Voluntary Brainwashing

I've recently noticed that when I want to force myself to do  something difficult, like forming a new habit, changing diet, learn a  new skill, etc I can  "trick" my motivation by reading a book (or  rather, a cluster of books) on that topic.

Not just any book. The "boring" books that deconstruct a topic and  make you understand how everything fits together. It appears as if when I  learn something in depth, I'm much more motivated to take action  afterwards.

The interesting thing is that this works despite the fact that I'm perfectly aware that I played a trick on myself and the behavioural change tend to last a very long time.

This is not to say that my behaviour changes after reading one book.  On the contrary, it usually takes a few books (a cluster) that argue  different points of view.

Also, this doesn't work with ANY book. This "voluntary brainwashing"  effect tends to work only with "boring" books; the ones that deconstruct  a topic and make you understand how everything fits together from a high-level perspective. It appears as if when I learn something in depth, I'm much more motivated to take action afterwards.

I don't think I'm unique in this. I believe most  people subconsciously understand this mechanism which is why they have  such a hard time buying books that argue the opposite of what they  believe.