How I Think

My cognitive framework, which underpins my judgment philosophy, has been profoundly shaped by an unconventional academic trajectory and extensive real-world adversities. This journey has not merely presented challenges but has served as a crucible, forging a distinct methodology for approaching complex problems. If interested in the personal narratives, please read below; otherwise, you may skip to the section structure located at the bottom.

Beginning immediately after high school, during which I went through a fatal car accident and two following surgeries situated in mortal danger at 15, I embarked on a path of 100% self-sufficiency at a $200/month semi-basement flat with $50+ cash in pocket—I could not even issue a credit card at the time—in Seoul, one of the most expensive 20 cities in the world. For over a decade, I worked literally day and night to pursue both career and degree, moving 100+ km—62+ miles—every single day for years in my early 20s, leaving home at 6 AM and coming back around at 1 AM.

This Chapter 3 of my life can be characterized by relentless self-funding and the challenge of balancing study and 10–15+ hours of daily work. This period enabled me to cultivate exceptional capacities for resource optimization, efficiency maximization, and strategic time management, all internalized through theories learned from books—e.g., reading 100+ retail investing books on two-hour commutes to work and validating them in the market over a year—and on-the-ground experience obtained across various areas such as politics and business. Breaking through these recurring hardships instilled a fundamental understanding of real exigencies. Most importantly, surviving all these extreme conditions, at times nearly becoming a homeless—particularly during the pandemic era that occurred two months after leaving work to return to school—and sometimes a matter of existence, culminated in pragmatic judgment, deep appreciation for theory, robust tenacity, and ultimate resilience.

Accordingly, my academic pursuits at undergrad inevitably demonstrate a unique blend of intellectual curiosity, interdisciplinary synthesis, and rapid understanding of complex subjects. This was evidenced by completions of nine 500+ level classes and two theses in mathematics-economics (A- in ECON 699) and political-legal theory (defended; Magna Cum Laude), while graduating two terms early with honors and multiple Dean’s Lists; each thesis was completely independent work drafted within five weeks after a six-year academic hiatus. This outlier trajectory, marked by intermittent enrollment and extended breaks totaling 10+ years—including a significant period dedicated to personal recovery and intensified professional engagements between 2018 and 2024, the Last Act of Chapter 3—became a crucible for strategic self-reflection and diversified real-world application. Such experiences substantially further honed complete autonomy and versatile problem-solving skills across academic and practical fields.

Such lived experience, far from a conventional education path, has fundamentally informed my approach to judgment and analysis. It has imbued me with a rigorous, reality-tested framework that goes beyond theoretical abstraction. I approach every problem from a pragmatic yet ethically grounded perspective with a deep appreciation for systemic vulnerabilities and a nuanced understanding of human incentives in various situations. This allows me to synthesize diverse information, identify core drivers, and formulate analytically unwavering yet adaptive solutions to real-world complexities and uncertainty.

My consilient thinking method originates not only from broad interests across a variety of fields but mainly from such constant interplays between conceptual rigor and concrete discernment, which has enabled me to navigate ambiguous situations with certainty as well as adaptive strategic outlooks. The Cognitive Core section here serves as a record of what I have studied and learned from both books and street, as indicated in this blog subtitle, Theory in Practice.

This section is mainly categorized by Letters, Numbers, and Applications, whose subjects include but are not limited to: