R Yisrael Salanter
“Man has the ability to have mastery over his nature.…Through Mussar study and force of habit, a person can transform himself.”


What this means is that you cannot say about a bad habit: this is who I am, it is a shame and that's it". Here you have a true statement stating that any bad trait can be mastered and transformed into something good.

anonymous_14.1 wrote on 29 Aug 2017 08:57:

It's a shame when one can't break bad habits, no?

The introduction to the Big Book expresses the idea that in order to become fully sober, truthfully, one must have a complete psychic change.
I am now trying something that works pretty well. Whenever I have a bad thought I honestly tell myself, "I have no idea what you're talking about". But it has to be honest. 

 Yehonatan

Its true, but the big book also points three times to the appendix at the end which explains the educational variety of spiritual awakening which leads to the psychic change.
What this means is that there is no one way to a psychic change, there are many.
But the steps are a 'scientific' route to get there if you work them with everything you have.
Meaning that if you follow the 'simple' instructions in the book, you too can get to a psychic change through proper working of the steps.
So it doesn't just leave it open and say this is what you need now work it out.
It lays it out step by step allowing you to get to a psychic change through methodical working of the steps.
Which include trusting Hashem, 'Cleaning up house', and helping others.