As an 18,000 hour captain (and ex military pilot) I went back to a school reunion a few years ago. In conversation with one of the bright kids who went on to be a director of one of the nations larger engineering companies I mentioned that I regretted not working when I was at school.
After all, he left the place with several really good A levels and I left with a couple of indifferent O's .
His view was that had I worked I would have ruined my entire life and would have finished up stuck in some boring job like his!
My skill was in finding what I wanted to do then going balls-out for it.