The Terrible Advice of 'If You Just Master X'

If you just master X, you can achieve Y

Have you ever seen advice or posts like this?

Whenever I see this, I feel quite murderous.

My first thought is that that's exactly what's difficult about it.

It's no different from saying,

'If you win the lottery, you can become rich.'

The premise is too heavy for the conclusion; it's not that the conclusion follows from the premise, but rather that the conclusion is already contained within the premise, creating a circular state.

All you can say is, 'Well, obviously.'

Just like the word 'essence,' the term itself is extremely vague and open to such a wide range of interpretations that it easily leads to misunderstandings.

Despite being a strong statement, it's essentially saying nothing at all, just like the word 'essence.'

And have you noticed this? This way of communicating is incredibly advantageous for the person saying it.

So, how many people out there currently have something they have 'mastered'?

I suspect there are very few.

And even those who claim to have mastered something, when viewed objectively or by someone with more skill,

are often in a state where they can't be said to have mastered it at all, aren't they?

In short, unless the state of 'mastery' is made more concrete, the person making the claim is protected by an ironclad defense.

Because even if you practice their method, they can just retort like this:

'Did you really master it?'

How many people could answer that question with, 'Yes, I mastered it'?

Even if they could, since the person making the claim hasn't defined the state of mastery, they can just make unreasonable demands to drag you into a state of not having mastered it.

Because things like this exist, I think it's such a dishonest way of putting things.

Similar phrases like 'if you understand the essence' or 'if you understand it in the true sense' are in the same category.

It's just an excuse.

It allows people to just ask, 'Did you really understand the essence?' or 'Did you really understand it in the true sense?'

The education industry is often called a gathering of low-level losers, but

I think this kind of carelessness is one of the reasons.

In reality, it's easier and leads to higher evaluations to just give vague, comforting praise, so
I think it's also bad that a win-win relationship is established for both the person doing it and the person receiving it.

This is also true for YouTube and exam advice, isn't it?

Without even properly researching, people just look up famous reference books and say 'this is good,' or randomly cram things together to call it a 'reference book route,' or say 'the essence doesn't change, so it doesn't matter which one you use.'

It's easier and more rewarding to say things that sound plausible.

I am somehow managing to keep going with just a shred of conscience and pride.