Does self-improvement in 2026 start on TikTok?

How seriously are you taking your 2026 rebrand? Do you have your 365 buttons ready?

If this means nothing to you, you likely spent the holiday period at the lord intended – offline. But if spending less time on your phone isn’t one of your 2026 resolutions, let me catch you up. 

It started with a TikTok posted in December, all about rebranding for 2026. In the comments people shared their own strategies and self-improvement tips for the upcoming year. One comment, however, stood out from the rest. 

“I’m getting 365 buttons, one for each day because I want to do more stuff and I’m scared of time so I want to be more conscious of it,” a user called Tamara wrote. 

To which another user innocently asked: “What is 365 buttons?” 

Tamara went on to explain: “One for every day”, to which another replied: “Yes queen, but wdym buttons? Like to wear?” 

Tamara then clarified: “Just to have to see how quick days pass and to remind myself that time passes and I just have fun and to do a lot of stuff.”

Still confused? You’re not alone. “What are you doing with the buttons everyday is what they’re asking,” one user commented. “Are you putting them in a jar, are you wearing them??”

To this, Tamara responded: “Hey so it actually only has to make sense to me for me to do it and I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone else” 

What might’ve remained an off-the-cuff interaction, instead blew up overnight with hundreds of videos since posted in reference to the comment exchange. 

Some have made their best attempts to explain Tamara’s logic (to my understanding a sort of sand timer, but in button-form). Others have taken Tamara’s advice and started their own 365 button craft projects, from making their own brass buttons to upcycling clothing. 

“Kinda upset its already the third button but I don’t have to explain that to anyone,” one creator posted on January 3rd. “Only just now found out about 365 buttons so now i gotta wait til next year,” another lamented this week. 

Mostly, people have taken Tamara’s words as a mantra or inspirational quote – complete with brat-esque graphics – to live by in 2026. 

In much the same way Kylie Jenner prophetically proclaimed 2016 as the “year of realizing stuff,” a decade on, in 2026 we can add to that axiom, “it actually only has to make sense to me for me to do it and I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone else.” 

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