You can start to catch these things earlier and earlier with practice. With the recommended reading you begin to add context too, so no only do you get bigger and bigger glimpses of how mechanical you are, how little you know and how much you believe about yourself and the world is a lie - but with the added context of the psychological understanding, you can be more accepting/understanding of these things and not turn them into a stick to beat yourself with.
Quite a lot of people have been taught that 'self discipline' equates to beating yourself with a mental stick and putting yourself down, so this can be a big step too.