Want an easier week? Try this 30-minute Sunday routine

Ben Meer's new book, How to Be Good at Life, offers five key insights for navigating complex modern life. The first insight is that we often assume the solution to a problem is to work harder, when in fact, changing the systems around us is often the better answer. Our brains are limited in cognitive capacity, yet modern life has increased complexity with information at our fingertips.

This complexity has made it feel like running a small company one was never taught to manage. Habits are powerful, but they can't handle everything, and people often feel down on themselves for not having everything on autopilot. The second insight is to fix the root cause of problems instead of just addressing surface-level issues.

A prime example is the deterioration of the Lincoln Memorial's marble, which was caused by bird droppings and constant cleaning, not the birds themselves. The solution was to turn off the floodlights that attracted the midges the birds ate. The third insight is about building a system to solve the problem. High-performing companies, championship teams, and prolific creators all follow a similar process: define the goal, reverse engineer it, implement the plan, validate it, and evolve it.

An example of this is the author's journey to running a half-marathon despite a lifelong aversion to running. The fourth insight is that even when you find the root cause of a problem and build a system to address it, it's essential to continuously iterate and improve the system based on feedback. The final insight is that by applying these systems thinking principles, we can navigate modern life's complexity with greater ease and achieve more while reducing stress.