also turn into a selfish impulse, that sitting around thinking of yourself all day can produce no good fruit for yourself, and that getting out and doing charity can get you off that track. I was very depressed once and started volunteering at a soup kitchen every day. It didn't transform me into a happy person but it got my too-inwardly-focused thoughts out of a rut.
