The Systems Guy • Follow me for systems on health, wealth, and free time ⚡ Cornell MBA • 2M+ audience

Hi, I'm Ben Meer.

Tired of non-actionable life advice, I started writing online in February 2022.

Here are the results:

→ Built social audience from 0 to 2M+ (across IG, LinkedIn, and X) 
→ Grew 0 to 690K+ followers on LinkedIn in 21 months
→ Scaled newsletter—System Sunday—from 0 to 270K+ subscribers

There are 2 primary ways I can help you:

1) System Sunday Newsletter

Most people don't know how to build life systems to accelerate personal growth. So I created a weekly newsletter that teaches these systems (it's free). Subscribe to unlock new levels of wealth, health, and freedom.

→ Try it: benmeer.com/ss

2) Archimedes [Coaching]

Access the most exclusive members' club for LinkedIn thought leaders. Get the proven systems, resources, and community to 10x your personal brand. 

→ Check it out: joinarchimedes.com

——

Sponsorships: partnerships@benmeer.com

Ben Meer

This recent quote from a neuroscientist hit me hard.

It reveals a simple (but essential) truth about your brain:

It can grow, rewire, and adapt far longer than most people think.

In other words, biology isn’t the bottleneck to making progress in life. 

Belief is.

And Stanford Psychology professor Carol Dweck’s research supports this.

She discovered that individuals with a growth mindset:

Make more money throughout their career,
report less stress and anxiety, 
and are more resilient in the face of failure.

Here are 7 practical ways to adopt this growth mindset:

1. When facing a challenge, break it into smaller steps instead of expecting instant progress.

2. When receiving feedback, treat it as data to improve, not a judgment of your ability.

3. When comparing yourself to others, study what works for them and apply it to your own life.

4. When failure happens, use it to adjust your approach instead of questioning yourself.

5. When time feels limited, focus on small improvements that compound over time.

6. When uncertainty shows up, treat it as time to experiment rather than a reason to quit.

7. When defining success, measure it by effort and progress instead of raw talent.

Your current mindset doesn’t have to be permanent. 

Adopt this system, and you can rewire your brain for long-term progress.

Rooting for you. 

Quote credit: Dr. Dominic Ng via Substack
 
♻️ Repost to help others adopt a growth mindset.
And follow me Ben Meer for more practical tips like this.

This 36-second clip hits hard.

It reveals a simple truth about success in business (and life):

The only person you need permission from to achieve your dreams? 

Yourself.

Quick story:

When I was working my 9-5 consulting job, I felt stuck.
Like I wasn’t even close to my full potential. 

So I bet on myself and started posting online (while still working full-time).

It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. 

That choice has led me to build an audience of over 2 million amazing people, become friends with creators I used to admire from afar, and eventually leave my 9-5.

But most of all, it made me feel like I was finally reaching my potential. 

Because here’s the thing about writing online:

It’s permissionless.
There’s no gatekeeper.
You get to choose to start pursuing your own dreams.

So if you’re ready to start your online creator journey,
Jade Bonacolta and I created Archimedes for people who feel the same pull.

It’s a private community where I share the exact systems I used to grow my LinkedIn to 830K+ followers and build a 7-figure creator business. 

Our next cohort starts January 26 and enrollment closes Friday.

👉 Read member success stories and apply today (takes ~3 minutes): https://lnkd.in/gQFp-YaF 

Video credit: Vinh Quang Giang on IG

Confidence isn’t having all the answers.
It’s knowing you’ll eventually find them.

Things move quickly.
Opportunities don’t stick around.
Waiting for perfect information is a losing game.

That’s where the 70% Rule comes in:

When you have roughly 70% of what you need, act.
The remaining 30% shows up once you’re already moving.

Jeff Bezos swears by this principle. 
Especially because most decisions aren’t permanent,
and momentum matters more than perfection.

One of the strongest beliefs you can develop:

“I can figure this out.”

Not “I know it all.”
Not “I’ve thought of every scenario.”
Simply: “I can figure this out.”

That belief reshapes how you handle:

• Career decisions
• Hard conversations
• Personal growth
• Setbacks you didn’t plan for

So next time you’re 70% ready, take the leap.
Clarity tends to follow action.

♻️ Repost if this hits for you.
➕ Follow Ben Meer for more ideas like this.

7 powerful ideas to carry with you in 2026:

🔖 Save this post to refer back when you need it.
And follow Ben Meer for more.

7 Powerful Ideas To Carry With You in 2026:

The best days don’t start in the morning.

They start the night before. 

9 evening practices that set you up for success:

1. End your workday with a dedicated shutdown ritual.
2. Plan tomorrow using 3:3:3: 3 hours deep work, 3 shorter tasks, 3 maintenance activities.
3. Write down 1 beautiful life moment.
4. Lay out tomorrow’s outfit.
5. Prep healthy snacks. 
6. Charge your phone in a different room from where you sleep.
7. Do the dishes and tidy your kitchen.
8. Calm your nervous system with 4-7-8 breathing: Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, and exhale for 8.
9. Prime your subconscious with a question before sleep.

Life gets better when you build momentum the night before.

♻️ Repost if you are going to try one of these habits.
🔖 Save when you want to come back to learn another.

I had to reread this McKinsey stat (it blew my mind):

High performers deliver 800% more output than average employees.

9 proven tips to retain top talent:

1. Overpay to keep your top performers
2. Make recognition the default
3. Listen to what energizes your team and lean into it
4. Address toxic behavior immediately
5. Be soft on the person and hard on the problem
6. Trust people with as much autonomy as possible
7. Implement meeting-free days
8. Normalize frequent feedback
9. Remove friction to let your top people thrive

The age of pizza parties and ping-pong tables as retention strategies is over. 

Use these 9 tips to invest meaningfully in your highest performers,
and they’ll reinvest in the business tenfold.

♻️ Repost to champion high-performing teams.
🔖 Save this cheatsheet for later reference.

How to accelerate your career in the first 6 months of 2026.

Read these books for a personal MBA:

How to accelerate your career in 2026:

9 timeless pieces of advice to level up in business (and life):

♻️ Repost to share this wisdom with your network.
🔖 Save to reference back to in the future.

9 timeless ideas to level up in business and life:

I’ve worked with 1,000+ professionals over the years.

Here are 10 subtle habits that drive career success:

1. Focus on getting stuff done and being easy to work with.

2. Build unshakeable self-worth with a job that pays you for the value you create. 

3. Remember that what you work on and who it’s with is more important than just working hard. 

4. Become a generalist by building a powerful stack of complementary skills. 

5. Use the 4-bullet update (what was asked, what you did, the risks/blockers, and what you’d do with more time) to impress your manager. 

6. Embrace your unique quirks—they aren’t flaws—they’re your competitive advantage.

7. Cut out any gossip or complaining, including the individuals who always bring it up to you. 

8. Prioritize your brain health by hydrating, taking long walks, eating nutrient-dense food, and having a strong appetite for rest. 

9. Remember names you come across. You will stand out. 

10. Always lift others up and celebrate their wins: success is never a zero-sum game. 

The biggest career breakthroughs rarely come from one bold move.

They come from stacking these small, subtle habits over time. 

♻️ Repost these practices so your whole network can grow.
➕ And follow Ben Meer for more content like this.

The highest form of currency in business (and life):

Respect.

But most people try to earn it the wrong way.

They show up only for big moments or think they need to be the smartest person in the room.

Those who have respect understand where it actually comes from:

• Making people feel seen, heard, and remembered.
• Putting your phone away during every conversation.
• Cleaning up after dinner parties when you don’t have to
• And the other 16 actions in this cheat sheet. 

Respect isn’t won in the big moments.
It accumulates through small, consistent action.

Especially when no one is keeping score. 

♻️ Repost to help others earn more respect.
🔖 Save this post to return to it in the future.

I grew my newsletter to 250k+ subscribers.

Here’s 4 tactics I used (steal them to grow yours):

1. Create a free lead magnet
2. Optimize your social media bios
3. Build a referral engine
4. Swap with other newsletter creators

One last thing…

Beyond these tactics, the most important part of your newsletter growth journey is choosing the right place to start. 

The best platform to start and grow a newsletter?

My answer is simple: beehiiv.

It’s the all-in-one system that combines publishing, growth tools, and monetization, so you can build, scale, and earn from day one. 

You focus on your content, and they handle the rest.

Start your newsletter today with 30% off your first 3 months using code MEER30: https://lnkd.in/gavjE_YQ

♻️ Repost if you learned something with this one.

#beehiivPartner

4 Tactics to Grow Your Newsletter in 2026:

Anthony Carlton

Founder @ CRE Digital | Helping commercial real estate funds raise capital with premium branding and investor acquisition systems

I built my personal brand to escape the corporate grind.

After working with clients across finance, private equity, venture, and real estate—I doubled down on one clear problem:

Most CRE firms struggle to raise capital online.

That’s why I founded CRE Digital — a content and brand strategy partner for capital raisers, fund managers, and private equity firms.

We turn your expertise into influence, using systems that drive:

• Brand authority that builds trust
• LP investor leads and committed capital
• Off-market deal flow and JV partners
• Speaking invites and top CRE podcast features

What sets us apart? 

We’ve sat on both sides of the table — advising high-net-worth investors and partnering with top CRE operators.

Now, we build digital brands that attract capital at scale.

If you’re serious about raising capital and want your brand to do the heavy lifting, book a call in my featured section or visit credigital.io

Founder & Brand Advisor

Build Your Brand @ FinGhost.io

Your independence isn't violently taken from you.

It vanishes with 100s of "safe" decisions.

Here's how it happens (and ends up becoming a cage):

Age 18: You choose the "smart" major.

• Law.
• Finance. 
• Engineering. 
• Computer science.

Your parents are relieved. You're rewarded with scholarships and summer internships.

Age 22: You take the corporate job.

Goldman. McKinsey. Google. Whichever pays most and has the best brand.

Your professors congratulate you. Your classmates envy you. You're rewarded with a signing bonus and an impressive title.

Age 25: You accept the promotion.

More responsibility. More money. More visibility to senior leadership.

Your manager says you're on the "fast track." You're rewarded with status and a salary that justifies the lifestyle inflation you didn't plan.

Age 30: You take the management role.

People report to you now. You attend 10-15 meetings a week. You have influence—or at least the appearance of it.

You're rewarded with prestige and the comfort of knowing you're winning the game everyone else is playing.

Age 35: You wake up.

Your calendar isn't yours.
Your decisions aren't yours.
Your time isn't yours.

You're unhappy and burned out, but you can't move because you have a mortgage, car payment, daycare, and stock options vesting.

Every individual choice was rational.

But somewhere along the way, your autonomy disappeared.

The trap works because it's not obviously a trap.

It's comfortable. 
Respectable. 
Safe.

It's what winning looks like from the outside.

But from the inside, it feels like you're capable of more...smart enough to see the problems but powerless to fix them.

Successful by every conventional measure.

But somehow still not free.

This is the trap to avoid. 
Now you know what it looks like.

What you are working on in 2026 for more personal freedom in 2027?

--

♻️ Repost if this resonates.

Follow me Anthony Carlton for more posts on building wealth and independence.

I build media systems for operators who want influence, growth, & capital at scale | $50M raised through social | Founder & Writer

Don't quit your 9-5 to go "all in" as a solopreneur until you have 4 things: 
 
- Proven offer 
- Clients paying you 
- Results and case studies 
- Consistent lead gen systems 
 
Give yourself 6-12 months to build skills and undeniable social proof before you leap. 
 
In 2019 I quit my job, spent a fat chunk of my life savings, and failed at going solo. 
 
I had 0/4 essentials above. 
 
Didn't know how to write. 
Didn't know how to sell. 
Didn't know how to build. 
 
In 2022 I made a successful transition from 9-5 to building a full-time creator income. 
 
But I worked for 12 months alongside my 9-5: 
 
• Testing ideas 
• Growing on LinkedIn 
• Finding proof of concept 
 
I'm confident everyone who reads this can build a full-time income as a creator. 
 
But only if you set yourself up for success. 
 
That's why I write weekly guides giving actionable strategies for making the leap. 
 
Need a good place to start? 
 
Read this: https://lnkd.in/e-RX6KFj

“Set a goal to become a millionaire—not for the money, but for what it will make of you.”

Jim Rohn damn near invented the category of personal development.

This is one of his hardest-hitting quotes.

In one sentence, it shifted my mindset around goals.

Setting goals is less about the end result, and more about who you become in the process of achieving it.

Early in my career, I chased all the wrong things.

→ If I only got that raise...
→ If I could just get that VP title...
→ If I check one more big goal off my list...

I thought if I just hit the next milestone, then I’d feel free. Then I’d feel successful.

But learning from people like Jim Rohn, I realized:

The goals weren't a magic checklist.

The goals were about who I had to become to achieve them.

→ A person who can communicate better
→ A person who can be self-reliant
→ A person who can grow and improve

Writing did that for me.

It gave me clarity.
It built proof of work.
It opened doors that used to be locked.

But more than that, it forced discipline. It exposed gaps in how I think. And it helped me build leverage instead of just more output.

So yeah, set big goals.

But understand: the real win isn’t the number.

It’s who you have to become to earn it.

That’s where the compounding starts.

What's the WHY behind your biggest goal right now?

Anthony Carlton

Do you want to be impressive or independent?

99% optimize for an "impressive" cage.

Achievement looks like:

- Climbing the corporate ladder
- Adding prestigious titles to LinkedIn
- Hitting salary milestones
- Getting promoted faster than peers
- Building a resume that impresses strangers

Achievement is external validation.

It's playing a game someone else designed and winning by their rules.

Agency looks like:

- Owning your calendar
- Making decisions without approval
- Building assets that compound
- Disconnecting time from income
- Designing work around your life, not the other way around

Agency is internal freedom.

It's designing your own game and defining what winning means.

Here's the trap:

Achievement is measurable, visible, and celebrated.
Agency is quiet, personal, and invisible to others.

So we chase achievement because it's easier to see we're making progress.

We climb faster, earn more, get promoted sooner. And wake up one day realizing we built an impressive cage.

I spent my 20s optimizing for achievement.

• Better titles. 
• Higher salary. 
• More responsibility.

I looked successful on paper but felt trapped in practice.

Now I optimize for independence.

• More decisions I own. 
• Fewer meetings I didn't schedule. 
• Systems that don't require my constant presence.

It's less impressive to people on LinkedIn.

But infinitely more valuable to me.

The question isn't "How do I achieve more?"

The question is "How do I build for optionality?"

--

♻️ Repost if this resonates.

Follow me Anthony Carlton for more posts on building wealth and independence.

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Anthony Carlton

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ben Meer's LinkedIn Performance

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