Contrarian hook: disagree with the standard advice, then earn it in 20 seconds
Template for the hook that reverses what the audience has been told, with the two rules that separate it from rage bait: quote the standard advice fairly, and name the case where it still holds.
Write 5 contrarian hooks for a short video about {topic}. The contrarian hook works because the viewer has heard the standard advice and now has to find out why it is wrong; it becomes rage bait when the standard advice is misquoted or when the reversal has no limit. Each hook must quote the standard advice as its followers would say it, and the video must name the case where the standard advice is still right. Templates to fill: - '{Standard advice} is wrong for {this audience}.' - 'Everyone says {standard advice}. I did the opposite for {time}.' - 'The advice to {standard advice} is costing you {specific thing}.' - 'You do not need {thing everyone says you need}.' - '{Standard advice}? Only if {condition}.' Rules: max 12 words, the standard advice is real and common (write who says it under the hook), the video's reason is something I can show, and the CONCESSION (when the old advice holds) is written under each hook. No hooks against safety advice. Return: 5 hooks, each with WHO SAYS THE STANDARD ADVICE, MY REASON (one line, showable), and CONCESSION, ranked by how widely the standard advice is held.
In Claude Code, paste the prompt as a message.
Example
Topic: learning a language as an adult.
- ‘An hour a day is the wrong target for beginners.’ Who says it: most course outlines. Reason: a 10-minute daily session was kept for 30 days, an hour was dropped by day 4 (my own calendar). Concession: an hour works once the habit exists.
- ‘Everyone says start with grammar. I started with the menu.’ Who: school textbooks. Reason: 200 food words got me through a dinner in week 3. Concession: grammar is needed to go past ordering.
- ‘You do not need to speak to natives in month one.’ Who: immersion advice. Reason: recorded voice notes to myself, compared day 10 and day 30. Concession: from month two, a real conversation a week.
- ‘Finishing the app’s course is the wrong goal.’ Who: the app’s own streak screen. Reason: switching units when bored gave the biggest score jump. Concession: finishing matters for an exam.
- ‘Studying at night? Only if you test yourself in the morning.’ Who: anyone with a day job. Reason: the midnight day scored lowest on the evening test. Concession: night works when morning is impossible.
Tips
- Quote the standard advice fairly. A reply to a straw man gets stitched by someone who knows better.
- The concession is the credibility. Write it before the hook; if you cannot find one, you are not contrarian, you are wrong or the advice was never standard.
| works with | Claude: Paste into claude.ai or the Claude app. · ChatGPT: Paste into ChatGPT; works with any GPT model. · Claude Code: Runs as a skill or a prompt in the terminal; can read your files and write the result. · Any LLM: Model-agnostic: Gemini, Mistral, a local model. |
| cost | Free. No API, no key. |
| status | Unverified: written from the technique, not yet run end to end by us. |
| license | CC BY 4.0 for the text here; skills are MIT. |
| updated | 2026-11-01 |
| for agents | hook-archetype-contrarian.md |
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Template for the hook that opens a gap and names when it closes, with the rule that keeps it from being clickbait: the withheld fact is real, single, and delivered where you said it would be.
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