The Year I Almost Changed My Life

🧠 The “Perfect Plan” That Could’ve Changed Everything

I almost became a morning jogger.

I developed a solid morning routine — wake up at 5.30am, wear my running gear, and run on the treadmill for half an hour while listening to either music or a podcast. That was a great multitasking plan for productivity and self-growth!

Slow running every day for half an hour meant I could have completed 2.5 km per day, 17.5 km per week, 75 km per month, and 860 km in a year. That would’ve been a huge achievement.

And listening to a podcast about self-growth for 30 minutes a day would equal 7,680 minutes or 128 hours a year — the same as completing two weeks of training hours. Fantastic, right?

I almost lost 10kg too.

I planned to eat two pieces of bread in the morning with coffee (without sugar — replaced with stevia), have a healthy, portioned lunch using the Quarter-Quarter-Half method (a quarter carbs, a quarter protein like meat, fish, or beans, and half a plate of fruits and vegetables), and have dinner before 7pm — with smaller portions, of course.

By cutting around 300 calories a day, I could have reduced 9,000 calories per month, or 108,000 calories per year — that’s more than 10 kg of body fat (around 14 kg, based on 7,700 calories in 1 kg of fat).

I almost read 20 books last year too.

After office hours — arriving home, having dinner, and praying — I would take one hour to read from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Within that period, I could’ve completed 15–20 pages a day, 450–600 pages a month, which equals 1.5–2 books a month.

That was a really exciting strategy and plan I had developed. I was looking forward to achieving those results as soon as possible.

The only challenge?
To stay consistent for the whole year — something I hadn’t fully thought through.

😩 When “Almost” Fell Apart

After two weeks of waking up early every morning — something I had never done before — my body started showing signs of fatigue.

On the 13th day, when the alarm sounded, my eyes couldn’t open, and my body felt heavy.
I turned off the alarm and told myself,

“Let’s rest for another 10 minutes. Today I’ll just do 20 minutes of running.”

The next thing I remember, it was already 6.30am, and I had to rush for work.
I thought, maybe I can replace the jogging session after work.

But that day, my boss asked me to do an ad-hoc preparation for an upcoming audit by the authority. I had to put aside my core job and focus on the urgent request.

I skipped lunch that day, and by the time my stomach growled, it was already 4pm. I was starving.

So I stopped by a fast food restaurant — had a big burger and fries, of course with a soft drink. I ordered a large meal to “cover” for my missed lunch.

At that moment, I didn’t even realize that I had already exceeded 1,000 calories from my daily planned intake.

When I arrived home, I was exhausted — and the sugar rush from the soft drink earlier made me even more sluggish.

Jogging? Impossible.
Reading? Not today.
I told myself, “I’ll skip just for today.”

But work kept coming — the next day, the next week, the next month — and by the end of the year, it never stopped.

📉 The Result I Didn’t Expect

By the end of that year:
🏃‍♂️ I only jogged less than 100 km, compared to 860 km planned.
📚 I only finished 1.5 books, vs 20 books planned.
⚖️ I gained 3 kg instead of losing 10.

Every single day, I thought I was just taking a short break.
Until years passed… and I realized:
I’m still the same weight (maybe more),
still in the same job,
still telling the same story — about what I’m about to do.

💬 “Almost” is progress dressed up as procrastination. Don’t let it fool you.

🔄 How I Finally Flipped the Situation

This is where a different method came in — and it worked really well for me.

The goal this time wasn’t as fancy as before, but it was real.

Rather than focusing on speed or quick success like the rabbit in its race with the turtle, I focused like the turtle — taking small steps, one at a time, and staying consistent instead.

I stopped fixing a strict time for jogging. Instead, I just planned for a 10-minute walk every day. On the days I felt extremely exhausted, I would walk only for 5 minutes — just to remind myself that I am a jogger. I am a consistent person.

I integrated my podcast and audiobook time from my jogging routine into my daily drive to work. During the one-hour commute, I might get around 15 minutes of meaningful information — and that’s still far better than nothing.

I’m still struggling with calorie intake, but at least now I try to stay within my target daily calories. That way, I can be sure I won’t gain more weight, and my other exercises will compound on that to reduce it further. I take less sugar and fatty food, and while it’s not perfect, I know it’s making me healthier.

When it comes to reading, I now aim for just one page a day — the minimum. Sometimes I hit an hour. But on days when I’m exhausted, I still push myself to read that one single page.

And that’s enough. Because one page still means I didn’t break the chain.

💡 Takeaway

Big dreams fail when you chase them too fast.
Small steps win when you repeat them long enough.

Stop trying to be the rabbit.
Start being the turtle.

Because “almost” doesn’t count — movement does.

The Year I Almost Changed My Life