For anyone wanting to effect change in their lives, look to research that can be backed up by scientific method. I dislike the self-help industry immensely. One example of good, scientifically backed advice is the work of Richard Wiseman: http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/ In particular, I've found his book 59 Seconds quite useful. Similarly, I learned about Wiseman's work from the Less Wrong community, which is equally useful: http://lesswrong.com/