When I was a kid I was in the gifted class. I was always in the advanced classes. I excelled in school. I had years and years of people telling me how smart I was, and how I could do and be whatever I wanted. The problem was I was terminally bored. I was stuck in a little town where everyone was the same rich spoiled kids. I didn’t really WANT anything except to live on my own and take care of myself – to prove I could survive with or without schools and smarts. I became cynical, lazy.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized that while I was still smart, it didn’t really amount to much. Being smart isn’t really what matters. What you DO is what matters. So as long as you try to DO things every day, you’re gonna be ok. There are a lot of smart people who are so smart they think they can sit on their ass and complain about how life is unfair or how the system is keeping them down. That’s not so smart.

There’s a little equation I like to remember:
repeated small successes lead to confidence
confidence leads to prolonged success
repeat ad infitum

Hang in there dude, you’re gonna be all right.