Joseph's "Just My Thoughts"

To concentrate, you must first give up. The choice lies in setting priorities, and to overcome the limits of concentration, you must boldly let go of things of low importance according to those priorities. Greed hinders the act of giving up. Not giving up is not merely about intelligence; it involves morality, values, and a person’s character. This is also why human beings do not succeed based on knowledge alone. Even if you decide to give up, concentration exists in another dimension. Choosing something means also giving up or rejecting something else. At this juncture, a value exchange occurs between what is chosen and what is discarded. Thus, our greed is linked to comparative values. The next choice and abandonment depend on the values I already possess. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

A consequentialist is someone who seeks to connect every conclusion to both motives and intentions. They have different attitudes towards giving up. The judgment of value by linking the beginning and the end also varies. For example, if it is said that a person is born and must die, it is argued that something that is not born is better anyway, or that death is the culmination of life, so it is not negative to die as soon as one is born. They make pessimistic judgments and draw radical conclusions by viewing a microscopic situation macroscopically or, conversely, by examining a macroscopic situation microscopically. Consequentialists see the assistance of those around them as mere tools. Their pleasure comes from winning over others for a plausible cause, and victory is seen as success and achievement. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

To be in debt is to draw the future into the present and consume it. Thus, living in debt leads to an empty future. The future becomes bright only by filling that void. However, some individuals sell time to people by pulling the future into the present. Starbucks Korea does this. The company requires customers to pay in advance for coffee they have not yet purchased through the membership program. Korean customers pay for coffee today, trusting that Starbucks will serve it in the future. Without this trust, no customer would pay in advance. Therefore, credit holds significant importance in economic principles and serves as the foundation on which the economy operates. After understanding the attribution and essence of the counter-presentations (the object of transaction and consideration) linked to debt, the wealthy utilize debt to their advantage. Starbucks Korea becomes a debtor to customers who pay for coffee in advance; however, even though it must provide coffee in the future, th...

To be in debt means using future time in advance. If you go into debt to avoid a difficult situation right now without awareness because you think, “I can pay it back later,” you will experience the cruelty of life against the fairness of time. Assuming that income does not change and the present is maintained, the future spent in advance will again be insufficient when the future that has been drawn up in the coming time becomes the present. In the end, this means you have to continue incurring debt. Not only do you have to repay a debt, but you also have to pay interest as compounded interest. Therefore, the present that has spent the future ahead of the past is poorer. Moreover, prices are higher than in the past. Most people in this world do not understand why debt is a burden due to compound interest. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

In this era, the credibility of the messenger is more important than the content of the marketing message. This means that who said what and who delivered the message are more influential and important. Therefore, rather than merely trying to convey something, it is necessary to establish who the messenger is and to build trust with the public. Thus, defining identity comes first, followed by the sincerity to constantly inform others. Then, people may believe anything, even if it’s a lie, but you must not tell lies. Who we are, what we do, and why we do this, no matter how small, must be communicated with faithfulness and persistence. Don’t try to convince the public; you have to build relationships in order to establish trust with people. The most important factor in forming a relationship is my identity. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations, believed that “empathy is an intellectual activity that takes into account circumstances, motives, luck, social status, and human character of the person.” The moment we blame another person’s actions, we examine the appropriateness of those actions. Adequacy is a state of neither excess nor understatement. If everyone else thinks a person is bad but I advocate for that person by saying, “I can understand,” then I approve of their actions. This situation is called “mutual sympathy.” In our lives, we can be egocentric in some cases and relation-centric in others. The more mutual sympathy exists, the more relationship-oriented our thinking becomes. Both too much and too little can lead to tiredness or dissatisfaction. Pursuing happiness means finding this adequacy. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

To receive investment or borrow money is to use the “future” in advance. We should be cautious about using the “future” ahead of the present. The way to determine whether a transaction is favorable or unfavorable is to assess whether the time associated with it is beneficial or hostile to you. Time affects both the weak and the strong equally. This fairness is daunting. It embodies the fear that there are no exceptions to this principle. If the amount of sand (time) in both hourglasses is the same and the gravitational pull is equal, but the amount of sand falling is different, the outcome is significantly different. The fairness of time causes those who live in the future rather than the present to consume irretrievable value. The poor either do not recognize or overlook the fact that increases or decreases in wealth inevitably discriminate against those who live simultaneously. There is nothing more foolish than moving forward in time knowingly. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”