what small steps should one take to have a honest discipline towards a healthy routine?

The key word is routine.

If you don’t make it a daily/weekly habit of doing something, you may as well not even be doing it.

Consistency is key, form habits and those habits benefit you greatly. I didn’t start seeing gains until I made a consistent program for the week that I follow to the letter with no exceptions (barring sickness/emergency.) The same goes for anything you want to improve.