The shackles you have to break
Regardless of how smart or correct you believe yourself to be, you will have to reconsider many things you conjectured. At least then you would have chosen your camp by absolute conviction rather than being led and played with by your masters.
Accepting your way to success
Unsurprisingly, the first obstacle in your way to success is yourself. Ironically, that's the only variable you have absolute control over in the equation of success. And that's the variable with the highest coefficient.
Books, a poison and an antidote
Media comes in multiple flavours. As they say, pick your poison. Are they equally poisonous?