The Magic Tool ‘Time’

God has fairly gifted everyone with the magical tool ‘time’, yet it is unfortunate that most people spend their time in vain, leading to a life of insignificance. It is a self-evident fact that depending on how one spends their time, the success or failure of life is determined. I believe the following three things are crucial for a successful life.

Firstly, it’s vital to clearly define ‘what to live for.’ In other words, it’s about identifying the most important values in one’s life, i.e., setting a clear purpose of life. If this is not prioritized, one will constantly wander throughout life.

Secondly, it’s about choice and focus. The common characteristic of children who do not study well is that they are distracted. They want to do this and that, and as a result, they cannot concentrate. Distracted adults also can’t work well. They have many desires, which prevent them from focusing on important tasks.

Thirdly, it is about consistently pursuing your goals. If you’ve set a big goal you want to achieve, it should be consistently pursued. If you persist until the end despite difficulties or temptations from seeing others’ work seeming better, you can create unique achievements in the world.

The globally renowned spiritual leader Eckhart Tolle stated in his book ‘A New Earth’ that “time does not exist” and declared that one can only do things in the moment. In the same book, he teaches that “only those who cherish the small can achieve the big.”

Upon reflection, we can see that the only time we can do anything is right now. It’s clear that we can’t do anything by going back just one second or going ahead just one second. Therefore, the only way to live life well – to create a better state through action – is to focus on this moment and find ways to improve the outcome.

Regardless of what it is, the actions we take in each moment add up to create results, so what we accomplish in a day is a small thing. However, if we belittle what we do in a day, our effort in the following days will decrease. The next day will be more neglected, and so on. The reason why the phrase ‘three days of determination’ is popular is precisely here. It’s the principle of returning to the original state as the time spent focusing on the moment decreases because there seems to be little success even after one or two or three days of effort to live according to a new plan after regretting the wasteful life lived so far.

There is a famous story included in the elementary school textbooks about Bok Soon Lee, a grandmother who donated 5 billion won, which she had accumulated by selling gimbap all her life, as a scholarship to Chungnam National University. It is sobering to think of her story. How much can you save by rolling a line of gimbap? It’s hard to imagine how much physical pain and psychological suffering there would have been to gather 5 billion won, which makes it an even more valuable and noble act.

To achieve great things, we must value every day and live with sincerity. People who spend their day casually will have a casual life, while people who value the small tasks they do every day will have a happy day and a happy life. I believe this.”