I'm 16 years old and I'm not planning on going to college.
That's not something I say to be edgy or rebellious. It's not to get a reaction. I've actually thought about it a lot, and right now, it just doesn't make sense to me.
Most of my friends don't really think about it. They assume they'll go to college because that's what you do. Graduate high school, pick a school, take on loans, figure it out later. Nobody really questions it. And when I tell people I'm not sure I want to go, they look at me like something's wrong with me.
But here's what I keep coming back to: what am I actually going to learn there that I can't learn right now?
What School Looks Like From the Inside
I'm in school right now. I sit in class. I do the work. But if I'm being honest, most of what I'm learning doesn't feel like it connects to anything real.
I'm not saying school is useless. I've had some good teachers. But the system itself feels like it was designed for a completely different world. We're being taught to memorize information that I can look up on my phone in three seconds. We take tests that measure how well we crammed the night before, not how well we actually understand something.
And even the business classes — which you'd think would be the most useful — are surface level at best. They teach you about other people's businesses. Case studies, textbook examples, theory. Nothing about how to actually build your own thing. And the teachers — no disrespect — but most of them haven't built a business themselves. If they had, they probably wouldn't be teaching a class about it.
Meanwhile, outside of school, I'm learning things that actually excite me. My dad and I are building Instead of College together. We're launching a podcast. I'm learning how to create content, how to communicate, how businesses actually work. None of that happens in a classroom.
What I'm Doing Instead
People always ask, "So if not college, then what?" Like if you don't have a degree plan you must be sitting around doing nothing.
Here's what I'm actually doing:
My dad and I are building this whole thing — the website, the brand, the podcast, the content. I'm involved in all of it. I'm learning how to show up on camera, how to have real conversations, how to take an idea and turn it into something people can see and interact with.
I did Tony Robbins' Unleash the Power Within online during Covid. When I was 13, I skipped school to go to Funnel Hacking Live in Orlando — Russell Brunson's ClickFunnels conference. On the last day, I somehow ended up backstage with Russell Brunson, Brendon Burchard, Jamie Kern Lima, and some of the other speakers. I was 13 years old. I didn't belong there by any normal standard. But being around people like that — people who've built real things from nothing — it rewires how you think about what's possible.
I'm reading books that my dad gives me. I'm having conversations with adults who've actually built things. I'm learning about money — not in some theoretical way, but real conversations about assets, investing, cash flow. The kind of stuff I know most kids my age have never even heard of.
Is it a traditional path? No. But it feels way more real than sitting in a lecture hall.
The UPW Experience
I want to talk about Unleash the Power Within for a second because it was a big deal for me.
I didn't really know what to expect going in. My dad had been to Tony Robbins events before, but this was my first time. It was during Covid, so I did the whole thing online from home.
You'd think doing it through a screen would take the edge off. It didn't.
What hit me the hardest was the self-awareness piece. You're going through these exercises, doing the work — looking at your fears, your patterns, the stories you tell yourself. And you realize you have those too. At my age, you don't usually think about that stuff. You just react to things without understanding why.
Building the Podcast
One of the things I'm most excited about is our podcast. We're building a studio at our house right now, and we're going to be recording real conversations — me, my dad, my brother Lucas, and eventually guests.
This is where I'm learning communication. Not from a textbook, not from a presentation in front of the class. From actually sitting down with someone, asking real questions, and having the kind of conversations that matter.
It's uncomfortable sometimes. Putting your thoughts out there for people to hear is a different level of vulnerability. But that's the point. Growth doesn't happen when everything's easy.
And the skills I'm picking up — content creation, editing, storytelling, speaking — those are skills that actually translate to the real world. Nobody's ever going to ask me what grade I got on a test. But they will want to know if I can communicate, if I can create, if I can show up and deliver.
What I'd Say to Other Kids My Age
I'm not telling anyone to drop out or skip college. That's not my call to make. Everyone's situation is different, and some people know exactly what they want to do and college is the right path for them.
But if you're sitting in class right now feeling like something's off — like what you're learning doesn't connect to who you actually want to be — I'd say trust that feeling. It doesn't make you lazy. It doesn't make you a bad student. It might just mean you're paying attention to what actually matters.
Start learning on your own. Read a book about something that interests you. Start a project. Build something. Have conversations with people who are doing what you want to do. You don't need permission to start.
I'm 16. I don't have it all figured out. But I'd rather spend the next few years building real skills and real experience than sitting in a lecture hall hoping it all works out later.
That's the bet I'm making. And I feel good about it.
