A Life Management Note from a Certain Scholar E-Book

Young (Hwa) Kwon

• Herausgeber: Knowledge Platform
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 248

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Everyone has one life. Life is precious to everyone as it is. Come to think of it, life isn\'t that long. Then shouldn\'t everyone have a meaning in his life? When I look at the present era, I feel sorry for many people because they seem to just live their lives for no particular purpose. Everyone is living with the same
amount of relative time. However, some people are living their lives faithfully, recognizing the purpose of their lives and cherishing the time they were given. A person who is faithful to life based on his purpose makes his life more valuable.
Therefore, they differ in their attitude towards life. To make life more valuable, you must make your life richer by managing yourself more thoroughly and developing it in a better way. Everyone has a different definition of success, but this kind of a person can live a successful life.

Everyone has a different way of living his life. But there is always a cause for all the consequences. When we think that success is getting what you want, a successful person has every reason to have success in the way he spends his life. These people are thorough in self-development and know how to control themselves. And they try to live their life in a way that is more helpful to society, not just for their own benefit. Wouldn\'t it be better for our society if everyone lived in this world with that attitude?

It is by no accident that we were born into this world at this time. It is said that the probability that we will be born as a human is very low. Being born as a human being is a blessing to everyone. Everyone has a reason for being born in the world. If they fully realize that, they can wholly enjoy such blessings. So, how can you live your life, so that you don\'t regret it when you die? We all need to think about this question deeply. If you\'ve never thought of this before, then reflect back on your life, and think. We all have to ask ourselves why we live our lives, what we live for, and how we live our lives. Answering these questions can make our lives more meaningful. Some people are happy with their lives right now and may want to live like they currently do without any specific changes. However, it is this writer\'s opinion that it is our duty to live a life which encompasses growth and improvement. Everything in the world is bound to change over time in a progressive direction to suit the circumstances of the time.

It can be exhilarating to adapt well to changes in your life and to grow in a positive direction. Everyone deserves to pursue such a life, which is a way to make life meaningful. There are many difficulties and sufferings in life. I also had a difficult time at an early age due to my failure of a high school entrance exam, but I was able to overcome it and become a professor. In such a process of suffering and hardship, human beings tend to grow. And there are many opportunities in life. The person who can seize such an opportunity must be as ready as he can be. There is no such thing as a free lunch. It is natural to pay that much to seize such an opportunity.

To get the opportunity that you want, you also need a determination and a challenge, which can lead to many setbacks. But these are only part of the process of turning you into a more mature human being. Therefore, you can feel great hope and satisfaction in life by not being afraid of anything, and by trying
out new things. Can you really enjoy your life if you just live the same life every day without any changes? Human beings are able to taste the real taste of life in a challenging and a growing life. Therefore, I hope you will live a life that grows as you try and fail a lot.

Leseprobe

A life management note from a certain scholar by Young (Hwa) Kwon

Prologue

Everyone has one life. Life is precious to everyone as it is. Come to think of it, life isn’t that long. Then shouldn’t everyone have a meaning in his life? When I look at the present era, I feel sorry for many people because they seem to just live their lives for no particular purpose. Everyone is living with the same amount of relative time. However, some people are living their lives faithfully, recognizing the purpose of their lives and cherishing the time they were given. A person who is faithful to life based on his purpose makes his life more valuable. Therefore, they differ in their attitude towards life. To make life more valuable, you must make your life richer by managing yourself more thoroughly and developing it in a better way. Everyone has a different definition of success, but this kind of a person can live a successful life.

Everyone has a different way of living his life. But there is always a cause for all the consequences. When we think that success is getting what you want, a successful person has every reason to have success in the way he spends his life. These people are thorough in self-development and know how to control themselves. And they try to live their life in a way that is more helpful to society, not just for their own benefit. Wouldn’t it be better for our society if everyone lived in this world with that attitude?

It is by no accident that we were born into this world at this time. It is said that the probability that we will be born as a human is very low. Being born as a human being is a blessing to everyone. Everyone has a reason for being born in the world. If they fully realize that, they can wholly enjoy such blessings.

So, how can you live your life, so that you don’t regret it when you die? We all need to think about this question deeply. If you’ve never thought of this before, then reflect back on your life, and think. We all have to ask ourselves why we live our lives, what we live for, and how we live our lives. Answering these questions can make our lives more meaningful. 

 Some people are happy with their lives right now and may want to live like they currently do without any specific changes. However, it is this writer’s opinion that it is our duty to live a life which encompasses growth and improvement. Everything in the world is bound to change over time in a progressive direction to suit the circumstances of the time.

It can be exhilarating to adapt well to changes in your life and to grow in a positive direction. Everyone deserves to pursue such a life, which is a way to make life meaningful. 

There are many difficulties and sufferings in life. I also had a difficult time at an early age due to my failure of a high school entrance exam, but I was able to overcome it and become a professor. In such a process of suffering and hardship, human beings tend to grow. And there are many opportunities in life. The person who can seize such an opportunity must be as ready as he can be. There is no such thing as a free lunch. It is natural to pay that much to seize such an opportunity.

To get the opportunity that you want, you also need a determination and a challenge, which can lead to many setbacks. But these are only part of the process of turning you into a more mature human being. Therefore, you can feel great hope and satisfaction in life by not being afraid of anything, and by trying out new things. Can you really enjoy your life if you just live the same life every day without any changes? Human beings are able to taste the real taste of life in a challenging and a growing life. Therefore, I hope you will live a life that grows as you try and fail a lot.

August 2020 Young (Hwa) Kwon

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1. Even if you fail, you can succeed by trying again

1. A challenging life is beautiful

2. Failure is also a medicine

3. Build success in small things

4. Get out of the safety zone

5. Doing anything is important

6. Live a growing life each day

7. Strive

8. Enjoy the risk

9. Be desperate

10. Affirm your success

Chapter 2. What is Life?

1. My life

2. The philosophy of life

3. Past, present and future life

4. An altruistic life

5. Life without comparing to others

6. A valuable life

7. Happiness in life

8. Life and career 

9. Integrity in life

10. The purpose of life

Chapter 3 Self-management in life

1. Habit makes life

2. Focus on one place

3. Have a rational positive mind

4. Speak less and listen intently

5. Reading makes you wiser

6. Meet good people

7. Study constantly

8. Be strict with yourself and generous to others

9. Take good care of your health

10. Do the important thing first

Chapter 4 Attitude towards Life

1. Give meaning to my job

2. An attitude of gratitude

3. Go the right way

4. Be faithful to life

5. Adapt to change

6. Have constant curiosity about everything

7. Question yourself first

8. Don’t make excuses or blame others

9. Change self first

10. Control yourself first

Chapter 5 Goals in Life

1. Are you satisfied with your life?

2. The mission statement of life

3. A once-in-a-lifetime life

4. Imagine your own possibilities

5. Decide firmly

6. Have a definite goal

7. Have conviction

8. Focus on the basics

9. Think differently than others

10. The determining factor

Epilogue

Chapter 1.Even if you fail, you can succeed by trying again

Everyone can succeed by trying again even after failing in life. We always experience failure in the course of our lives but we can learn from the experience. You don’t truly live in this world if you don’t fail. The most important thing to focus on is, who of us can recover quickest and try again. If such failures are built up, you can learn a lesson and experience how to fail through failures, making it easier to succeed next time. Furthermore, through failure, you can look into yourself and get a chance to reflect on yourself. In my opinion, I think if life is like an ocean, it’s more dangerous if we don’t fail, because if we don’t know the bitterness and the pain of failure, it is harder to weather the rougher seas ahead.

There is a high possibility that a person who doesn’t challenge themselves for fear of failing will regret it before he dies. Challenges to get what you want must be risky and you should know how to take it and enjoy it. Furthermore, everyone must suffer from a pain and a hardship to grow. Therefore, everyone should take for granted the failure that comes in the process of a challenge. Only those who can enjoy these challenges and failures can get what they truly want. In addition to this, we have to struggle with desperation in the process of trying to get what we want. Whatever you want, you need to be desperate to achieve it. This means that your desire for success can be fought with passion. Furthermore, in order to have a higher chance of success, you must frequently affirm yourself that you will succeed. As young people in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era, I implore you to embrace failure in the process of this challenge.

1A challenging life is beautiful

Let’s consider a life that doesn’t challenge? It’s likely this type of life will be monotonous and boring. If you live a stable life without worrying about anything, you may feel comfortable, but you’ll feel as though something is missing. From my perspective, this is what we should avoid at all costs. Of course, there are people who don’t think so. However, life is short, and just living comfortably is an empty life. Imagine instead as an example living a life full of beauty. There is such a person who lives such a beautiful life; Han, Biya, the daughter of the wind. She gives dreams and hope to many young people by constantly challenging new things throughout her life. Despite her elderly status, she continues to challenge herself with her heart-stopping work. She left the following wise words about the challenge:

“If you were born as a camel, go to the desert and challenge yourself. If you were born as a tiger, go to the forest and challenge yourself. Camels in the forest and tigers in the desert can’t find their dreams. Don’t worry about what you’ll eat. Challenge yourself by wanting something so desperately that you go beyond that worry.”

This advice can guide us on where we should be heading. Challenges mean a lot to her and that is why she lives life beautifully. Life is not about following another’s path, but about challenging yourself with a new path that others have not yet taken.

Life’s journey is a series of challenges. Can we achieve what we want without challenging ourselves? You can’t get what you want just by waiting. You can get what you want only by trying. And you have to sacrifice for what you truly want.

It’s not worth it if we get it for free. To take up the challenge, we have to get out of our comfort zone and put up with inconvenience. Most people want to stay in safety zones. If this happens, there will be no growth or development. On the contrary, there is a greater chance of retrogression. If you don’t have an attitude that can handle being inconvenienced, you’ll only pursue comfort. Comfort can be a poison to life. A person can only grow up when he suffers from a failure and a hardship while being challenged. The result is, you can feel a sense of accomplishment and joy in the process of a challenge.

I have also tried many things in the past and I am not afraid of challenges now. Of course, I used to be a little scared and unsure when I tried new things at first. However, if you continue to challenge yourself, you will get used to the work and gain steady confidence. A variety of challenges will give you a know-how, an experience, a confidence and speed up your growth.

Therefore, as challenges pile up, you can quickly get used to anything and do it well. That doesn’t mean you should challenge everything. Time is finite, so that’s not possible. Life is short enough even if you only take up the challenges of what you want.

In Stan Beecham’s book “Elite Minds”, he discovers that we can never live our lives fully unless we live challenging lives. This is because human beings need to engage in rigorous physical activity to release the highest levels of endorphins1 in our body. He also said, “You have to fulfill your mission and feel a sense of accomplishment before you can get dopamine2 out.” Humans inherently push themselves and their bodies to the limit, and in return the body rewards us.

As such, if you continue to pursue challenges in life, you will feel less pain and more joy, which will make your life more meaningful.

Not only this, but the joy of accomplishing a challenging task, gives you a real taste of life. Isn’t that why we live our lives? It gets the heart beating to challenge something that you want to do, and you feel a lot of joy in the process of it. Of course, there are times when you face hard and difficult tasks. However, you can feel happy and rewarded when you achieve something that is hard and difficult. Many people regret that they did not do what they wanted to do when they were younger. Why didn’t I challenge myself? That’s what I’m talking about. Are you confident that you won’t regret not challenging yourself, before you’re too old to do it? Perhaps, many people who are in my generation now may also regret the challenges they didn’t attempt in their youth. But age doesn’t matter to the challenge. Don’t focus on age or other excuses. I challenge you to remember this: Carpe diem - “seize the day”.

Lao Tzu said, “Talent is innate. However, most people do not realize their talents for the whole of their lives. If you try it right now, you’ll see.” Yes, you should try to find out what you are good at. So why don’t you try it? Isn’t it possible that you might have a talent for the job?

He who always challenges stays young. He who is so busy trying doesn’t have time to grow old. How interesting is life? 

Are you too afraid to challenge yourself for fear of failure? If there is anything you want, your life will be a great joy when you get it. Of course, the joy in the challenging process may be greater than the result. Challenge is a beautiful thing.

2 Failure is also a medicine

What comes to mind when you hear the word “failure”? If you think of frustration and despair, think again. If you can’t think of anything else, that’s most likely why you can’t succeed. There is a saying that failure is the mother of success. Only when you experience a failure, you can succeed. Or rather, it is more dangerous to succeed without a falling first, because it’s hard to maintain success after success, if you didn’t first fail. To succeed without experiencing failure can lead to becoming conceited and arrogant. However, the more a person has failed, the more difficult it is to have conceit and arrogance. Therefore, a person who has experienced failures many times and then succeeded is likely to maintain success longer than a person who has succeeded without experiencing such failure. So what is a real failure? 

In my opinion it’s a failure if you aren’t challenged. It’s the loser who doesn’t try. A failure is often a medicine for an individual in the course of a challenge. And the more you experience failures, the closer you get to success. Because the more you fail, the more you realize how you fall, so you learn how to get up. Thus, the more failures you have, the less likely you will fail in the future and you will get more chances of succeeding. Furthermore, through failures, you can look back on yourself and with the experience of failures, you can get a chance to do better in the future. 

Let’s take the example of Michael Jordan, a world-class basketball player who turned a failure into a success.

When he was in the first year of high school, he was humiliated when he was not selected as a representative player for the school basketball team and another friend was chosen instead. The reason was that Jordan was not very tall (180 centimeters), and not a very good player. This not only shocked Jordan, but also embarrassed him. This humiliation made Jordan determined not to go through this failure again. So he trained with more intensity. Because of this, Jordan grew and created within himself a more enthusiastic attitude towards training. As a result, Jordan turned that failure into the driving force of his success. In other words, the coach cutting him not only served as a stepping stone to his success, but he also learned a valuable lesson from his experience of failure.

If he had not failed at that time, it is highly likely that the world would have robbed of ever seeing ‘The Legend’ that Jordan created. Failure nourished his success. The power of failure can be frightening if the experience of failures is accumulated. By using it, we can learn how to succeed. Therefore, if you overcome despair and frustration caused by failure and take advantage of the experience of failure, success can be just around the corner. So the more opportunities for failure you make, the closer you can get to success. Most success is the result of countless failures. Failure is always a learning experience and a foundation for the next challenge. Furthermore, if we can continue to challenge ourselves without giving up even if we fail, he can always get the chance to succeed. It’s just lack of faith toward success that we give up.

James Dyson, the creator of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, failed more than 5,000 times. Finally, he was able to succeed by bringing his world beating product to the market. Edison experienced 1,000 failures before he invented the longer lasting light bulb. The Wright brothers, who built the first airplane, found a way to succeed after 805 attempts. What they all have in common was they took failure as a natural part of the road to success, continuing to challenge themselves without giving up.

I myself have been able to succeed through many failures. If I hadn’t failed high school, college and graduate school exams, I wouldn’t have been able to get a Ph.D. and became a professor. Even whilst being a professor I’ve failed many times. I’ve failed many job exams and failed to join big companies. This failure gave me a chance to look inside of my mind and it made me stronger. So, I wasn’t afraid of failure. I embraced it. Furthermore, I was able to grow more as a human being and learn from these life lessons.

Recently, companies are also increasingly admitting their failures. In my opinion I think it’s a good thing. Kyungdong Navien, for example, has a corporate culture that encourages failure. If employees fail, they are only required to fill out failure reports. And they encourage researchers to spend more money on research so they can discover new ideas. If a new project fails, they can learn a lesson from it later because of writing a failure report. And believe it or not, those employees who make a lot of failure reports receive incentive packages. Therefore, this company is said to be a paradise for researchers.

Unfortunately most companies are not like this. Korea is quite cold to those who fail. That is why many people are reluctant to take on new challenges. But remember if he can, he is not a loser just because he failed once. As I’ve outlined in this chapter, many of the world’s most successful people were also able to succeed through failure. I think that Koreans can do better in the future if we see failure from a different perspective.

So, I ask you, are you also avoiding new challenges for fear of failure? If so, keep in mind that failure is a medicine. Don’t think of success without experiencing failure. If you don’t, such success won’t last long. That I can guarantee.

3 Build success in small things

It is difficult for anyone to achieve great success. But, success in small steps can be achieved without much effort. If success is accumulated step by step, it can lead to big success. Success brings joy. It is the same for success in small matters. Repeating success in small steps increases your sense of accomplishment and self-esteem, so you will have more opportunities to achieve what you are ultimately aiming for. But it seems that most people don’t value success in small things, but focus more on big success.

There is a theory advocated by Professor Karl Weick at the University of Michigan in the US. It’s a ‘small wins’ strategy. If people feel that a problem is insurmountable, they feel anxious and helpless. As a result, they are pressured, and fall back into doing nothing. They also become frustrated. But if you divide the work into small pieces, you can feel a greater sense of accomplishment. This creates confidence to do bigger things. So Professor Weick advises all of us to start by climbing a small hill if we are afraid to take on the big mountains.

The legendary writer of the book “How to win friends and influence people,” Dale Carnegie, said; “Start small successes. When we get used to success, we will have a confidence that we can do whatever we want to do.” A small success creates a confidence and a self-efficacy, which leads to greater successes. So a true successful person is someone who can continue to achieve small successes.

So, what is small success? You don’t have to think too deeply. In its simplest form, you can start waking up in the morning and clean up your room. Even though it’s a small thing, it’s a big deal when these little things add up.

The following is a speech by William McRaven, a former U.S. Navy captain, on bed arrangement:

“Every morning, if you get out of bed and clean up your quilt and tidy your room, then you will have completed the first task of the day. This gives you a little self-esteem and the courage to perform the next task. Furthermore, at the end of the day, there will be many tasks completed in the work. Cleaning up the bed is a reminder that even the smallest things in life are important. If you don’t do small things right, you can’t do big things right. If you’ve had a miserable day, you’ll come home and see a bed in order. The organized bed will encourage you to get better tomorrow. If you want to change the world, start by getting your bedroom tidy.”

Such a small thing makes a big deal. So try if you can to do small things well in order to do big things. Small beginnings can lead to great success. When you see successful people, they value small things. Small things can pile up little by little, then big things can be achieved.

Most of the reasons we can’t succeed is because goals are often too high. It takes a lot of determination to achieve such a goal. This means changing our daily habits. But the human brain basically recognizes change as a threat. Therefore, the brain instinctively rejects change. This is human nature. Think on this, the success rate of trying to change a habit is only about 8%.

Professor Robert Maurer at the UCLA Medical school says; “Start with a small action, so that to your brain it doesn’t feel like a change.” Small steps could include three minutes a day instead of an hour of exercise or reading for 3 minutes a day instead of 30. A small step is easier for anyone to do. But if these small actions can be repeated, they can get you closer to your goal. 

There is a Korean proverb, “A thousand miles begins with a step.” This also means that you have to start from a single step to go a long way. Maybe, you’ve seen the Great Wall of China on television or in person. Most people would be surprised at first sight, and they say like this, “How could they build such a long wall of that size without special equipment?”

However, the Great Wall of China was built brick by brick, steadily over time. No matter how great a thing is, it would have been built by small steps. This can be said to be like a small build-up of success led to a great success. The Bible says: “Your beginning will be feeble, but your end will be grand.”  In this way, everything starts with a small thing, but it gets bigger if you continue steadily. To achieve such great success, you must continue to make small success. In Ian Robertson’s book, “The Winner Effect,”3 he talks about how an animal that has won a few fights against weak opponents is much more likely to win later bouts against stronger contenders. This also applies to humans. 

How about you? Perhaps you’ve set your goals too high. And you’re sick of not achieving them. If so, consider lowering them. You never know, with smaller steps, you might be able to achieve something great one day.

4 Get out of the safety zone

Most people want to pursue stability and stay in safety zones because they think they don’t need to take a risk and expose themselves to failure. Of course, no one will blame them for pursuing a stable life. But let’s look at it in terms of your own life. 

Can we say that stability is desirable under the current circumstances? Of course, a long time ago in the past, it was possible to stay in a stable life and most people could live a stable life. This is because the economy was growing rapidly and businesses needed a lot of people. So in the past, finding a job was not that difficult and everyone could stay at work until retirement if they wished. Back then, life was shorter, so if you had enough money for 10 years or so safely after retirement, you could live a reasonable quality of life without much trouble.

But what about now? The economic situation is not so good, so it has already entered a standstill situation and companies don’t need many people due to continuous automation. In addition, there is a growing possibility that many people will be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) in the future, eliminating the need for companies to have so many employees. In addition, life has become longer. You need to save more to cover perhaps 30-40 years after you retire. Despite such a rapid change in the economy, many people still pursue a stable and safe life. Of course, if you have a lot of money and can stay stable for all life, that’s not a bad thing. But those who don’t have enough financial resources must either develop the ability to be employed continuously or to live independently in order to live a stable and safe life.

If you live a long life, you will have a life that is not easy. There are good times in life, and there are bad times in life too. Therefore, everyone is bound to suffer from hardships and difficulties. This means that there is a high possibility that life won’t always be stable. If you only pursue stability in life, your life will become monotonous, making you feel unhappy. Human beings basically feel a satisfaction and a joy in the process of a challenge and achieving goals. Furthermore, human have the opportunity to become stronger and grow if they experience difficulties and pains. There is only one thing we can guarantee. The future is bound to change even quicker than the past. The pace of change is getting faster as we go forward. So, ask yourself, if you stay in one place without changing, challenging and upgrading yourself, is that the smartest choice you can make? Or are change and adapting a better approach to take?

The following is a warning about the pursuit of stability from Tadashi Yanai, the Chairman of Uniqlo, the worldwide retail shop: 

“Human beings do not act unless specific goals are clarified. Neither do I.

It is important for a person to have a high level goal because growth stops when he seeks stability. Even if it’s a goal that is simply too high, it’s usually going to work out well if you carefully plan and continue to modify it and move towards it.”

As such, it is more important to at least try to achieve your goals than to stabilize your life. If you are bound by the yoke of stability, you can never live by your own will. If you can’t live your life according to your own will, there is a high chance your life will be unhappy. The main reason is that you could be swayed by the will of others.

The master of your own life must be yourself. That’s the surest way to be truly happy and continue to survive in the modern world of AI. Trying to achieve goals will lead to freedom which will eventually allow you to master your life. In the present economic situation, we’ve already mentioned that stability is only temporary. It’s actually an illusion because society keeps changing. If you ignore this fact and continue to pursue stability, you will be falling behind. And it will be too late to do anything about it. Don’t you think it therefore makes perfect sense to make changes and start to adapt right now, today? If you don’t, future opportunities are likely to pass you by. This I can guarantee you. 

In Kim, Hyunsook’s book, “Bigger Games,” the writer says most people are so comfortable in their safety zones that they find it difficult to escape. The more they try, the more resistance they feel. And this makes them unconsciously strengthen their safety zone. Therefore, the first stage to step out of your safety zone is to raise the safety zone from the unconsciousness level in your mind, to consciousness level. Only when you are conscious, you can fully realize what the problem is and what to do to fix it. Furthermore, the surest way to step out of the safety zone is to develop a new way of doing something, in other words, a new habit. This requires a change of thought pattern, a new paradigm.