Remember the pandemic? When suddenly our entire lives work, school, even church got moved online. We were all figuring it out as we went, and for students, it meant one thing: every assignment was now submitted online.
And you know students now. Anywhere assignment and internet meet, “dubbing” must enter. (Apologies diaspora readers).
You find someone who has done the work, collect their file, change one or two things, and submit as your own. Classic copy and paste. Lazy? Yes. But it was a real thing.
You see, our lecturers were not born yesterday. They could smell a copy-paste job from a mile. But they would usually play the fool a couple of times before they swung into action, however, if they caught you, both you and the original owner usually would get penalized.
But there was one incident… ah, one legendary blunder that still cracks me up till today.
This guy, under pressure or maybe just fantastically lazy, copied his classmate’s assignment. He did the bare minimum: changed the name on the title page, updated the matric number, even tweaked the date. He must have leaned back after hitting submit thinking, “Sharp guy. I have outsmarted the system.”
The person he copied from was what we call oversabi. This classmate had put their full name and details AGAIN on the very last page of the document. Our sharp guy never bothered to scroll that far.
Fast forward to class review. Lecturer is sharing feedback on Zoom, scrolling through the work on screen for everyone. He gets to the last page… silence.
Then boom. Different name. Different details. Different human being entirely.
The laughter that erupted on that Zoom call ehn, That guy instantly became a campus legend.
And that’s when one of my favorite jokes was born:
If you’re going to be lazy, at least be brilliant about your laziness.
We laughed, but later that day, something deeper hit me.
Because isn’t that what many of us are doing with success? Copy and paste.
We look at someone who has made it and we say: “Let me just do what they did so I can be where they are.”
It sounds smart. But it is a low level way of thinking.
Let me help you with an example.
Let’s take Tunde for example. He wants to be wealthy. He looks at Otedola, and finds a couple of articles about Otedola.
The headline reads: Otedola, Oil and Gas Billionaire.
Tunde’s brain quickly calculates: If Otedola → Oil and Gas → Wealth, then Me → Oil and Gas → Wealth.
Not wrong. But shallow. I call it Layer 1 Understanding. (Not incorrect, but incomplete)
You see, in order to truly learn from the successful, you have to move from just reading the headlines, to making attempts to deconstruct the architecture of their success.
Let me explain. You see every piece of successful advice is just like an onion, it has layers. For the sake of this writeup, I’ll explain it in three layers.
Let’s call it the “CON” layers, I’ll outline them below, follow me closely.
1. CONtent -The direct things they tell you they did to become successful (e.g they were into xyz business).
2. CONcept - The underlying principles backing what they did (e.g hard work, strategic connections, positioning).
4. CONtext - The other elements in the equation that enabled them to succeed.
Let me break down The 3 CONs of Success even further to help you, using our Tunde and Otedola example.
The 3 CONs
1. CONtent
This is the obvious part. The “Oil and Gas” headline. The surface level gist. Low level thinkers stop here. They just copy and paste. It’s not bad, but it’s a low-probability game.
2. CONcept
This is the principle behind the action. For Otedola, it wasn’t just oil and gas. It was:
Mastery of supply chains
Building unshakable networks
Knowing when to enter and when to cash out
High-stakes negotiation and calculated risk
This is where wisdom lives. Copying the what is easy, but extracting the principles is a second layer of depth.
3. CONtext
This is the part almost everybody ignores. What was Nigeria’s economic climate at the time? What government policies were in play? Who did he have access to that you don’t? What doors were already open for him?
When you understand the frameworks I highlighted above, the way you ask questions will evolve because of a higher quality way of thinking.
You see, the vital question isn't, "What did he do?" The vital question is, "Given my unique resources, my unique skills, and the unique realities of today's world, how can I apply the concepts that made him successful to my own context?"
Next time you see a successful person, look past the obvious content, go a step further and deconstruct the powerful concepts that lie beneath. And most importantly, have the intelligence to assess your own context, and see how best to deploy the concepts you’ve uncovered
That’s where real success is born. It’s not found in a template. It's engineered from first principles.
Stop trying to copy and paste a destiny.
Start building your own.
I hope this helps
-Okunade Boluwaduro
P.S: I’ll most likely have a live session to take these lessons a step further, be the first to know by joining the whatsapp channel for free by clicking here:
(Once you get in, find the bell Icon at the top right and ensure its active, usually notifications are muted by default)
a master piece, beautifully constructed
Real success is born. It's not found in a template. It's engineered from first principles. 📝
Thank you Sir B.