Last week I caught myself thinking something I know you have said too.
“I’ll start fresh in 2026.”
New year. new plan. new schedule. new version of me.
It sounds clean in our head.
But there is a quiet problem hiding inside that sentence.
“Later” almost never arrives.
It just changes costume.
“After the holidays.”
“After this project at work.”
“After things calm down a bit.”
And then suddenly we are in March.
Looking back at January as if it was five years ago.
So today’s email is not about goals.
It is about the one skill underneath every goal.
The skill that decides if 2026 will actually be different.
Or just a new calendar on the wall.
I call it very simply.
Getting yourself to do the thing you already know you should do.
Success “students” vs success “stories”
Over the years I have seen two types of engineers.
The first group.
They are success “students”.
They collect:
- courses
- books
- PDFs
- playlists
- screenshots
- Notion pages
- Telegram messages
- “I will watch this later” links
They know which CCNA teacher is better.
They know every new exam update.
They can explain the difference between EVE NG and GNS3 in detail.
But when you look at their real labs in the last 30 days.
It is very quiet.
Then there is the second group.
The success “stories”.
They are not always the smartest.
They do not always buy the biggest course.
Sometimes their English is weaker.
Sometimes they have less time than you.
But they have one habit.
They know how to persuade themselves to sit down.
Open the topology.
And do the next ugly. imperfect lab.
Even when they do not feel like it.
Same internet.
Same videos.
Same commands.
Different skill.
Self persuasion.
The three quiet “goal destroyers” in networking
When I read and listened to great teachers about success.
Three patterns stood out.
I keep seeing them in network engineers too.
Let’s put them in our world.
1. “Good enough” comfort
Your life right now may look like this.
Job is not amazing.
But it pays the bills.
You do not hate networking.
You even like it.
But you are not excited either.
You tell yourself.
“At least I have a job.”
“At least I am not unemployed.”
“At least my manager is not terrible.”
This “at least” life is dangerous.
It is like a warm shower.
You know outside is cold.
You know the real growth is out there.
But inside the warm water. there is no urgency.
So you stay in “good enough”.
Year after year.
2. The grind
Maybe you did step out.
You bought the lab pack.
You installed EVE NG.
You opened the first 10 scenarios.
You solved them.
You felt alive again.
Then day 11 came.
Work was heavy.
You were tired.
You skipped “just one” day.
Then two days.
Then one week.
Suddenly it is three months later.
You have forgotten where you stopped.
Opening the topology again feels heavy.
The enthusiasm from day 1 is gone.
The grind killed another goal.
Not because you are weak.
But because no one taught you how to stay in the game when the excitement disappears.
3. You
This is the hardest one.
Even if you beat comfort.
Even if you stay in the grind for a while.
There is still one more enemy.
Your own story about yourself.
- “English people get better jobs.”
- “I am too old for this industry.”
- “Real CCIEs started 10 years earlier than me.”
- “I always stop halfway.”
These stories feel like facts.
But they are just very old. very repeated sentences in your head.
And here is the paradox.
You are the problem.
You are also the solution.
No external force is blocking you from opening EVE-NG or GNS3 tonight.
It is 100% an internal negotiation.
That negotiation skill.
Is what I mean by self persuasion.
The hidden skill: self persuasion for network engineers
Most people think what they need is:
- more motivation
- more discipline
- more willpower
- one perfect productivity app
In reality. they usually need something simpler.
A way to talk to themselves that makes action easier than inaction.
Let’s make this very concrete in our world.
Self persuasion for you might look like this:
“Tonight. 25 minutes. Only one lab. I do not care if I am tired. I do not care if it is ugly. I will touch the CLI.”
Not dramatic.
Not heroic.
Not “from tomorrow I will study 5 hours every day”.
Just one very specific. very small next step.
That you can sell to yourself honestly.
If you can master this small internal “sale”.
You can stack labs.
You can build momentum.
You can move from “student” to “story”.
Why I am writing this now. 36 days before 2026
At the time I am writing this.
We have roughly a little over one month left before 2026.
That is around 36 days.
Imagine this.
You pick one networking goal for the end of the year.
Not five. Just one.
- “Finish all VLAN and STP labs in CCNA Full Pack.”
- “Build and break OSPF 20 times until I can draw the process in my sleep.”
- “Prepare for and schedule my CCNA exam date in January.”
- “Rebuild the same topology 10 times until I no longer look at the workbook.”
Then you say to yourself.
“For the next 36 days. I am a doer. Not only a watcher.”
What could happen by 1 January 2026 if you simply kept a tiny daily promise to yourself.
A simple 36 day protocol
Here is a very realistic. not romantic. proposal.
You do not need my products to do this.
Use anything you already have.
Step 1. Choose one clear outcome
Write it in one line.
“I want to comfortably configure and verify OSPF single area and multi area in less than 15 minutes. without looking at notes.”
OR.
“I want to be able to subnet in my head without a calculator for every common CCNA style question.”
Clear. practical. testable.
Step 2. Design your tiny daily block
This is your self persuasion script.
Decide the minimum time. For example. 25 minutes.
Decide the when. For example. every night after dinner.
Decide the trigger. For example. “As soon as I close YouTube. I open EVE NG.”
The rule.
If the block feels heavy. shrink it.
Your ego will want to say “2 hours”.
Ignore your ego.
Start with a number your tired version can accept.
Step 3. Prepare the environment once
Do this one time this week.
- Make sure your lab tool opens without errors.
- Keep your workbook or notes in one clear folder.
- Put your login details somewhere simple.
- Remove one distraction from your desk. phone out of reach.
The goal is to remove excuses.
So when future-you sits down. there is nothing to think about.
Only “click. start. lab.”
Step 4. Track the streak. not the perfection
Every day you do your tiny block.
Put an “X” on a simple calendar.
Or write the number in your notebook.
You are not tracking how “smart” the session was.
You are tracking that you showed up.
Some days you will be sharp.
Some days you will be half asleep.
Both count.
Why.
Because you are training the self persuasion muscle.
Not performing for Instagram.
If you had started 36 days ago…
Let me ask you a small painful question.
If you had started this 36 day protocol
Backwards from today.
Where would you be right now.
How many labs would be behind you.
How much more comfortable would you feel with the CLI.
How different would 2025 already feel.
This is not to make you feel guilty.
It is to show you one thing.
Time is not the problem.
Self persuasion is.
The best time was 36 days ago.
The second best time is tonight.
Your small assignment for this week
Before you close this email.
- Write one clear networking outcome you want by 1 January 2026.
- Decide your tiny daily block. time and trigger.
- Do your first block today. even if it is only 10 minutes.
Do not overthink.
Do not design a big system.
Do not search for the “perfect” plan.
Persuade yourself to do one small real action today.
Then repeat that sale again tomorrow.
That is how success “students” quietly become success “stories”.
Step by step.
Lab by lab.
Packet by packet.
Until next week,
— Ali
