A rough posture
 |
Description
Book Introduction
★ 300,000 copies sold, new work by author Ha Wan, “I Almost Lived Hard”!
★ The return of K-Essay, exported to 9 countries!
“Isn’t something too perfect uncool?”
On the balance of life that is neither too demanding nor too lazy
If we look at the dictionary definition of 'roughly', it means 'to the extent of roughly guessing the outline'.
It means that even if it's not perfect, the big things will be finished.
How much lighter would our lives be if we stopped striving for perfection and instead focused on just the essentials? Ha Wan, author of the 300,000-selling bestseller "I Almost Lived Hard," returns with a new essay, "The Attitude of Roughness," reassessing the meaning of "roughness" in a world that demands perfection.
After his first book, he says that after seven years of reflection, he roughly found the attitude toward life that was just right for him.
'You have to do well.
The more you push yourself by saying, 'I can't fail,' the more strength you put into your whole body.
The author looked back on the past when he had made mistakes at work because of this upright attitude and asked himself, "Could it be that the reason life feels so difficult is because of this wrong attitude?"
And he says that what moved him, who couldn't move an inch forward because of the thought, "If it's not perfect, it's better not to do it," was the light-hearted thought, "It's better if it's done roughly."
In life, which is like waves that rise and fall countless times regardless of our will, isn't the most important thing a high level of balance that is neither too much nor too lazy?
Let's meet the K-life skills learned by author Ha Wan, an expert in 'nightlife acquisition', from his exquisite position as a daecheok.
★ The return of K-Essay, exported to 9 countries!
“Isn’t something too perfect uncool?”
On the balance of life that is neither too demanding nor too lazy
If we look at the dictionary definition of 'roughly', it means 'to the extent of roughly guessing the outline'.
It means that even if it's not perfect, the big things will be finished.
How much lighter would our lives be if we stopped striving for perfection and instead focused on just the essentials? Ha Wan, author of the 300,000-selling bestseller "I Almost Lived Hard," returns with a new essay, "The Attitude of Roughness," reassessing the meaning of "roughness" in a world that demands perfection.
After his first book, he says that after seven years of reflection, he roughly found the attitude toward life that was just right for him.
'You have to do well.
The more you push yourself by saying, 'I can't fail,' the more strength you put into your whole body.
The author looked back on the past when he had made mistakes at work because of this upright attitude and asked himself, "Could it be that the reason life feels so difficult is because of this wrong attitude?"
And he says that what moved him, who couldn't move an inch forward because of the thought, "If it's not perfect, it's better not to do it," was the light-hearted thought, "It's better if it's done roughly."
In life, which is like waves that rise and fall countless times regardless of our will, isn't the most important thing a high level of balance that is neither too much nor too lazy?
Let's meet the K-life skills learned by author Ha Wan, an expert in 'nightlife acquisition', from his exquisite position as a daecheok.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
Prologue: I found the best posture for me in a rough way.
Part 1 Basic Posture
Intentionally not perfect
Living without a plan
Even if you don't know the meaning, just skip over it
The difficulty of living roughly
Distance yourself from life
Living lightly
Team play
Growing pains
Believing in luck
Reasons to watch time slip dramas
When passing through the darkness
Drawing life
Part 2 Application Details
Inventive attitude
downsizing
Surrender to the rhythm
An enviable life
Losing your beginner's mind
Take a moderate loss
How to use your body
Things that follow when you love
People who don't run
On Becoming a Minimalist
lose one's job
How to fight the world
Attitude towards photography
I'll survive somehow
Part 3: Days of Roughness
Perfect days because they're not perfect
A rough marriage
That's how you become an old man
My outside
A light outing
Happiness nearby
Keep it away
She's so cute to me
Deadline human
Life is like a doodle
I Love Hong Kong
Looking back, I feel sad for no reason.
Epilogue: The Attitude We Need When We Hesitate
Part 1 Basic Posture
Intentionally not perfect
Living without a plan
Even if you don't know the meaning, just skip over it
The difficulty of living roughly
Distance yourself from life
Living lightly
Team play
Growing pains
Believing in luck
Reasons to watch time slip dramas
When passing through the darkness
Drawing life
Part 2 Application Details
Inventive attitude
downsizing
Surrender to the rhythm
An enviable life
Losing your beginner's mind
Take a moderate loss
How to use your body
Things that follow when you love
People who don't run
On Becoming a Minimalist
lose one's job
How to fight the world
Attitude towards photography
I'll survive somehow
Part 3: Days of Roughness
Perfect days because they're not perfect
A rough marriage
That's how you become an old man
My outside
A light outing
Happiness nearby
Keep it away
She's so cute to me
Deadline human
Life is like a doodle
I Love Hong Kong
Looking back, I feel sad for no reason.
Epilogue: The Attitude We Need When We Hesitate
Detailed image
.jpg)
Into the book
Innate tendencies rarely change.
So, my perfectionist tendencies still keep popping up.
When you set high standards and push yourself too hard, when you hesitate because you're afraid of failure, when you feel dissatisfied with life because the results don't meet your expectations...
I also feel that my mental attitude is becoming distorted due to bad habits.
And then sit up straight.
Proper posture requires constant awareness and attention to maintain it.
I know it sounds weird, but for me, a good attitude is 'roughly'.
Rather than thinking, "If you're not going to do it well, it's better not to do it," the mindset of, "It's better to do it roughly," is what keeps me going.
--- From "Prologue - I roughly found the best posture for me"
There is an Italian word in fashion terminology called 'sprezzatura'.
If I were to explain what it means, it would be something like 'intentional awkwardness' or 'intentional sloppiness'.
It is a technique of dressing up well but making it look like you have made a mistake or two on purpose, such as wearing a baseball cap with a suit, tucking one side of a shirt into your pants, or tying a tie crookedly.
What such directing wants to reveal is indifference.
I don't really care about what I wear (I really do care), I just put on something and don't even know it's wrong, that's the image I want to give off.
(…) Italians seem to think that being perfectly dressed up is somehow not very appealing.
I think that true coolness is something that is messy, natural, and effortless.
“Don’t try to be too perfect.
“Perfection is not cool.”
--- From "Intentionally Imperfect"
I thought there would be nothing more surprising or difficult, but that wasn't the case.
Life is always new.
Are you always prepared for the challenges that are appropriate for your age?
I never knew middle-aged life could be so varied.
(…) When will it get easier?
Perhaps life has no intention of leaving us alone.
One thing that is fortunate is that I don't cry even in this crisis.
It may seem a bit shallow for a grown man to say that he's proud of not crying, but when I think back to my past when I would cry at the drop of a hat, I feel proud of myself.
Now I can look at the problem with a relatively detached attitude.
--- From "Keeping a Distance from Life"
'Hmm, is this the valley section?'
If you look at a stock graph, there is no graph that goes up in a straight line, even if it is an upward graph.
It goes up and down like waves, repeating countless times.
Life is the same, I think living is like riding on countless waves.
I am now in the valley of many ups and downs.
After this valley section, it starts to climb again and it becomes a pretty good time.
And then bad times will come again.
Life is a process of going through good times and bad times.
So, I encourage you not to despair too much about the current difficulties.
Even though it may seem to be going down now, I believe that when viewed from a distance, it will eventually become an upward graph.
--- From "Surrender Your Body to the Rhythm"
Now that I'm middle-aged, I haven't kept most of those resolutions.
(…) In his defense, I didn’t know I would change like this.
I thought I would like what I like now forever, and I thought I would hate what I hate now forever.
I believed that my current values and tastes would not change.
Because they are like my 'core'.
I thought it wouldn't change and it shouldn't change.
I thought that the moment a country changes, it will collapse.
But everything has changed.
As our love for something fades, as we gain experience, our values are updated, and as circumstances dictate, we inevitably have to change things, and there are things we cannot keep.
I've broken countless resolutions, but it seems like life hasn't gone too wrong.
--- From "Losing Your Beginner's Mind"
As I've mentioned several times already, you all know that I'm married.
It wasn't that big of a deal.
My wedding was like, "Should we get married next week when we have time?" so it feels like a very ordinary thing.
I didn't eat separately.
All I did was go to the district office and file a marriage registration form.
After finishing work at the district office, I had rice noodles with my girlfriend (now wife) to celebrate.
That's how we became a couple.
--- From "A Rough Marriage"
It has changed so much over the years.
In a word, I got old very quickly.
As a result, I have acquired a fairly middle-aged appearance, and now I know how old I am, and so do others.
And so, my youth officially ended, as everyone acknowledged.
So, the name ‘Ajeossi’ is a kind of diploma.
Graduation is both an ending and a new beginning.
I've come to the end of my youth, which was both good and bad, and entered a new phase of my life.
This is the period called middle age.
If you think about it, middle age is a rather interesting time.
Not young, but not quite old either.
Between youth and old age.
In the middle of life.
An age that has both sides equally.
So, you have the conditions to live the most balanced life.
So, my perfectionist tendencies still keep popping up.
When you set high standards and push yourself too hard, when you hesitate because you're afraid of failure, when you feel dissatisfied with life because the results don't meet your expectations...
I also feel that my mental attitude is becoming distorted due to bad habits.
And then sit up straight.
Proper posture requires constant awareness and attention to maintain it.
I know it sounds weird, but for me, a good attitude is 'roughly'.
Rather than thinking, "If you're not going to do it well, it's better not to do it," the mindset of, "It's better to do it roughly," is what keeps me going.
--- From "Prologue - I roughly found the best posture for me"
There is an Italian word in fashion terminology called 'sprezzatura'.
If I were to explain what it means, it would be something like 'intentional awkwardness' or 'intentional sloppiness'.
It is a technique of dressing up well but making it look like you have made a mistake or two on purpose, such as wearing a baseball cap with a suit, tucking one side of a shirt into your pants, or tying a tie crookedly.
What such directing wants to reveal is indifference.
I don't really care about what I wear (I really do care), I just put on something and don't even know it's wrong, that's the image I want to give off.
(…) Italians seem to think that being perfectly dressed up is somehow not very appealing.
I think that true coolness is something that is messy, natural, and effortless.
“Don’t try to be too perfect.
“Perfection is not cool.”
--- From "Intentionally Imperfect"
I thought there would be nothing more surprising or difficult, but that wasn't the case.
Life is always new.
Are you always prepared for the challenges that are appropriate for your age?
I never knew middle-aged life could be so varied.
(…) When will it get easier?
Perhaps life has no intention of leaving us alone.
One thing that is fortunate is that I don't cry even in this crisis.
It may seem a bit shallow for a grown man to say that he's proud of not crying, but when I think back to my past when I would cry at the drop of a hat, I feel proud of myself.
Now I can look at the problem with a relatively detached attitude.
--- From "Keeping a Distance from Life"
'Hmm, is this the valley section?'
If you look at a stock graph, there is no graph that goes up in a straight line, even if it is an upward graph.
It goes up and down like waves, repeating countless times.
Life is the same, I think living is like riding on countless waves.
I am now in the valley of many ups and downs.
After this valley section, it starts to climb again and it becomes a pretty good time.
And then bad times will come again.
Life is a process of going through good times and bad times.
So, I encourage you not to despair too much about the current difficulties.
Even though it may seem to be going down now, I believe that when viewed from a distance, it will eventually become an upward graph.
--- From "Surrender Your Body to the Rhythm"
Now that I'm middle-aged, I haven't kept most of those resolutions.
(…) In his defense, I didn’t know I would change like this.
I thought I would like what I like now forever, and I thought I would hate what I hate now forever.
I believed that my current values and tastes would not change.
Because they are like my 'core'.
I thought it wouldn't change and it shouldn't change.
I thought that the moment a country changes, it will collapse.
But everything has changed.
As our love for something fades, as we gain experience, our values are updated, and as circumstances dictate, we inevitably have to change things, and there are things we cannot keep.
I've broken countless resolutions, but it seems like life hasn't gone too wrong.
--- From "Losing Your Beginner's Mind"
As I've mentioned several times already, you all know that I'm married.
It wasn't that big of a deal.
My wedding was like, "Should we get married next week when we have time?" so it feels like a very ordinary thing.
I didn't eat separately.
All I did was go to the district office and file a marriage registration form.
After finishing work at the district office, I had rice noodles with my girlfriend (now wife) to celebrate.
That's how we became a couple.
--- From "A Rough Marriage"
It has changed so much over the years.
In a word, I got old very quickly.
As a result, I have acquired a fairly middle-aged appearance, and now I know how old I am, and so do others.
And so, my youth officially ended, as everyone acknowledged.
So, the name ‘Ajeossi’ is a kind of diploma.
Graduation is both an ending and a new beginning.
I've come to the end of my youth, which was both good and bad, and entered a new phase of my life.
This is the period called middle age.
If you think about it, middle age is a rather interesting time.
Not young, but not quite old either.
Between youth and old age.
In the middle of life.
An age that has both sides equally.
So, you have the conditions to live the most balanced life.
--- From "That's How You Become an Old Man"
Publisher's Review
“After 7 years of living a rough life, I declare that my life is not ruined!”
The 300,000-selling bestseller "I Almost Lived Hard" by Ha Wan, author of "Dae-chak-dae," finds salvation in "roughness."
Let's live roughly.
Like a polar bear that slides down because it's too lazy to walk.' At one time, the 'let's just live roughly' meme was popular.
Young people who had never lived carelessly in order to survive in a fiercely competitive society were enthusiastic about this 'my way' attitude that did not care about other people's opinions.
The reason why Ha Wan's book "I Almost Lived Hard" became a bestseller immediately after its publication in 2018 and its title became a meme is probably the same.
Seven years ago, writer Ha Wan bravely threw himself into a life of 'not living hard' like the first penguin jumping into the sea for the first time.
And in 2025, after a life-threatening experiment, he waves happily, saying, “Even if I live roughly, I won’t be ruined!”
“You can relax a little.
“I tried it and it didn’t kill me,” he adds.
This is the realization I gained while struggling between the perfectionist tendencies that plagued me throughout my 20s and 30s and the 'ghostly' nature of human nature, between the strong temptation to become rich without doing my best, and between the setbacks and small gains that lurk throughout life.
In an atmosphere where we are always comparing ourselves to others and prioritizing performance, it is easy to become impatient and feel like we are always being chased.
All you can do is try, but effort doesn't always bring about just results.
So the author recommends a 'rough attitude' that is neither too much nor too lazy.
It's necessary to have the audacity to say that even a little bit of disarray is 'cool' rather than perfect, and that you can have a pretty good life if you just take care of the important things without trying too hard.
“Don’t try to be too perfect.
“Perfection is not cool”
If you don't have the freedom to look at your mistakes as 'cool' and don't let go of your strength, life becomes 'boring'!
There is something in common between Joseon painter Kim Hong-do and Italians.
The point is that the wrong part was not corrected.
No, sometimes it's even wrong on purpose.
If you look at one character in Kim Hong-do's work [Wrestling], you can see that his left and right hands are switched.
It seems that it is not a simple mistake, as the same mistake is often found in other drawings.
In Italy, there is a word called 'sprezzatura'.
It is a fashion technique that creates the appearance of a mistake by wearing a well-dressed suit and then deliberately wearing a baseball cap or a shirt tucked in on one side.
They seem to think that being messy, natural, and effortless is what makes them truly 'cool', rather than being flawless and perfect.
In front of the relaxed attitude of those who see even the mistakes as 'cool', we who were struggling not to fall behind feel a little embarrassed.
Chesterton, the novelist and poet, said, “It is easy to be heavy, but difficult to be light.”
The author says that if left alone, life inevitably becomes heavy.
People become serious and grave when they are not conscious of it.
Let's all relax and be light and cheerful so that we don't feel suffocated by the weight of life!
“Ahhh! I really hate getting older!”
"I thought it would be easy by now, but it wasn't at all!" The ever-changing struggles of K-Life
“If you keep talking, that old man will do this to you!” The title of “old man” came to me so suddenly.
I eat the same amount, but I gain weight, get angrier, and my running posture becomes unsteady.
I thought life would get easier as I got older, but that wasn't the case at all.
The author despairs, asking, “Why didn’t anyone tell me that middle-aged life was so full of change?”
The only good thing is that I've become an adult(?) who rarely cries.
When I was young, I felt anxious when things didn't work out.
I wonder if my whole life is a dark tunnel.
But when I lived, life was like a stock market graph with ups and downs like waves.
Even if it is an upward graph, there are many ups and downs.
So, I encourage you not to despair too much about the current difficulties.
Right now we're just in the valley section for a bit, after this section it'll start to climb again and it'll be a pretty good time.
Although it is sad to see a body that is not as creaky as it used to be, the author reflects on whether middle age is the time between youth and old age, the time when one can live the most balanced life.
As I come to the end of my youth, which was both good and bad, and enter a new phase, I promise to try my best to become a 'good uncle' rather than an impolite uncle, an unscrupulous uncle, or an uncle who only cares about money.
“I used to think that difficult times were simply bad times.
Time that is unnecessary and should not exist.
So it's time to get out quickly.
Now I know that there is nothing wrong with this.
It's a natural flow, a kind of rhythm, like the cycle of the seasons.
Of course, a decline is not a pleasant thing, and it makes me angry and anxious, but I am not completely pessimistic.
This downhill slope won't last forever.
“I see the light beyond the valley.” (p. 103)
"You lost your beginner's mind? I'm glad."
I want to be a "flexible person" who can be shaken enough, rather than someone who is never broken.
'I will not live like my father', 'I will never get married', 'I will never go into debt'. I made these 'absolute resolutions' in my 20s and thought I had to keep them no matter what.
But the author says most of them failed to keep that resolution.
I thought I would love what I liked forever, and that my values and tastes would never change.
But everything has changed.
The love for something fades, and as experience accumulates, values are updated, and some things inevitably have to be changed depending on the situation.
The same goes for plans.
I worked hard to make one-year plans and ten-year plans, but at some point I realized how futile it was.
The more I planned, the more things didn't go as planned, and the more disappointed I became with that kind of life.
So the author now declares that he will live with a plan that will never fail, 'no plan'.
I decided to live each day by only solving the tasks in front of me. If I look at the whole picture, I will lose my will to fight, so I decided to only focus on the thing in front of me.
To those of us who are frustrated by the uncontrollable variables of life, the author tells us to become like a reed and live willingly, swaying.
There is a saying that people cannot be rewritten.
It's a sarcastic remark about how people don't change much.
In that sense, I think change is actually an essential part of our lives.
It is flexible, natural, and unconstrained.
“I want to be a rewriter.” (p. 116)
The 300,000-selling bestseller "I Almost Lived Hard" by Ha Wan, author of "Dae-chak-dae," finds salvation in "roughness."
Let's live roughly.
Like a polar bear that slides down because it's too lazy to walk.' At one time, the 'let's just live roughly' meme was popular.
Young people who had never lived carelessly in order to survive in a fiercely competitive society were enthusiastic about this 'my way' attitude that did not care about other people's opinions.
The reason why Ha Wan's book "I Almost Lived Hard" became a bestseller immediately after its publication in 2018 and its title became a meme is probably the same.
Seven years ago, writer Ha Wan bravely threw himself into a life of 'not living hard' like the first penguin jumping into the sea for the first time.
And in 2025, after a life-threatening experiment, he waves happily, saying, “Even if I live roughly, I won’t be ruined!”
“You can relax a little.
“I tried it and it didn’t kill me,” he adds.
This is the realization I gained while struggling between the perfectionist tendencies that plagued me throughout my 20s and 30s and the 'ghostly' nature of human nature, between the strong temptation to become rich without doing my best, and between the setbacks and small gains that lurk throughout life.
In an atmosphere where we are always comparing ourselves to others and prioritizing performance, it is easy to become impatient and feel like we are always being chased.
All you can do is try, but effort doesn't always bring about just results.
So the author recommends a 'rough attitude' that is neither too much nor too lazy.
It's necessary to have the audacity to say that even a little bit of disarray is 'cool' rather than perfect, and that you can have a pretty good life if you just take care of the important things without trying too hard.
“Don’t try to be too perfect.
“Perfection is not cool”
If you don't have the freedom to look at your mistakes as 'cool' and don't let go of your strength, life becomes 'boring'!
There is something in common between Joseon painter Kim Hong-do and Italians.
The point is that the wrong part was not corrected.
No, sometimes it's even wrong on purpose.
If you look at one character in Kim Hong-do's work [Wrestling], you can see that his left and right hands are switched.
It seems that it is not a simple mistake, as the same mistake is often found in other drawings.
In Italy, there is a word called 'sprezzatura'.
It is a fashion technique that creates the appearance of a mistake by wearing a well-dressed suit and then deliberately wearing a baseball cap or a shirt tucked in on one side.
They seem to think that being messy, natural, and effortless is what makes them truly 'cool', rather than being flawless and perfect.
In front of the relaxed attitude of those who see even the mistakes as 'cool', we who were struggling not to fall behind feel a little embarrassed.
Chesterton, the novelist and poet, said, “It is easy to be heavy, but difficult to be light.”
The author says that if left alone, life inevitably becomes heavy.
People become serious and grave when they are not conscious of it.
Let's all relax and be light and cheerful so that we don't feel suffocated by the weight of life!
“Ahhh! I really hate getting older!”
"I thought it would be easy by now, but it wasn't at all!" The ever-changing struggles of K-Life
“If you keep talking, that old man will do this to you!” The title of “old man” came to me so suddenly.
I eat the same amount, but I gain weight, get angrier, and my running posture becomes unsteady.
I thought life would get easier as I got older, but that wasn't the case at all.
The author despairs, asking, “Why didn’t anyone tell me that middle-aged life was so full of change?”
The only good thing is that I've become an adult(?) who rarely cries.
When I was young, I felt anxious when things didn't work out.
I wonder if my whole life is a dark tunnel.
But when I lived, life was like a stock market graph with ups and downs like waves.
Even if it is an upward graph, there are many ups and downs.
So, I encourage you not to despair too much about the current difficulties.
Right now we're just in the valley section for a bit, after this section it'll start to climb again and it'll be a pretty good time.
Although it is sad to see a body that is not as creaky as it used to be, the author reflects on whether middle age is the time between youth and old age, the time when one can live the most balanced life.
As I come to the end of my youth, which was both good and bad, and enter a new phase, I promise to try my best to become a 'good uncle' rather than an impolite uncle, an unscrupulous uncle, or an uncle who only cares about money.
“I used to think that difficult times were simply bad times.
Time that is unnecessary and should not exist.
So it's time to get out quickly.
Now I know that there is nothing wrong with this.
It's a natural flow, a kind of rhythm, like the cycle of the seasons.
Of course, a decline is not a pleasant thing, and it makes me angry and anxious, but I am not completely pessimistic.
This downhill slope won't last forever.
“I see the light beyond the valley.” (p. 103)
"You lost your beginner's mind? I'm glad."
I want to be a "flexible person" who can be shaken enough, rather than someone who is never broken.
'I will not live like my father', 'I will never get married', 'I will never go into debt'. I made these 'absolute resolutions' in my 20s and thought I had to keep them no matter what.
But the author says most of them failed to keep that resolution.
I thought I would love what I liked forever, and that my values and tastes would never change.
But everything has changed.
The love for something fades, and as experience accumulates, values are updated, and some things inevitably have to be changed depending on the situation.
The same goes for plans.
I worked hard to make one-year plans and ten-year plans, but at some point I realized how futile it was.
The more I planned, the more things didn't go as planned, and the more disappointed I became with that kind of life.
So the author now declares that he will live with a plan that will never fail, 'no plan'.
I decided to live each day by only solving the tasks in front of me. If I look at the whole picture, I will lose my will to fight, so I decided to only focus on the thing in front of me.
To those of us who are frustrated by the uncontrollable variables of life, the author tells us to become like a reed and live willingly, swaying.
There is a saying that people cannot be rewritten.
It's a sarcastic remark about how people don't change much.
In that sense, I think change is actually an essential part of our lives.
It is flexible, natural, and unconstrained.
“I want to be a rewriter.” (p. 116)
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: May 26, 2025
- Page count, weight, size: 256 pages | 378g | 135*200*15mm
- ISBN13: 9788901295350
- ISBN10: 8901295350
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