The complexity of making choices regarding study, work, and careers has drastically increased in recent years. Which study to choose, at which educational institution, and in which country? What are the employment opportunities afterwards? And what are your long-term career goals? These are all critical questions during early career development, and they are not easily answered. But there is also good news: there are proven ways of preparing for these choices! We will discuss several of these during this keynote talk. And allow me to already give you the conclusion: don’t try to be successful. Why not? You’ll find out during the talk!