How to Be Good at Life

From the creator of the massively popular System Sunday community with over two million followers comes a proven method for building systems that make modern life easier

You’re making thousands of decisions a day. You’re fighting algorithms designed to steal your attention. You’re managing passwords, subscriptions, and deadlines—complexity your brain was never built to handle. And somewhere in there, you’re supposed to exercise, eat well, and maintain friendships.

No wonder life feels harder than it should.

The happiest and most successful people don’t have more willpower than you. They’ve learned a skill most of us were never taught: building systems. This book is the missing manual.

Ben Meer—dubbed “The Systems Guy” by Forbes—spent years studying what separates people who consistently thrive from those who merely survive. Drawing on insights from behavioral science and systems thinking, he introduces DRIVE, a five-step method for turning any goal into a system that works. How to Be Good at Life gives you the full toolkit to:

Go beyond habits to build systems for everyday routines and projects
Design systems across your seven Life Engines: Health, Relationships, Career, Money, Emotions, Mind, and Environment
Access 40+ plug-and-play systems you can implement immediately—including System Sunday, the weekly ritual to keep your life running smoothly
See the hidden methods behind the success of Seinfeld, Serena Williams, Hans Zimmer, Beyoncé, Andy Warhol, and more
Discover that the payoff isn’t just productivity, but a sense of calm and lightness

Maybe you’ve dreamed of starting a side hustle, getting in shape, or finally taking control of your money. This book shows you how to make progress inevitable.

The gap between who you are and who you want to become? It’s just a few systems you haven’t built yet.

Ben Meer is a writer, speaker, and coach known as “The Systems Guy” (Forbes). His weekly newsletter, System Sunday, reaches more than 250,000 subscribers across a following of over two million people.

An executive coach to founders, CEOs, and authors, Ben is a sought-after speaker on productivity, systems thinking, and intentional living.

He holds an MBA from Cornell University and previously worked as a management consultant at Ernst & Young, where he discovered that the same systems driving business growth could transform everyday life.

"Systems are more powerful and more effective than mere habits. Ben Meer offers practical, tactical, and proven techniques on how to invest your time, not just spend it."—Seth Godin, author of The Knot

"Tired of procrastination and living below your potential? The solution is here, in Ben Meer’s readable and practical How to Be Good at Life. Read this book today to find your path to a better, more organized life."—Arthur C. Brooks, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Meaning of Your Life

"Practical, powerful, and long overdue. How to Be Good at Life is the operating manual they forgot to give you in school. The book that will leave you calmer, clearer, and finally in the driver's seat as you navigate through life." —Sahil Bloom, New York Times Bestselling Author of The 5 Types of Wealth

"We like to think success comes from discipline, but more often it comes from the systems we build. This book is a practical guide to designing the life you actually want."—Nir Eyal, New York Times Bestselling author of Indistractable and Beyond Belief

"In a world obsessed with goals, How to Be Good at Life offers a practical and refreshingly clear approach to designing your life with intention. Ben Meer shows how systems can help us learn, adapt, and make meaningful progress without mindlessly pushing harder." —Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist and author of Tiny Experiments

"If life feels harder than it should be, read this." —Jenny Wood, New York Times Bestselling Author of Wild Courage

"A hyper-practical guide on systems and frameworks to help you control the controllables and navigate the chaos of life. I wish I’d had this book when I was younger."—Brad Stulberg, New York Times Bestselling author of The Way of Excellence and The Practice of Groundedness

"Most of us have more goals than systems—and that's exactly why we stay stuck. Ben Meer delivers a clear, energetic, practical guide to building the simple structures that make the hard stuff feel easier." —David Epstein, New York Times bestselling author of Range