When the polytechnics decided to turn all learning into home-based learning, it was a shock to everyone. Especially that was unlike our primary schools, secondary schools and junior colleges counterparts who the ministry had decided to bring forward their summer break by a month.

With only about a month to prepare materials for home-based learning comprising of a weird contortion of lecture videos and Zoom lessons, everything was reactive rather than responsive.

Our learners too were anxious; they couldn’t fathom how learning could be done at home. Just imagine doing titration at home.

But such were important moments, a game changing moment, a moment to rise up to the challenge and the moment to prove to yourself that you can do it:

This is your chance to find opportunities in crisis. This is your chance to move ahead of the pack.

Me highlighting this to my learners on their very first class over Zoom

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Urban legends said that the word for “crisis” in Chinese, 危机 (wei ji), is made up of two characters: the first character, 危, means “Danger” and the second character, 机, means opportunity. However, if we look back into the etymology of the word, it’s likely to mean something else. Nevertheless, I like how urban legends have defined the word and I tried my best to find opportunities in crisis.

To me, to find opportunities in crisis is to change our mindset: exchanging panic for clarity, swapping the feeling of helplessness for the feeling of hope.

For me, my challenge was working from home.

It sucks even more when I need to set up a portable workstation in the balcony with a faulty air-conditioning system which no longer works which is supposedly my bedroom too. The heat and the disturbances from our dear Air Force who decidedly it was the best time to fly their fighter jets (since oil is cheap) has being closed to unbearable.

I truly do not like to work from home and the problem is not work but home.

However, as an educator, I must walk the talk (I believe we absolutely have to do so). It cannot be just empty nag, I definitely have the power to do something about this. I made my luck and searched for opportunities to grow.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to look too far either; my opportunity was time. Firstly, there was the time saved from transport and meeting friends almost every week. The second was rubber time with work.

I made a conscious decision to segment and utilise my time in a way that’s both productive and pleasurable. For instance, I started dividing my work into two pieces: things that I do not like to do which I will do only when I am most focused, and things that I like to do which I would do so over the weekends when I don’t have to be stuck in my sauna balcony-bedroom delivering lessons. This made my work day a bit more bearable without compromising on productivity.

I took the opportunity to build on existing habits – spending more focused time to manage my health and my wealth.

I took the opportunity to renewed some of my past pursuits. And at long last, I found some motivation to study Japanese almost daily for about three continuous months. As for the that constant commotion that’s going on in the house ever so often? This was my training to tune off distraction and maintain focus. Come to think of it, it is the sort of training that we give our students who are trained for programming competitions.

And I took the opportunity to do something new. Learning cooking was among one of the things that I can do now.

With a better rested and more energised body and a more focused mind, I hope I find it easier to introduce more habits into my regime progressively and in a sustainable manner, setting a virtuous cycle to run my life.

Have you make use of the crisis that’s given to you? Would love to hear from you about what you do.