Cheat code
Etymology
From literal video-game cheat codes — secret button sequences (the Konami Code being the famous example) that unlock extra lives, invincibility, or other advantages. The phrase broadened into a metaphor for any real-world advantage that feels like cheating the normal difficulty.
noun · /CHEET kohd/
An unfair-seeming shortcut or advantage that makes something far easier than it should be.
What it names
It names any hack that feels like breaking the rules of a system — a trick, resource, or trait that gives you outsized results, as in "that’s a cheat code for life."
Example
Learning to speed-read was a cheat code for getting through law school.
Related idea
Different from a life hack, which is a clever efficiency; a cheat code implies an advantage so large it feels almost unfair.