What’s really the secret key that’s keeping me away from achieving ‘persistance’?

The obvious answer that everyone tells me is to start off with baby steps, but that’s easier said on paper, then it is to implement in really life. No matter what self-help book i read, or which YouTube video I take notes from, I can’t never find the keys to persistence that stick to the goals of mine. Rather it be, doing exercise at home every two days so I can get a toned body by June, or studying and completing my college assignments every night so I can graduate in two years, even the simpler things like cleaning my room and washing the dishes. I‘ve tried reward and discipline systems, where I track my daily tasks and rewards, like giving myself more money if I did more tasks, or don’t give myself any money at all if I do less. But this backfired, because of the days where I felt miserable the most, is when I needed more cash to cheer me up, but the discipline system just led to a downward spiral which led me to get a 2.2 GPA for my third college semester.

Now back to the small steps dilemma, taking the smallest step towards a bigger goal sounds like a simple plan that will solve a deeper complex problem of motivation, and that’s nice but wait. When you have to do simple steps everyday until you magically get the hang of it, you get sold on the idea and you get a thrill from it, thinking, “this is the de-facto that will bring my life to another level,” so it works out for a few days. But suddenly a tragedy outside of your control happens, like your least favorite politician won this election, or your mom got into a car accident, and suddenly small certain steps seem excruciating to someone who‘s miserable or overwhelm and wants to do nothing but find distractions from his misfortunes in reality.

But the same story always goes, you have a system that brings you novelty, but once the novelty wears off, you’re left with nothing to look forward to. Just goals far out in the distance, out of your reach.

Basically, after years of trying, I still feel like I can find atleast one tip or key detail that will kill my procrastination bug, and finally be my higher self. Please help me if you are an individual with success in achieving your long-term goals