Review of『yeokhaengja』

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

📘 **A Book That Gave Me Deep Meaning in the Military** When I was with my fellow soldiers in basic training, one of them brought this book. It seemed that all the soldiers who liked books knew its title and that it was a bestseller. Until now, I had never read many books in my life, and when I did, I would often close them, thinking, "This book isn’t for me," or "Who does this author think they are?" However, after talking with people in basic training who had read a fair amount, I felt a sense of peace and thought, "Couldn’t I grow myself by reading books during my one year and six months of service?" So, I decided to start reading. But now, 50 days into my military service, I felt pathetic seeing myself not even searching for a book, let alone reading one. The thought, "If I buy an ebook right now, won't I read it?" prompted me to purchase it immediately. As this was the first book I would be reading as an adult, I thought a self-development book would be better than a specialized one. I was drawn to this book because I had heard its title in basic training. The main content of the book is as follows: Stage 1: Deconstructing Self-Awareness Stage 2: Creating an Identity Stage 3: Overcoming Genetic Malfunctions Stage 4: Automating the Brain Stage 5: The Knowledge of a Contrarian Stage 6: The Concrete Path to Financial Freedom Stage 7: The Contrarian’s Treadmill I will write about the feelings I experienced during each of these stages.

Stage 1: Deconstructing Self-Awareness

○ Explore: Observe your mood changes and identify their origins. ○ Acknowledge: Objectively examine the reasons for your mood changes, compare them to your current situation, and accept what you need to. ○ Transform: Resolve feelings of inferiority through acknowledgment and create an action plan to use this as a catalyst for change. When faced with a situation, I have a tendency to instinctively deny that it’s my fault. I also feel resentful when others can do something that I can’t. Reflecting on my past experiences, such as during feedback sessions for my writing or when re-reading my work, I noticed I often used uncertain phrases like “~it seems like.” This inability to use assertive language stemmed from not having deconstructed my self-awareness. I often thought, “This should be good enough,” and built my self-awareness on that foundation. After reading this book, whenever I faced a situation or problem, I simply brought to mind the phrase “deconstruct self-awareness.” Since then, my mind has felt more at ease, and I find myself reflecting on my actions more often.

Stage 2: Creating an Identity

Humans are not intelligent creatures that simply set and achieve goals. With the exception of a very small, extraordinary few, the brain cannot strongly hold onto an abstract concept like a goal. This is because the human brain evolved to focus on the present rather than the abstract future. If you understand the mechanism by which humans operate, you can understand yourself and others. -> Regarding this “Creating an Identity” section, I feel I need a better understanding of human mechanisms. Therefore, after I finish writing about this book and reading the Steve Jobs biography, I will read the book Kluge.

Stage 3: Overcoming Genetic Malfunctions

A cautious gene, unlike in the past, is not necessarily a requirement today. For example, people watch YouTube videos, see the creator’s income, and think, “I can do that too,” and talk about starting a YouTube channel. However, very few of them actually upload a video. In today’s world, doing nothing often results in a “deprivation of freedom.” In an era where challenge and innovation are paramount, the cowardly “kluge” becomes a major obstacle to self-development. The bias created by a kluge is so common that it is difficult to recognize. The human brain dislikes abstract words. Therefore, if you want to move someone, you must touch their emotions with concrete situations. The summary of the book’s content is as above. In other words, to escape bias (cognitive bias), it is important to be moderately cautious when trying new things but to just give it a try. Some people might ask, “Doesn’t starting a business cost too much money?” That’s a valid point. However, in the current era of IT and artificial intelligence, there are many things you can do with just a computer, and society offers many opportunities that don’t require a large initial investment. So, when you feel the desire to do or learn something, you should start by learning and trying things step by step.

Stage 4: Automating the Brain

Step 1: The 22 Strategy What is the 22 Strategy? It refers to reading books and writing for two hours every day for two years.

Step 2: The Omok Theory What is the Omok Theory? It is the practice of making long-term moves without being attached to immediate gains and profits. Let’s think about and write down what we can do to make long-term moves.

Step 3: Three Ways to Amplify the Brain

Stimulate unused parts of the brain.
Walk untraveled paths.
Get enough sleep.

Through these three steps, the brain can become more productive and integrated, and you can feel your knowledge accumulating. After reading this book, I judged that the 22 Strategy would be difficult for me and that writing would also be hard. This, too, is my self-awareness. If reading books or writing for two hours a day is not feasible, I will make sure to do it at least 3-4 times a week.

Stage 5: The Knowledge of a Contrarian

○ Giver: Someone who gives freely. ○ Taker: Someone who only receives ○ Matcher: Someone who gives back exactly what they received. So, who among these becomes the wealthiest? Let’s take a guess. The poorest person is the Giver. But the wealthiest person is also the Giver. I had a lot to think about after reading this. I have mostly lived the life of a Matcher. Even if you live as a Giver, if you have nothing, you can start with small things like buying a meal for someone or sending a gift, and eventually, it will all come back to you. I will strive to live the life of a Giver from now on. To play the probability game well, the “Contrarian’s 7-Stage Model” is a prerequisite. You must reflect on whether your uncomfortable feelings are due to your self-awareness, or if your current state of mind is due to a genetic malfunction or a trapped identity. Then, if you believe the odds are in your favor, you must “bet” and remain detached from the outcome. It is difficult to reach the pinnacle in one field. However, if your abilities in several fields are in the top 10 percent, your combined ability could place you in the top 0.1 percent, or even the top 0.01 percent. Metacognition is the ability to objectively know your current situation. When you have good self-objectification, your overall decision-making ability improves. Because you are aware of your shortcomings, you strive to improve them, leading to natural development. In other words, you need to know your own capabilities and have the appropriate confidence. While it is difficult to be the best in one field, if you have high abilities in several fields, you can combine them to perform exceptionally well. If, after reading this, you think, “I’m better than others at everything,” you might be suffering from an excessive self-awareness. Thus, accurately knowing your abilities is crucial, and activities like writing and reading are necessary for this.

Stage 6: The Concrete Path to Financial Freedom

All money-making activities converge into two things. First, making things easier for others. Second, making others happy. That’s it. The key to making money lies in “problem-solving ability.” You need to find out what makes people uncomfortable and what makes them happy. Then, you can come up with ideas on how to solve their discomfort and bring them happiness, and actually provide the solutions. Create soldiers! If you create soldiers, they will make money for you no matter what you are doing. The soldiers mentioned here are not just people. YouTube videos, blog posts, and books you’ve written can also be your soldiers. Five Study Methods for Financial Freedom Identity transformation The 20-book rule Watching YouTube Setting up “super-thinking” through writing Learning offline beyond the online world Through these five methods, you can study your field more deeply and learn about other fields as well, leading to the success of your business or work and ultimately achieving financial freedom.

Stage 7: The Contrarian’s Treadmill

In reality, the game of life is not so different. This is because the “next goal” will inevitably be at a higher level than the enemies you have faced so far. You can only press the “level up” button after you have failed. When life becomes stable, dopamine issues the command to “acquire something new.” In the process of acquiring it, you repeat pain and failure. The Contrarian’s 7-Stage Model becomes a shortcut at this point. Conformists miss the opportunity to “level up” in the face of failure due to their self-awareness or genetic malfunctions. In other words, by living as a contrarian, you can have new goals, not despair even if you fail to achieve them, and continue to live a life of achieving what you want, setting new goals, and achieving them again.

While Reading This Book

Although I finished reading this book on May 18th, it wasn’t until May 27th that I finished summarizing it and writing down my thoughts. It took me a full 10 days. As the author mentioned, most people rationalize their inaction with excuses like, “I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have time,” due to their self-awareness and genetic malfunctions. Also, as the author said, less than 5 percent of the 100 people who read this book will actually implement its teachings, meaning the other 95 percent will live the lives of conformists. Even though I read this book, I was busy making excuses and living the life of a conformist. In the end, I was able to finish because I made a promise to myself and set a deadline for this weekend. Through this book, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what I want to do in the future, but I was able to come up with ideas for items I want to develop after I am discharged from the military. Reading this book has managed to bring about a small change in my thinking.

Book1 | Yoon Oh

Review of『yeokhaengja』