Question

At work, there are many occasions when I have to make myself work on something that I don’t like. It doesn’t seem to suit me well and things don’t go as intended, so I wonder if it’s really necessary that I do it. Then when I look at my colleagues and superiors around me who adjust well and work hard, I start feeling inferior.

Answer

Not everything in the world will happen your way. As you work, you may have to do work that doesn’t exactly suit you, but there are also many times that you will work on something that does. This is the case for everyone at any job. Rather than contemplating about whether or not you should do that job, how about saying “OK”? But if you still feel too unsure at the moment you decide, try the following steps.

1. Reflect on yourself about why you don’t want to do the work.

Why don’t I want to do it? What do I seek to gain from that work? Ask yourself such questions and reflect. Do I not want to do the work because it doesn’t suit my personality? Or because I don’t like the people I work with? Or because there’s no sense of achievement? Or because it is overwhelming? Look into your mind and find the reasons why.

2. If you have to do the work even if you don’t want to, then say “OK”.

If you say “OK”, you can at least start to make yourself work. Once you accept the work that you don’t want to do, then you can start to see the positive aspects of it and will gain courage that you can do it. Thinking that you don’t want to do it will make you dislike the work more, but if you say “OK”, your attitude can change. Additionally, if you throw away the various mindsets and thoughts that you found in the previous step through meditation, you will be able to say “OK” more easily. Since not everything in the world will be something you want to work on, if you overcome one task at a time, you will grow to become a better you.

I am a guy who meditates.

Meditation has become the motivation for my daily routine.

I started meditation so that I could just have my own time, and also to rest.

Before meditation, I couldn’t relax when I was trying to rest.

Even after working all day, I would still think about work when I was about to go to sleep at night.

Well, that didn’t mean I was such a hard worker, however I would constantly replay episodes at work, or think about jobs that hadn’t been completed: to-do lists, and any unresolved projects.

This pattern of my mind would make me stay up at night or even if I slept, I was far from having quality sleep.

I had too much to do and felt exhausted. I would take some days off and go on vacation, but it still was never easy to recover from my mind.

People would tell me to rest, but I realized it was not something that had to do with the physical relaxation.

As I was meditating, I realized that it was my mind that had to be figured out.

Meditation enabled me to organize what was going on in my work life.

Through meditation, I was able to sort out and let go of to-do lists, should’ve done lists, and my thoughts and emotions about my relationships with people.

When you are at work, you become self-conscious of others’ opinions.

Since I was getting so much feedback from my superiors, colleagues, and other associates, I was getting lost in what I really needed to do and what I wanted.

Work was getting more difficult and I was not happy.

For me, meditation was the process of seeking answers-

the process of focusing on my inner voice and figuring out what I want.

Thanks to meditation, now I can sleep better, and I can focus better at work.

Written by MAX

There may be clear-cut answers in life.

But when those answers are hard to find, our minds are left troubled and vexed.

Though many times, there may be definite answers, there are also times that no one can give an answer, and also times when anyone can give an answer.

In Greek mythology, Icarus is known as a failure.

Icarus and his father, Daedalus, made wings to escape the Labyrinth. Daedalus warned him not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus did not follow the advice; and while flying too high, the wax melted and the wings fell apart, so Icarus fell into the sea and died.

The lesson commonly taught with this story is a warning against conceit, arrogance, and challenging authority. Daedalus, however, also warned not to fly too low. He could fall into the water because the wings could get wet.

Generally, we feel that flying low is ‘safe’.

So we come to terms with lower expectations and modest dreams, believing that they are safer; but that makes us bent on avoiding risks. Also, we believe that obeying authority places us in a safe zone where nothing goes wrong. This is because if we don’t waste efforts on thinking ourselves and just follow orders, we can fly closest to the water without flapping our wings.

As society changes, however, what we believe to be a safe zone also gradually changes. Therefore, like Icarus, we need the courage and innovation to fly high.

One must fly higher, by breaking free from the comfort and bubble that he has made, to overcome his limitations and achieve change and success for himself.

In order to do this, one must know oneself well. You must know where you are, what you believe is safe, what you believe is the answer, and what it is that you want.

Meditation is helpful in finding your self.

Through self-reflection, you can find the path that you seek. Instead of answers that others give, you will find your own direction and exciting answers.

Moreover, meditation clears out the garbage in your mind and thus helps in finding direction and answers that you want.

As you clean out the garbage from your mind, one by one, you will realize your own strengths and cultivate your ability to make your own choices and find your own answers instead of relying on others’ decisions and answers.

We all have a line that we’ve drawn within our minds. ‘This is weird’, ‘this is normal’, etc. We try to stay within those lines and are afraid to cross them.

These lines within your mind block you from growing and trap you in your bubble so that you can’t change.

Reference: https://www.facebook.com/0gamm/photos/pcb.1006530009411773/1006529682745139/?type=3&theater

Question

While working, a good business idea came to mind. It was something that I had always wanted to do, but I’m not sure if I will succeed.

At my current job, I am satisfied and even get bonuses. My family also opposes my business idea.

What should I do?

Answer

In cases like this, using the ‘minimax regret’ approach is effective. They say the CEO of Amazon.com also used this approach.
‘Minimax regret’ is thinking about which decision you would regret the least when you are 80 years old.
Will there be less regret at 80 years of age if you do what you want at 30 years old? Or would it be better to continue working at a good job?

What would the bonus you receive now mean to you when you are 80 years old?

To figure this out, you need 2 things.

1. Find your own answer to “What do I really want?”
   If you reflect on yourself carefully, you will be able to find the answer to this question.
   You can find what you are happiest doing and what the fundamental thing that you want is when you reflect on the life you have lived.
2. Your attitude is important.
   If you decide to give something a try, do not be fazed by the many feelings that may bring—fear, loneliness, insecurity, etc.—and just push through. If you cannot focus on what you have decided to do, you will be left with regret and without results.

Reference:

https://www.vingle.net/posts/1174887-%EC%95%84%EB%A7%88%EC%A1%B4-CEO-%EC%A0%9C%ED%94%84-%EB%B2%A0%EC%A1%B0%EC%8A%A4%EC%9D%98-%ED%9B%84%ED%9A%8C-%EC%B5%9C%EC%86%8C%ED%99%94-%ED%94%84%EB%A0%88%EC%9E%84

“When you meditate, you can discard these kind of mindsets.”

1. Selfishness

You can never be successful when you think YOU must be the only one to succeed.

2. Negative mind

You can never be successful when you are being negative and pessimistic on the projects given.

3. Timidity

Work is about cooperation. It is good to ask colleagues if you do not know something. If you do not know, learn. That is what your workplace for.

Why do we have to be able to take charge of our emotions?

Because when you feel depressed, the emotion bursts and you lash out on other people.

What would you do if you were told by your boss to do something you don’t want to do or even something illegal?

Then if you do those things, what emotions would you feel?

Under those circumstances, the majority of people would feel humiliated and it would be a blow to their pride. Yet they are unable to express their anger and would be like a repressed coil-spring.

This repressed anger ends up erupting on the weak, not on those who are stronger.

If somebody tries to repress us, we need to have the ability to take charge of our emotions, enabling us to overcome them.

For this, we need to self-reflect and track down the roots of our emotions.

Your current state of mind is simply the accumulation from the past.

In other words, everyone can track down the roots of one’s entire mind: sense of humiliation, pride and loneliness, etc. Upon subtracting those roots, you can become the owner of your emotions.

When you confidently become the owner of emotions,

your job is now to take charge of the emotions as the owner of them.

However, when one fails to be the owner of one’s own emotions,

he ends up an imitator of the owner of the emotion, while hitting, criticizing and scolding others.

When you are unable to take charge of your emotions confidently, the harm is inflicted on those you care about most.

Do not be self-conscious no matter what circumstances or relationships you are in, and become the owner of your own emotions!

Source: https://www.facebook.com/theworldchangingstory/photos/pcb.853669634754399/853669198087776/?type=3&theater

When you work in a company, you hear stories from a lot of people.

I became to think that other people were better than me, and as I carried out tasks following the system, I felt like I was gradually disappearing.

Therefore, I started meditation to spend time for myself.

I did various types of meditation.

All kinds of meditation helped me. However, out of those, I liked self-reflection meditation most.

This was because it allowed me to think and get to know about who I am as a person.

I was able to examine the image of myself at work etc., and the life that I have lived.

Through this, I learnt that I had made a suffocating fence and trapped myself within it.

Self-reflection meditation gave me a chance to find ‘myself.’

I was able to find whatever that was deep inside of me, as well as ruminate about what I wanted.

I have realized who ‘myself’ is,’ and am currently living life according to it.

Question

You must come up with a fresh episode every week to continue broadcasting. Not only that, your program has been loved for long time. That means people have high expectations and you need to satisfy them. I’m curious how you can overcome such a big burden every week, and how you manage your stress? Can you please share your own stress management tips?

Answer

In the beginning, I used to exercise. But I have no time for exercise nowadays.

Some people tell me that my workload should be reduced since I now have more staff under me. But I became busier as more staff came to work. I was given the new task of managing people.

This is a kind of job in which we need to work together as a team, so it is important not to hurt each other’s feelings.

It wasn’t so easy giving good explanations about the need for doing a certain task and persuading them to do it.

Of course, I often got stress. But in the meantime, I came up with a new habit. I became forgetful. I easily forget things. This might be how I deal with my stress.

Especially after big issues hit me, people around me are more concerned and ask me, “Are you really okay?”

But they are not big deals to me.

I don’t need to consume my energy in things that have already happened.

What’s next on my agenda is quite obvious so I need to sort it out quickly and move on to the next.

As I experienced many of the big issues, they rather helped me to have peace of mind.

We do preparations for recordings. Often times, the actual products do not show how much we had to prepare for them. I say to my staff, “We did our best so it’s not our fault.”

Then, people working together become more helpful.

If we really did our best without regrets, we could accept the outcomes, no matter how those outcomes came out because that’s the most and best we could come up with.

An episode is aired, and then we prepare for the next one. If we found something to improve, we could work on that and move on to the next project.

I used the term ‘forgetful’ but I mean I try to quickly forget about what has already happened and that becomes a driving force to move on and move forward to the next job.

Source: Contents Korea, Speech by Director Kim Tae-Ho

Life is about taking the right direction, not speeding up.

One day, there was a mass ‘springbok’ death in Africa.

Springboks are animals that usually form in big flocks of hundreds and graze in the arid grassland in Africa. They are as speedy as 94km/h so cannot be easily hunted by savage beasts, even speedy ones like cheetahs.

But one day, the springboks died off in a mass death.

Scientists have studied their habits and behaviors to understand this phenomenon. They have found a surprising fact from the study.

Springboks are naturally born with great appetites. But since they usually graze in flocks, they face competition. The ones at the back speed up to get ahead of the ones in the front to eat more grass. Then, those in the front speed up even more not to get taken over. In this way, hundreds of Springboks lost their purpose and desperately ran and ran until they fell into a river or fell off a cliff. That’s how they ended up dying in a mass death.

The ‘Springbok Phenomenon’ refers to people who are busily following others blindly, not aware of the direction in their lives.

When you live chasing the lifestyles of others, you sometimes forget your own purpose and direction in life.

Sometimes, your life might seem to go more slowly than others’ or might not be as good as theirs. But you never need to be impatient. You never need to waste your time making meaningless comparisons and feeling bad about them.

Look at nature. There are millions of beautiful flowers. The blooming periods differ from one another but their beauty never changes.

Keep this in mind:

Life is not a matter of speeding up to the destination, but taking the right direction.