Usually when we fall into a slump, we look for rest. It's the 'vague' hope that things will get better if we just take a break. But vague hope is a 'hollow' temptation. I don't want to deny the importance of rest. But if you're going to rest, rest properly. Humans are by nature lazy, and if you're resting to fully indulge in your laziness, you may as well give up on coming back. If anything, during rest you need to be even more fiercely engaged. You have to accept that during that time, trends will shift faster and competitors will grow. (66p)
From Jeon Jin-guk, Dominate the World With Content (Sam & Parkers)
Shin Dong-yeop is very good at hosting shows. Watching Immortal Songs, I remember thinking several times how 'quick-witted' MC Shin Dong-yeop is. He hadn't been on TV for a while and I had been wondering why, and he appeared on TV and confessed that he'd tried various business ventures, failed, and fallen into a deep slump. Now he's in the midst of another peak period. But apparently even during his slump, Shin Dong-yeop never stopped appearing on shows. We just didn't notice because the shows weren't popular — but he never took a break. As his popularity dropped and his appearances decreased, he filled the extra time with reading. His remark, "I wasn't afraid of the failure itself — I was afraid of learning nothing from it," is striking. The author, PD Jeon Jin-guk (head of the KBS Programming Center), emphasizes the 'curse of rest.' Resting on vague hopes to get out of a slump risks losing your urgency and earnestness, and ultimately makes it easy to fall behind the shifts in trend. He says you need to examine yourself thoroughly and sharpen your own blade even while you rest. Shin Dong-yeop's approach to overcoming his slump — continuing to host unpopular shows through a long stretch and fearing not the failure itself but coming away from it with no insight — stays with me.
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