My Lack of Empathy and Absorption

I am a selfish person. Everyone to some degree is, but sometimes I feel as if I am more than others. I tend to think of everything for myself rather than focusing on what other people want. I do want to help out my friends as much as I can, but I find it rather hard to do so when I have my own projects to get done. Why don't I think about other people? They have just as much as me if not more, and yet I cannot give up my own time for them while they do it for me?

The real reason is that I do not understand the meaning of one important word: sacrifice. I know what the word means and the construction of the word in a practical manner, but do I really? I can sacrifice myself for others, but not at my own costs. It seems that most of the time when I do, it is because I start feeling guilty or that it becomes a necessity for me to save my own face. I guess it all really boils down to pride. I definitely have much of that, and I can't seem to shake off the excess of it.

It becomes rather difficult to change a person who has been brought up with the same old habits for the past two decades, and yet I might find the will in me to change. If I criticize myself for my bad habits, would it really make a difference?