Self-improvement plan round… god knows what at this point. I’m writing this at like 2:47 pm on a random Monday in January 2026, sitting cross-legged on my unmade bed in Faridabad heat (fan doing literally nothing), empty chai glass sweating on the side table, phone buzzing with notifications I’m ignoring. My back hurts. My brain feels like overcooked dal. And yet here I am again trying to write something honest about actually reaching anywhere close to my full potential because the alternative is doom-scrolling and hating myself more.
So yeah. This is my current, very imperfect, probably-doomed-to-partial-failure self-improvement plan for achieving your full potential (or at least mine, which is a much lower bar).
The Stuff I Used to Do That Was Total BS
- 5 AM club → became 11 AM club real quick
- Cold showers every morning → lasted 9 days, now I just shiver thinking about it
- Bullet journal with color coding → pretty for 3 weeks, then became expensive scrap paper
- Reading 50 pages a day → turned into skimming summaries on Blinkist while eating Maggi
I was chasing aesthetic instead of results. Big mistake. Huge.
The only things that kinda survived are Atomic Habits (still the goat, buy it here if you haven’t: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits) and some bits from Deep Work. Everything else got yeeted during my last “life reset” rage-clean.
Transform Your Mornings: My 5am Routine for a Productive Day
5 AM club → sunrise discipline vibes, fresh start energy… lasted about as long as your alarm snooze button patience.
Then very quickly:
11 AM club activated. Coffee in pajamas, existential scrolling.
I Tried Cold Showers for a Year. Here’s What Happened… – CNET
5 Books I Read In One Sitting — Leah’s Little Pleasures
What I’m Actually Doing in 2026 (So Far… 19 Days In)
1. The Pathetic 2-Minute Rule I Can’t Fail
Every single day—no excuses—I have to:
- make my bed (takes 38 seconds)
- drink one full glass of water before touching phone
That’s literally it. Sounds like baby mode. But when you’ve failed at “transform your life in 30 days” seventeen times, baby mode is the only mode that doesn’t make you want to set yourself on fire.
2. Two Hard Nos + One Scary Yes Every Day
I write them on a sticky note first thing: No to:
- Checking LinkedIn before 6 PM (soul vampire)
- Saying yes to random “quick calls” that turn into 90 minutes
Yes to:
- One thing that would make future-me less disappointed (today it was 22 minutes of actual focused work on my side project instead of “research” which is code for YouTube)
Sometimes the yes is tiny. Sometimes it’s terrifying. Both count.
3. Moving My Body Without Making It Punishment
Used to force gym. Hated it. Quit. Felt worse. Repeat.
Now: 15–25 min of whatever feels least horrible
- fast walk while listening to old Hardcore History episodes
- random dance to bad Bollywood remixes in my room
- 100 kettlebell swings while cursing in Hindi
No tracking. No streaks. Just movement so my anxiety doesn’t live rent-free in my ribcage.
4. Sunday Night Rage + Win + Bet Journal
Three bullet points only. Handwritten because typing feels too fake.
Example from yesterday:
- Rage: spent 2 hours comparing my 2025 income to some 24-year-old dropshipper on X. Want to die.
- Win: actually shipped one small update to my project instead of rewriting the readme 400 times
- Bet for this week: no X before lunch. If I lose I owe my cousin 500 rupees maggi party.
It’s ugly. It’s petty. It works better than pretty gratitude journaling ever did.
The Embarrassing Truth Right Now
I still ate half a family pack of Hide & Seek at 1 am two nights ago while watching old Bigg Boss clips. I still open Instagram, see someone’s “morning routine” reel and feel like human garbage for 45 minutes. My room still looks like a evidence scene from a procrastination documentary.
But… the days where I hit my stupid 2-minute rule + one scary yes + some movement? Those days feel… lighter? Not fixed. Not enlightened. Just less suffocating.
That’s all I’ve got so far for a self-improvement plan worth a damn in 2026.
Wrap-Up (Before I Overthink This Post Into Deletion)
If you’re reading this feeling like a walking disappointment — same hat. Pick the lamest, smallest, most embarrassing version of one habit you know would help toward achieving your full potential. Do only that for 14 days. Tell me when you inevitably mess up. Or when you accidentally don’t.
I’m gonna go splash water on my face, finish this chai that’s now cold, and try to do my one scary yes before the day disappears again.
