My day begins at 4:30 AM. I too woke up at 4:30 AM to listen to the audiobook “My Day Begins at 4:30 AM,” and I hastily concluded it would be the predictable story praising morning people or emphasizing the importance of the habit of waking up early. However, Attorney Kim Yoo-jin’s honest and straightforward story was not mere encouragement, but proof of tremendous effort—rising at dawn to overcome each crisis in her life.

Starting with recent hardships at work, she recounted stories like failing the U.S. law school exam yet persevering to pass, and her childhood in New Zealand where grueling training as a swimmer enabled her to defeat physically superior competitors and win championships. It felt like watching a live vlog of someone continuously confronting life’s adversities head-on through dawn awakenings. In fact, Attorney Kim Yoo-jin has been running a YouTube channel for over two years, and this book is a compilation of the sincere stories shared on that channel.

Reflecting on what happens when you rise at dawn, memories surfaced: cramming through early morning study sessions during high school exams to narrowly avoid failure, and attending dawn prayer meetings for days on end when things weren’t going well, praying fervently. As the saying goes, ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’ – when you’re truly desperate, you grab the shovel without hesitation. Everyone has probably had that experience at least once—clinging desperately to something you deeply desire, unconcerned with the opinions of others. This seemed to resonate with the message to pray until you reach a state of ‘shameless audacity’.

By the time I closed the book, I realized that her many achievements, big and small, were the result of diligent and persistent effort repeated over and over. It also brought to mind self-help books I’d often encountered in the stories of successful people, like The 10,000-Hour Rule or The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Ultimately, the key lay in how to awaken those precious early morning hours to become a slightly better version of myself than I was in the past.

For some, the dawn hours may be a time of fierce effort for the future; for others, it might be a quiet moment of leisure with a cup of tea. For me, dawn is a time to walk and exercise, fill my mind with knowledge through audiobooks, and simultaneously deliver meals to someone, spreading happiness ($Delivering$ $Happiness$). So, my dawn deliveries will continue tomorrow too!