Vision is more important than intelligence when it comes to getting things done. There are tons of smart people who keep moving in circles because they don’t know where they want to be.
People love blaming their parents for their issues, saying they'd be rich, confident, and happy if Mom and Dad did things differently. But honestly, who cares? At some point in your life, you need to take responsibility for your own growth.
Adulthood begins once you stop using your past circumstances to justify your current struggles. You want to play the victim, you will always find a way to do it. You want to change as a person, be better, build a better life, you will always find a way to do it too.
People who are consistently ready when an opportunity arises were actually people who were once completely ill-prepared during a previous opportunity, felt terrible, took it very personally, decided it would never happen again, and completely changed their approach with life.
Being stuck with difficult problems for long hours is how you grow your intelligence; being stuck with difficult circumstances for many years is how you grow your mental strength.
Marry someone who is genuinely interested in their own education just like you, someone who is intellectually curious and eager to learn, and you will have nothing to worry about when it comes to the education of your own children.
Anxiety is often the signal that you are too lazy to get started, too undisciplined to keep things up, or too self-absorbed to stop living in your mind; and peace of mind is just the reward for fixing these internal problems.