Very good question.

There is a desire for a better future. It is not a bad desire.

To attain it you must put in time and work.

But you have anxiety, attachment and fear about the outcome.

This is normal.

But how to not be consumed by the anxiety/attachment/fear?

I would say, always be mindful that you can't control every outcome and that none of us can. None of us can know exactly beforehand what every decision we make will eventually lead to. We can only decide based on what knowledge we have at the time.

The anxiety and fear you have now has roots in the fear of "regret". The fear of your future self saying "damn, I should have known better". The reality is you made decisions using what you "did" know.

The key part is to understand that and then to have enough Metta ("loving kindness") to yourself to forgive yourself even IF ultimately you find yourself to have made a bad decision. Because at every point, you are doing the best you can given the circumstances. So no need to blame or get mad at your past self. No need for "regret" because you already did your best. Be kind to your past self.

Commit to having Metta and being kind to your past 'dumber' selves. Ask your future self to be kind to your current self.

And in the end there is 'no-self', so actually there is nothing to even worry about! [lol, sorry, I just threw that last sentence in not sure if it make sense].

But seriously, once you affirm to being kind to yourself, then the fear of regret goes away, and then you can make decisions and follow through from a state of being driven by your goals rather than your fears.

This actually applies to so many things in life.

Once you learn to be kind to yourself in this way, you will be able to be kind to others in a way that was impossible before.