What is a family of origin?

Your parents are only part of your family of origin—that's not the whole picture. Your family of origin also includes the teachers, bosses, classmates, colleagues, and all kinds of people you encountered from childhood through adolescence to the point of mental maturity, along with time itself.

Social existence shapes social consciousness, and social consciousness shapes a generation's character. More accurately, "family of origin" really means "originating environment." It's hard for people to cross social strata and seize opportunities directly because the people around you—those in your current class—will relentlessly pull you down.

Avoid academic underachievers. Pretend you don't see them. Tune them out. When you encounter people who are worse off than you, act as if they don't exist. Don't hang out with them. First, learn to be alone; first, learn to distance yourself from mediocre people. When the downward pull around you slows down, gradually, slowly, naturally, you'll crawl out of the quagmire.

The hardest part is being able to reflect and then execute. Because execution means you have to withstand the drag of your originating environment on you—you have to grit your teeth and push through in an environment that's thoroughly rotten, resisting all those forces pulling you down, and still manage to emerge.