We love to copy success stories, but half the time, we copy them wrong.

"I dropped out of high school and I became a millionaire" says one rich man. But what they don't tell the youths is how they actually became rich.

I read a tweet the other day about how Femi Otedola dropped out of school and later became a billionaire. The funny part? Most people didn't even read the full thing… and like Nigerians, we all run to the comment section.

"If one no slap all these rich men, the rest no go stop talking" "My uncle dropped out of high school and e still dey suffer, how una dey do am abeg?" "Na so so 'I drop out of high school' and dem successful. How?" "I didn't drop out but I'm not successful. Is education scam?"

But something was written at the end of that article that most people read but didn't notice. Otedola said "I didn't see school in my life. All I wanted to do was business".

That's the difference. He knew what he wanted from the beginning — business. He had a plan. A goal. And he worked for it. For him, staying in school would have been a waste of precious time. And guess what? He was right.

This same thing applied to the other "dropout billionaires" we like to mention — Bill Gates and the rest. They didn't just drop out. They dropped out with a plan. They knew exactly where they were going.

But in Nigeria? Almost everyone is forced to follow one pattern: Birth → Nursery → Primary → Secondary → University → Work(for men) → Marriage(for women) → continue the cycle till death.

Someone once told me "But that's the way of life". I agreed in a way, but I also said, "Some people are just pressured into doing what everyone else is doing".

We don't talk about this enough.

In my department, one guy even said if his child wants to drop out, he won't scold them. We were shocked at first until he explained. His child must give a valid reason. Something like, 'I want to do business' 'I have another career path' 'I want to pursue music'. Not just 'I am tired of school'.

And I get it now. Many Nigerian youths enter university studying courses they didn't even choose; most times, the school gave it to them. They graduate, and it's the same story: "No job."

Truth is, jobs no dey. And yes, Nigeria itself has a fault in this. The pressure of seeing everybody wear matriculation gowns, convocation gowns, and graduation caps makes many people feel stupid if they don't follow the same path.

But here's the real gist: To all the determined ones, the goal-oriented ones, the ones who know their path… I respect you.

Nigeria won't tell you what to do. Society will try to force you to follow their script. But if you really want to succeed, be like the successful ones not because they dropped out, but because they had a plan.

Know your path. Know your goal. Know your plan.

So that before you envy a dropout success story, you ask yourself "What's my plan?".