'Alone time,' shortcut to success

The cover of “The Strength of Time Spent Alone,” by Saito Takashi / Courtesy of Wisdom House

By Kwon Ji-youn

By 2030, single-person households will likely become the most common dwelling occupancy in Seoul due to the rapidly aging population, low birthrate and weakening faith in traditional family values, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

But people today are afraid of being alone, Saito Takashi claims in the prologue of his book, “The Strength of Time Spent Alone.” They make friends because they do not want to be friendless, and watch television to feel more involved or included.

“But how you decide to spend your ‘alone time’ will determine your future,” Saito writes.

The book begins with powerful anecdotes about the loneliness that accompanied the author’s youth. He spent 10 jobless years without an affiliation to any school, company or organization before joining the faculty at Meiji University, where he teaches, and was a year late going to college, which made him a “misfit.”

He spent most of his time reading testaments, listening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony or scrutinizing van Gogh’s self-portrait, immersed in the painter’s grief.

But it was through these experiences that he realized that only by being alone and overcoming loneliness can one reach the proverbial mountaintop.

The tone of the book’s first 60 pages is firm, almost biting. Saito does not beat around the bush when he explains why being alone, and getting used to being alone, is the shortcut to success. He expresses his disapproval of students who take classes with their friends and warns that no one can achieve your dreams for you.

He advises readers to break off relationships when they are faced with important tasks.

“You must break off all relationships, completely organize your work and reexamine your life so that you don’t fail,” he writes. “That way, you can make good use of your time.”

Saito says while friendship and love are important, too much of a good thing can be detrimental to one’s social life, and claims those who are independent are better at teamwork. His commentary is, at times, extreme. His concepts are a little archaic and may leave readers versed in how to succeed and conquer loneliness, but clueless about where to seek happiness.

The next 60 pages are more constructive. Saito encourages readers to confront their inner conflicts and keep a diary so that they can objectify themselves. Based on his experiences, he suggests three methods to overcoming loneliness

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focusing on the work in front of you, reading or translating papers, or losing yourself in a book.

“If you cannot find anyone in whom to confide, imagine that you are being embraced by nature,” he adds. “Then you will be lonely but enriched.”

The last chunk of chapters is more or less a repeat of what the professor has stressed in the first two sections.

The book reads more like an essay than a self-help book. It does what it claims it will do

remind readers of the importance of “alone time”

but a softer resonance may have made the book more identifiable to a larger audience.

Wisdom House. 215 pages. 12,800 won.