<Master Woo's Weekly Blog Every Thursday · Taekwondo & Life>

Every year, our dojang makes the same push with prizes on the line to get kids reading. Here's why it's never just a campaign.

Honestly? I know the reason in my bones. This isn't a brag, it's more of a confession: I read every single day. At some point, books stopped being something I did and became part of who I am as natural as waking up, as necessary as eating.

When you read every day, you start to think with the wisdom inside those pages. You get to live through experiences you could never collect in a single lifetime different eras, different choices, different failures and comebacks all before you've even left the room.

Right now, I'm reading the autobiography of Chung Ju-yung — the man who built Hyundai from scratch. Yes, that Hyundai. The cars you see on American roads every single day. He built that empire starting from nothing.

Chung Ju-yung — Born of This Land

Born a farmer's son in Korea under Japanese colonial rule, Chung Ju-yung went on to found Hyundai one of the world's largest automotive and industrial companies, whose cars and SUVs fill American roads today. He started with absolutely nothing. What drove him wasn't talent or connections it was relentless effort and the flat refusal to accept "impossible" as a final answer.

He had a habit of turning the word "no" back on the person saying it. When a young person told him something couldn't be done, he would quietly ask:

[Have you even tried it?]

Chung Ju-yung, Founder of Hyundai Group Think about it next time you're driving the kids to practice, look around. Hyundais are everywhere on American roads. Every single one of those cars traces back to one man who was born with nothing, in a country under foreign rule, with no connections and no capital. What he had was a refusal to quit and the wisdom to turn every setback into a next step. That's not just a business story. That's a life lesson. And it's sitting on the pages of a book.

That question has stayed with me for weeks. Diligence, at its core, is just another word for trying. The earlier a child internalizes that, the farther they go.

I also recently finished The Making of a Leader in an Age of Chaos the story of Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President of the United States, tracing his life from childhood through his rise as one of America's most consequential leaders. The moment that stayed with me most wasn't a landmark bill or a famous speech.

The Making of a Leader in an Age of Chaos

As a boy, young Lyndon followed his father on the campaign trail watching, listening, learning politics up close through real people and real conversations. Reading this, I couldn't help but think: maybe it was those early experiences of truly meeting people and hearing them out that became the very foundation of his leadership.

That's what books do. They take you inside another person's life. You get to witness their decisions up close the courage, the doubt, the quiet moments that never make the history books. Things no classroom can teach.

That's why we keep recommending books. Every year. What kids learn at our dojang isn't just kicks and punches. We believe that training the body must go hand in hand with training the mind. And the quietest, most powerful way to train the mind is to read. This year, like every year, we want to give our kids that habit because it's a gift that keeps shaping them long after they leave the mat.