Sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed, I look to the teachers of the past for sound advice. Last Sunday night, I chose Aesop, whose fables shaped my childhood. The copy I read had all the classics, like “The Hare and the Tortoise,” “The Lion and the Mouse” and “The Goose and the Golden Eggs,” as well as some lesser known stories.
After some browsing, I landed on “The Cat and the Fox.” In this story, the two characters are walking in the woods. The Fox boasts about his numerous plans of escape, while the Cat has only one. But when a pack of hounds attacks, the Cat seeks refuge in a tree, while the Fox, unable to carry out his strategies, is torn to pieces. I like two things about Aesop’s stories: firstly, he titled each of his 725 fables so efficiently. I only have to say “The Hare and the Grasshopper” for you to know exactly which fable I am talking about. Secondly, in just one or two pages, he conveys as much meaning as any contemporary novel. Talk about conciseness. If two pages is still too long for you, don’t fret — just read the last line.
While it isn’t often that we find ourselves being chased by a pack of hounds, his advice is still relevant today: “Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot depend.”
With the rise of the internet, learning new things is easier than ever. Back in the day, people predominantly learned from their parents and their peers. Perhaps, if they needed additional mentorship, they looked to their teachers and priests. Now, advice is all over the web. Yet whether or not it is sound is highly questionable.
Now, people give advice on things they know nothing about, to people that didn’t even ask. We see this with forums such as Quora and Reddit, with comments under videos and posts and — in a sense — with the videos and posts themselves. While I too am guilty of falling into a few Reddit rabbit holes, too much is just too much.
A significant part of the problem is that we are force-fed advice that is constantly changing. From fitness advice to relationship advice to college admissions advice, advice-givers cannot agree. Influencers come up with a different “hot new thing” every month. Some topics are more susceptible to developing trends than others. However, the underlying motivation is clear: Advice-givers are either trying to grow their fan base or their wallet.
Some influencers don’t try to hide it; the trend of hustle bro culture is alive and growing. After dabbling on sharing their financial advice, these astute businessmen offer their services, which come in the forms of online courses or counseling sessions. Others are more subtle. For instance, fitness influencers often “swear by” a certain brand of protein powder that they just so happen to be sponsored by. When these marketing geniuses offer “advice” in order to sell something, this might lead to consumers overpaying for a mediocre product. However, content creators sometimes share advice to create controversy or with malicious intent. This can get problematic: Their young and impressionable audiences might actually decide to follow their guidance.
With all things, there is a corner on the internet reserved for higher education. From productivity tips to move-in day essentials to pointers on how to “beat” college admissions, the list never ends. And the content never stops being created. You’d think there were enough college admissions reaction videos out there to quench every high school senior’s thirst, and yet every year, a new wave of them rolls out. We watch these videos like we used to watch Dora the Explorer. Every episode is pretty much the same and yet we still ate up every single one.
A surprising number of Dukies admit to having watched “How to get into Duke” videos before applying. Whether or not these videos helped us be admitted is hard to tell. Current Duke students, alumni and admission officers tell viewers to both have “talent and the inclination to use it,” which seems harmless enough. However, there are hidden costs to watching college admissions advice. Firstly, it feels productive. Listening to advice about how to do something feels like doing the thing itself. In reality, it uses up a lot of time, which some procrastinators could have used to start their “Why Duke?” essay. Secondly, it leads to disappointment. No matter how many advice videos one watches, how many blogs one reads, acceptance into any one college is not guaranteed. There are hundreds of videos on Youtube about “How to get into Harvard” and even more videos of students opening their admission letter. However, Harvard tries to make it clear to their applicants that being admitted is not so straightforward.
Indeed, almost nothing in life is straightforward. Most outcomes are a combination of inputs, some which we can control, some which we can’t. Then, losing brain cells trying to find the perfect solution to a problem is futile. Even if we followed every piece of advice out there, we still would, on occasion, fail. And probably go mad in the process.
In that case, we would be much better off with only one strategy that is tried and true, leaving the rest up to chance. This has very practical implications, like getting healthy, for instance. We could spend years trying all the different workouts and diets available on the internet and inevitably find that the real “ultimate” strategy is not a specific workout or diet, but consistency.
If you’ve had stage fright, you’ve probably tried to picture everybody naked. If you’ve lacked self-confidence, you’ve probably tried to say nice things to your reflection in the mirror. If you’ve felt unproductive, you’ve probably color-blocked your entire google calendar; you now have tasks lined up to last you until the end of 2025. There is enough advice out there to try everything once and then never have to use it again. Like the Fox, we have a hundred strategies that “might work” up our sleeve. We are wary of the Cat, because having only one strategy feels risky. What if it should fail us?
This applies to many aspects of life. Having no backups feels scary. Yet, having too many backups can take away from the main strategy — the one that might actually work. For instance, we tend to want a large group of friends, forgetting that perhaps having only a few friends that we can rely on is enough. In fact, having only a few friends would allow us to put more time and energy into each friendship.
Then, the goal isn’t to try every possible solution, nor to have a hundred backup plans. The goal is to have a handful of strategies that we can rely on. Concentrating our solutions will give us practice using each strategy as well as some mental clarity. In a world that continuously tells us that there is a better way, it is difficult not to turn our heads. However, we can begin to realize that we don’t need all the advice the world has to offer. Sometimes, we only need to know how to climb a tree.
Anna Garziera is a Trinity first-year. Her column typically runs on alternate Wednesdays.
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