[Korean Culture & Language] The Worker Cycle

Hello, this is Uptempo Marketers!

Do you remember the water cycle from middle school? It is a biogeochemical cycle that describes the continuous flow of water on, above, and beneath the Earth’s surface.

The water cycle is the process through which water evaporates from the earth's surface, rises into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow in clouds, and then falls to the ground as precipitation.

Someone thought it is similar to the mood cycle of a worker. 

Below is a diagram that describes “A worker’s cycle (How workers’ minds change at least three times a week)” 

It describes a process through which a worker feels like something is too much that the world is ending, suddenly feels like everything would work out perfectly, feels invincible, but then comes back to the first stage (despair).

The phrase on the cloud reads, “역시 무리다”. 역시 means “I knew,” and 무리다 means “too much”. 

So it means “I knew this was too much”.

The phrase on the runoff reads, “다 망했어. 난 끝장이야”. “다 망했어” means “I’m screwed,” and “난 끝장이야” means “This is the end of the world”.

The phrase on the ocean reads, “오히려 마음이 편안해졌다”. “오히려” means “rather” or "actually". “마음이 편안해졌다” means “I feel at peace now”. “오히려 마음이 편안해졌다” means “I feel rather at peace now”.

As the water evaporates, it reads “왠지 뭐든지 잘 될 것 같은 기분이 든다”. “왠지” means “for some reason,” “뭐든지” means “everything,” “잘 될 것 같은,” means “as if it would turn out perfectly,” “기분” means “feeling”. So, combining them together, the phrase means “For some reason, I feel like everything would turn out perfectly”.

The phrase on the white cloud reads, “나는 무적!!”. It means “I’m invincible!!”

The phrase under the arrow reads “아니 잠깐만”. This is a phrase many younger people use today when they are caught off guard or when something happens before they even realize it. “아니” means “no,” and “잠깐만” means “wait”. So a worker’s mind goes from “I’m invincible” to “Oh, wait (never mind)” and then back to “I knew this was too much”.

Does your mind go through the “worker’s cycle”? I’m sure most people can relate to it!