This has been my experience too. No amount of self-help books, videos or workshops really help. They may actually end-up hurting if you go overboard with investing time, mindshare and money.

The only way I've been able to improve is:

> The only thing that works is to start the work. I wish there were something else I could tell you, but that's it. Just open the book, open the editor, open the document, whatever.

If you fail, try again.