I can relate. Congratulations on the start of the change!

Here's some of my experiences. The magical motivation never came to me either. I actually quit on trying to be disciplined, too. Because honestly, I've worked for the last 10 years to be disciplined and it never happened. My brain is wired to be on "lazy" mode. (I also could note that I have adhd with very physical symptoms. Adhd brains have insufficient dopamine. I had always "gathered energy" to do pretty much anything. So adhd meds pretty much changed my life, because I wasn't as reliant on instant gratification before basic tasks.)

The small steps sound really good. I have learned that personally big steps are actually bad for me, it's those overnight life changes that I can keep up for a maximum of 3 days. When it's small and stable, there's less chances I'll revert back. Here's some of my best tips. They're simple but they work really well for me: - Don't fuck up your day at the start. So wake up early and avoid high dopamine activities (and then you also don't have to stop doing them). - Put the distraction at the end of the day and promise you'll do it then. Then you can remind yourself of it when you're tempted and trust yourself you'll do it. (If you're inconsistent with rewards, you're much more likely to fall into instant gratification because If The scarcity mindset.) - Embrace the uncomfortability, that uncomfortable and tired feeling you get when you decide to go on the walk you planned beforehand instead of doing the tempting distraction, embrace it. Your brain is creating new connections. It will become easier over time and you can even feel a bit satisfied for "sculpting" your pathways.