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A lot of advice is like a video game weapon. The sword or w/e is unnecessarily ornate and not practical. That doesn't mean it doesn't have value. The ornateness helps with marketing and confidence and application. But you should never lose sight of where the cutting edge is.

Take "be contrarian" with regards to investing. The "fancy" interpretation is being able to spot the next big thing before everyone else and HODL it even in the face of mockery.

The more prosaic advice there can be something like "Avoid stocks with high price-to-sales ratios because historically that is the best indicator to check if that company is over-hyped."

See how the advice becomes so boring that it disappears in the latter? There's intuitive understanding that a mob is crazy and to stay away from things that are over-hyped. There not even a need to say "Be contrarian".

The trouble with aphorisms is that they're often similarly ornate(poetic). Anyone who has had real world experience sees through it as "fake". E.g. a butcher does not want or need a knife with fancy nooks and crannies and magic rune engravings.

Just like video games transport you into a different world, an elaborate metaphor also is trying to "teleport" you into a different state. E.g. "swing the sword like a fishing rod" doesn't require you to literally believe the sword is a fishing rod.

The more the 'magic' of a metaphor can be parsed, the more concrete the action that results. "Leveling up" ironically is about *reducing* the amount of magic in the world b/c you can do more stuff yourself rather than watch in awe as other people do it.

Same goes for spiritual woo, the stuff that sounds like literally insane magic. (it's telling that the most common entry point is psychedelics...) "think for yourself" means that your heading is right when you feels the loss of magic. You're "disillusioning" yourself.