Why do people plan? Most people plan for tomorrow, next month, and next year so on. There is a saying that ‘Life is what happens while you are busy planning other things.’ Dwight D. Eisenhower, a former US president said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” If life does not go as we planned and plans seem useless in battle, why is planning still important? The author of The Little Prince, Saint-Exupery suggests the answer. He said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” I think planning is like drawing a map that guides us to the destination we seek. Once we have a map, it will be easier and more efficient to find the way we should take. Also, the map would lessen the risk of getting lost in our long journey of life. In this essay, I describe how I constructed my map.

     There are countless jobs and professions in this world. Among those, how am I going to choose the right one? How can I know what the best one, which fits my talents, characters and nature, is? The answer is in the very question. In order to find the best profession for me, I should know myself – my talents, character and nature – first.

     I am a professional Go player. I have spent almost half my life to achieve this. With the game of Go I can be competent, competitive and distinguishable. Another weapon I have is the language of English. Although many Koreans now-days are fluent in English, the fact that very few professional Go players speak English makes me stand out from others. In addition, I always liked reading and writing; since I was young, I have been reading books and writing journals, short stories and essays. For example, I have read more than 20 books this year including ‘Anna Karenina’ by Tolstoy and ‘East of Eden’ by Steinbeck, and posted a few stories and essays under an anonymous penname on Cyberoro, the internet Go site. Also I am good at traveling and meeting people. Thanks to my childhood that separated me from the family, I naturally developed adaptability and social skills. Though I did not recognize these abilities at first, as I traveled several times, I found myself to get along well with anyone, appreciate food of diverse ethnicities, and even enjoy having conversations with strangers.

     There seems to be two ways to maximize my strength as a professional Go player. One is to become one of the top Go players in the world. Becoming the strongest player is an attractive option, but I have learned that sheer dedications and efforts are not sufficient in achieving that goal. The other option is to become a leader in the global Go community. Working for an international Go association will provide me with opportunities to use my strength in Go. Maybe more importantly, however, I would be able to utilize my social and communication skills. I also expect that my competency in English will be an indispensable skill in communicating with the global Go community. Thus, I have chosen the second option.

     The destination is set. And the next step is to draw the map. I began with a couple of important questions. What abilities are required in order to become the leader of international Go organization? And, how should I acquire these abilities? The answers to these two questions will be the navigator of my successful career. For the first question, I believe that profound understanding of both the game of Go and international organization is critical. Also, an ability to collaborate with both national and regional chapters of Go associations would be essential. Understanding of human resource management and cross-cultural management are probably important too. Then I concluded – for the second question – that the only ability that I possess now is the understanding of the game of Go. Fortunately, according to my research, curriculum for International Business major in Solbridge includes studies that could help me acquire aforementioned skills. Therefore, I decided to major in International Business.

     As a college student, learning and studying will be my top priority. However, because my long-term goal is directly related to Go, I think constant activities in Go world are important. Therefore, I will also keep playing professional Go matches and participate in many types of Go events all over the world. Moreover, I would like to establish a Go circle in the university and teach the game of Go to my schoolmates. Through teaching friends from various countries, I will see how different cultures affect people’s way of thinking in the game of Go. And this observation would ultimately help me to prepare for the future career. After graduating, I want to continue with Master’s program for the deeper understanding. Then I will probably work in other fields for some periods of time to build diverse working experiences. As Louis Pasteur, a French scientist famously said “Chance favors only the prepared mind.” I believe that only the prepared gets the right chance and relates it to success. Although the destination is far away and there probably will be lots of obstacles, I will follow my map and keep inching toward my destination.



Hajin LEE - Essay for the university application