0.1% Ideas: 7 Trojan Horses To Avoid
Beware of Trojan Horses.
Hello!
One trap I've seen myself and others fall into: Trojan Horses.
I've not heard anyone talk about this topic for modern life -- which felt like a great inspiration to write a piece on it.
7 Trojan Horses To Avoid
Trojan Horses are behaviors that appear positive – but harm you in disguise.
Trojan Horses can be worse than obvious harmful behaviors because you’re under the illusion it’s positive.
It’s degenerate behavior but with great branding.
1. Trojan News
The Horse - Keep up to date on the news to feel like an informed citizen.
The Outcome - Spiked cortisol levels. End up less informed by consuming opinion pieces that turn out to be wrong 12 months from now.
2. Trojan Business
The Horse - Read about the latest business trends.
The Outcome - Shiny object syndrome. Envy of Entrepreneurs presented reality vs hidden reality.
3. Trojan Payrise
The Horse - 50% increase in salary to join competitor.
The Outcome - Traded earning for learning. Loss aversion to go back down the ladder is now greater.
4. Trojan Nutrition
The Horse - Healthy glass of orange juice full of vitamin C.
The Outcome - 50g of pure sugar in your blood stream.
5. Trojan Workouts
The Horse - Lift weight too heavy because YouTube guru says you’re lazy.
The Outcome - Incorrect form that causes serious injury and months to recover.
6. Trojan Dating
The Horse - Date the best-looking person purely to show off on your Instagram.
The Outcome - People view your Instagram for 2 seconds of their day. You spend 10 hours per day with someone you have nothing in common with.
7. Trojan Thinking
The Horse - Try to think your way out of overthinking.
The Outcome - You make the problem 10x worse. Trying to think your way out of overthinking is like trying to snort your cocaine addiction away.
The great irony of Trojan Horses: In your desire to move things forward, you actually moved things backward.
You would’ve been better off doing nothing at all.
Sometimes it’s actually better to the degenerate alternative to the trojan horse – at least you’re not under any false assumptions.
If you can't explain the concept in a meme, you don't understand it...
If you enjoyed this, you can share this essay on Twitter (X) here.
