Why the safe decision is to drop out of College

Everybody is led down the conveyor belt of the system. Everybody gets put on track to go through the education system, Elementary school, Middle school, and finally High School. The system that was meant to make factory workers that are“punctual, docile, and sober”.

It was created in the Industrial Revolution when they made public education available, and unsurprisingly they manufactured it to create the ideal worker. It's been 2 centuries and the system hasn’t evolved. 

University was a form of ‘higher’ education reserved for the select few who could afford it. It was a massive differentiator. 

The secondary education system suffers from double inflation, the cost per degree is increasing as well as the value per degree decreasing. The value is decreasing because a larger and larger portion of the population attends and a worker with a degree is no longer a scarce resource. An increasing number of companies recognize this and no longer require a degree to work for them.

Yet in the present day University (and College) are on the same conveyor belt. Society expects you to attend. Teenagers have huge societal pressures to choose what they’re going to do with the rest of their lives and spend obscene amounts of money on. 

Go through the school system, get a degree, hope to get a good 9-5, live only on weekends until you get old and retire like a good worker ant. Dedicate your life to the colony, once you're senile then you’ll have time for yourself. 

I reject this dogma, I’ve worked in a cubicle, a soulless corporate environment, and if that’s what society applauds me for and considers success I choose to be a disappointment. I will dedicate my entire life to pursuing my interests. There is no school or degree for entrepreneurship (no real one) it’s only taught through experience.

Here’s the thing, If I continued down “the path” I am certain I would land myself a middle of the machine job which I didn’t really like and I would ALWAYS wonder “What if?” for the rest of my life. What if I pursued entrepreneurship? What if I didn’t follow the path set out for me? 

It’s a 99% wrong 100% right situation: 99% of the time when people warn you against the risk, starting the business, dating the girl, dropping out, they’re going to be right. Most businesses do fail, and most relationships don’t work out, but they are right 99% of the time except the 1% of the time when it actually mattered they are 100% wrong. When you marry the girl, when the business takes off, they are 100% wrong. So the nay-sayers will be right most of the time and think themselves smart but if you listened to them you wouldn’t ever find your wife, or get business success. 

It is guaranteed that I won’t get the life I want if I continue down the path society expects, but even though it’s a risk to drop out (which I took) my dream life is possible. I would rather be broke following my path, over rich and at war with my own mind.

It is safer to drop out of University and the traditional education system to pursue entrepreneurship. If I didn’t I would end up in a job I didn’t like all that much, then eventually divert and end up along the same path as now. 

If it is going to happen eventually, it might as well be now. 

This comes down to living up to your own standards for yourself rather than everybody else’s standards for you to fit into. If you do follow this path and drop out, expect everybody to comment on your life. 

There will certainly be discomfort and awkward conversations, but this is the price you’re paying to not end up in misery. Everybody will start to impose their opinion of your life and what you should do as soon as you make this decision.

Some will think less of you, some will pity you or think you’re misguided, but most people will just tell you what they would do in your shoes masked as advice for you personally. Most people impose their standards, values, and goals onto your life by giving you advice to take but what it’s actually the advice they would take in your situation. Taking this advice is insidious because it will lead you to their goals according to their values, which are both different (often entirely) from yours. 

Do not resent these people, often they think they’re saying what’s best for you, but don’t listen to them. Their closed mind doesn’t even think your dream life exists.

A mental model the world-renowned investor Warren Buffet is known for is his “internal scorecard”. He says that you can achieve success with both external and internal scorecards, but one matters much more than the other. 

There are countless stories of successful, wealthy, and famous people with miserable lives, who commit suicide, and who feel relieved when if all falls down.

This is who you don’t want to end up like: yes you desire success, but not at the expense of your mind. 

If you are driven by an external scorecard you’ll start to compromise your values, and beliefs to fit the external mould, understand that this can get you success but it’s not a life you’d enjoy. 

Cultivate an internal scorecard. Achieve success, but deserve it too.

Earning your own self-respect, that is step 1 of life. Think about the traits you respect in others and begin the journey of becoming an embodiment of them. Make decisions and act in a way that you are proud of. Set the standards that you live your life to, and don’t compromise them for anyone. 

Be willing to negotiate everything except your values. Define your standards and live up to them, this way you will get higher quality people in your life because they’re aligned with your standards, this also means that you don’t tolerate people who don’t align.