The Harsh Realization of Self-Improvement Journey
People can do many things in the name of self-improvement. There are no boundaries to starting something new.
A person can start:
- Reading books every day
- Writing their thoughts in a journal
- Doing physical exercise at home or at the gym
- Learning a new skill to generate income
- Establishing a new hobby
- Practicing meditation to calm the mind
In the beginning phase, everything seems easy. People feel highly enthusiastic, highly motivated, and dopamine hits its peak. It is natural human behavior to feel satisfied when instant results appear within a few days of starting something new.
This happy phase can last 15, 20, or 30 days. It varies from person to person. Then reality hits.
People start experiencing these issues:
- Dopamine levels stabilize
- Enthusiasm begins to fade
- Progress becomes less visible
- Demotivation slowly grows
- Too many uncomfortable situations appear
- The journey becomes lonely and boring as hell
- There is no one to push them forward
- Mental warfare begins before starting, and voilà—procrastination arises
When these issues appear, people start asking questions or making statements like:
- What is the point of doing this if there are no results?
- Am I doing it the right way?
- Why is it not working the way I planned?
- Am I wasting my time?
- Can I ever get the best result?
- All motivational gurus are scammers—they scammed my time, money, or energy
- Oh, damn it, I should quit or give up
Then people start disappearing—like magic.
This magic begins by skipping one day. One day becomes two. Two days turn into a week. A week becomes weeks. Weeks become months. And one day, we realize it’s over. All our New Year, monthly, or personal resolutions end silently.
This disappearing magic has happened to me many times. The same magic has happened to you and to countless others. A simple question then arises in our minds:
“Why did we give up?”
We gave up because none of us were taught this harsh reality of self-improvement. We weren’t less talented, but we gave up when our progress went into sleep mode.
In self-improvement, you can never guarantee the timeline of success. You have to walk the journey alone and endure every difficulty. You have to stay focused. You must be consistent and disciplined enough to show the middle finger to your lowest motivational days.
After reading all these conditions, it feels almost impossible. It sounds like life is asking you to climb Everest when you’ve never even climbed a small hill. You ask yourself again, “Is it possible? Can anyone actually achieve this?”
The honest answer is uncomfortable: very few people can. Not because they were full of intelligence, but because they weren’t ready to leave when no one is watching, when progress goes silent, and when discipline becomes a daily negotiation.
Have I reached there yet?
No. I am not on that Hall of Fame list yet. Now I know why I failed every time. I wasn’t ready to pay the price of showing up daily, no matter what. And it makes me believe that one day, my name will be there.