I tracked 5 habits for 30 days: what changed and what failed

I thought 30 days would be enough to “fix” me

I picked 5 habits because I wanted a real experiment, not one of those fake “new year, new me” moments that lasts 4 days.

The habits were simple:

• 10,000 steps
• 2 liters of water
• 10 minutes of reading
• no phone for the first 30 minutes after waking up
• 5 minutes of journaling before bed

I tracked everything for 30 straight days. Not perfectly, but honestly enough to see a pattern. And the pattern was brutal: some habits made my life noticeably better, and some just annoyed me into failure.

Why I picked these 5 habits

I didn’t choose habits that sounded impressive. I chose ones I actually thought would matter.

Steps because I sit too much.
Water because I somehow always forget until my head hurts.
Reading because my brain has turned into a short-form content goblin.
No phone in the morning because that little swipe ritual was poisoning my day before it started.
Journaling because my thoughts were doing that annoying spinning-around-in-circles thing at night.

So yeah, nothing fancy. Just basic habits that either make you feel better or quietly wreck your day if you ignore them.

What changed after 30 days

The biggest surprise? I didn’t become a new person. I just got slightly less chaotic. Which, honestly, is better.

My energy improved first. Not in a dramatic “I now wake up at 5 a.m. glowing” way. More like I stopped crashing so hard in the afternoon.

My mood got more stable too. That sounds vague, but I noticed I was less snappy, less foggy, and less weirdly anxious for no reason. Tracking made me see that a couple small habits affected my entire day more than I expected.

And the biggest win was this: I started trusting myself more. Every day I kept even 3 out of 5 habits, I felt like I was actually keeping a promise to myself.

That part matters more than people admit.

Habit 1: 10,000 steps — worked, but only with cheating

This one was the easiest to understand and the hardest to hit consistently.

I hit 10,000 steps on 19 out of 30 days. Not bad, but not amazing either. What made it work was not “motivation.” It was stacking walks onto existing things.

I walked while taking calls.
I walked after lunch.
I walked when I felt stuck.
And on bad days, I did a 15-minute loop around the block just to avoid losing the streak.

What failed? Waiting until evening and hoping I’d magically feel like going outside. That never worked.

Actionable fix:

• Break your steps into 3 chunks: morning, afternoon, evening
• Use a minimum rule: 3,000 steps before noon
• Don’t chase perfection — chase consistency

If I had to pick one habit that gave me the biggest “I feel like a functioning adult” boost, this was it.

Habit 2: 2 liters of water — surprisingly annoying

I thought this one would be easy. It wasn’t.

I only hit 2 liters on 14 of 30 days, which was honestly embarrassing. But I learned something important: thirst is a terrible system. By the time I felt thirsty, I was already behind.

The days I succeeded had one thing in common — I made water visible. Bottle on desk. Glass next to bed. Refills tied to meals.

The days I failed? I relied on memory. Disaster.

Also, I realized I don’t like drinking huge amounts at once. Chugging water felt like a chore, not a habit.

Actionable fix:

• Keep a 1-liter bottle and fill it twice
• Drink 250 ml after waking up
• Drink 250 ml before each meal
• Don’t aim to “catch up” at night

This habit didn’t transform my life, but it did help with headaches and random hunger. That alone makes it worth keeping.

Habit 3: 10 minutes of reading — this one actually stuck

This was the most underrated habit of the five.

I read on 24 out of 30 days, and I genuinely looked forward to it by week 2. The trick was tiny: I stopped trying to read “productively” and just read whatever I enjoyed.

Not self-improvement fluff. Not books I felt guilty about. Just actual books I wanted to open.

And something weird happened — 10 minutes wasn’t enough to feel hard, but it was enough to make reading a real part of the day.

That’s the sweet spot. Small enough to start, meaningful enough to matter.

Actionable fix:

• Put the book where you already sit
• Make the goal stupidly easy: 1 page counts
• Read at the same time daily, like after lunch or before bed

This habit failed only when I tried to make it too ambitious. Whenever I told myself “just 10 minutes,” I actually did it. Whenever I thought “I should read 30 minutes,” I suddenly became very busy.

Habit 4: No phone for the first 30 minutes after waking — brutal, but powerful

This one was the hardest emotionally.

I managed it on 11 out of 30 days. So no, I didn’t master it. But the days I did were noticeably better.

Morning phone use is sneaky. It doesn’t feel like a big deal until you realize you’ve already seen 6 random opinions, 4 messages, and one stressful email before your brain has even fully loaded.

When I stayed off my phone, my mornings were calmer. I thought more clearly. I didn’t start the day in reaction mode.

When I failed, the day felt noisier. That’s the best word for it — noisier.

Actionable fix:

• Charge your phone across the room
• Use an actual alarm clock if needed
• Replace phone time with one tiny ritual: water, sunlight, stretching, or tea
• Start with 10 minutes, not 30, if 30 feels impossible

I have a strong opinion here: this habit is worth fighting for. It’s one of the few things that can change the tone of your whole day.

Habit 5: 5 minutes of journaling — better in theory than in practice

This one looked easy. It wasn’t.

I did it on 16 out of 30 days, and most of those entries were ugly and short. Like, one sentence short.

But that was still useful.

Journaling helped me notice patterns. Stuff like: I’m always more likely to skip habits when I sleep badly. Or I overeat when I don’t walk. Or I get cranky when I start my morning on my phone.

That’s the real value. Not pretty writing. Pattern recognition.

What failed was expecting deep, poetic reflection every night. That’s nonsense. Most nights, you’re tired. Just write what happened and what got in the way.

Actionable fix:
Use these 3 prompts:

• What did I do well today?
• What messed up my day?
• What’s one thing I’ll do tomorrow?

That’s enough. Seriously.

The biggest lesson: habits don’t fail because you’re lazy

This was the most annoying lesson because it’s true.

My habits failed when they were:

• too vague
• too big
• tied to motivation
• not attached to a cue
• too easy to forget

They worked when they were:

• tiny
• specific
• visible
• tied to something I already do
• tracked daily

Tracking was huge. I used Trider (myhabits.in) to keep the whole thing in one place, and that made it way harder to pretend I was “basically doing fine” when I wasn’t.

The app wasn’t magic. But the little checkmarks? Very effective. Annoyingly effective.

What I’d do differently next time

If I repeated this challenge, I’d change 3 things:

1. I’d track fewer habits.
Five was okay, but 3 would’ve been cleaner. More habits means more room to mentally negotiate.

2. I’d set minimum versions.
Instead of “10,000 steps,” I’d do 7,000 minimum, 10,000 bonus. That would’ve saved a lot of “all or nothing” drama.

3. I’d focus on one anchor habit first.
For me, that anchor would be the morning phone rule. That one affected everything else.

What actually mattered after 30 days

Not the streaks. Not perfection. Not becoming some hyper-disciplined robot.

What mattered was this: I found out which habits were worth keeping and which ones needed redesigning.

That’s the real value of a 30-day challenge. It’s not about proving you’re disciplined. It’s about collecting data on your actual life.

And the data was clear:

• walking helped a lot
• water mattered more than I expected
• reading was easy to sustain
• morning phone use was toxic
• journaling worked best when I kept it stupid-simple

If you want to try this yourself, do this

Start with 3 to 5 habits max.
Make each one measurable.
Attach them to a time or trigger.
Track them every day, even when you miss.
Review weekly, not just at the end.

And don’t pick habits that sound impressive. Pick the ones that would make your day 10% better. That’s where the real change is.

If you want a simple way to keep yourself honest, try Trider at myhabits.in and run your own 30-day experiment. You might be surprised by what sticks — and what completely falls apart.