How to succeed? Try hard enough.
How to fail: Try too hard.
Venture nothing, and life is less than it should be.
As you get older there shouldn't be anything you won't try. The payoff is that you open up whole new avenues that are fun. It's a misinterpretation of life to live it only in preparation for the next one. To subordinate the one you've got to an indefinite next round is foolish. It's a waste of this life not to live this life. What's next is anybody's guess.
Trying to impress others does - usually in quite the opposite way.
If you want understanding try giving some.
Clout is something some seem to have-until they try exercising it.