Whew, the end of this year came rushing into me faster than I expected. My goal was to get at least one blog post every month and I wasn’t perfect. Squeaking in for December on the last day of the month!

What can I offer you to be a constructive help as we leave 02025 and enter 02026? As someone who always tries to look for the root cause for problems and opportunities, and who values a systems approach, this is my single biggest piece of life advice and career advice I would give to anyone who wants to be a rocket scientist:

Choose Systems over Goals

This advice deserves credit to Scott Adams, best known (initially) as the creator of Dilbert. His book “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” turned into one of the most successful and impactful “self-help” or career advice books of all time.

Here is a nice short video from someone on YouTube who explains this concept in a good way. I recommend you watch this if you have time & like to watch videos:

For 02026, try to put aside any career or life goals you have. Instead, think about answers these questions:

• What daily habits could or should you do to move you toward the outcome you want for yourself in 02026?
• How could you change or create your schedule so that you build into it the time / actions / systems that ensure your success?
• How can you change your physical environment to lead to a better outcome for yourself?
• What systems can you put in place to make your decisions or actions easier to help you achieve your ambitions?

Maybe this advice is enough for you to make 02026 a transformational year for yourself. I hope so. But if you want to get the full download for this advice and many other strategies for yourself, I highly recommend you read the entire book from Scott Adams.

Here you go if you want it from Amazon:

Take care and take charge in 02026!