162. An Observation at the Swimming Pool | 池畔一隅趣談
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 9.10.2024
Two questions are often asked by my “Learning Circle” participants: how to balance work and life, and how to utilize time effectively. The generic answers typically center on priority setting and time allocation. In Blog 63, “How Do You Spend Your Time,” I touch upon this and provide a framework to analyze your time allocation.
But today at the swimming pool, I saw an interesting example of someone effectively achieving the multiple purposes of family gathering, exercise, learning, and self-indulgence.
A young mother brought her two kids into the pool. They laughingly splashed the water and played some chasing games for 15 minutes. Then the kids went to a coach to learn how to swim with some other kids while the mother, a very good swimmer, began to swim laps next to my lane. After 30 minutes, she jumped into the whirlpool. She relaxed and occasionally glanced at her phone to read something, disregarding her kids in the swimming class.
In that short hour, the family had fun together, the kids learned new swimming techniques with their friends, and the mother got her exercise with lap swimming and also pampered herself in the hot whirlpool. They achieved multiple purposes of family bonding, learning, exercise, and relaxing.
On other days, I have seen parents teaching their own kids with some difficulty or just sitting by the pool snoozing or watching the kids in class. Afterwards, the parents may lament that because of the kids’ swimming class, they don’t have time to themselves to exercise or relax.
This comparison may be oversimplified, and the situation may not apply to all of us directly, but it does show us that a different way of doing things may provide new perspectives and results.
In order to solve problems in our lives and continuously improve, we need to observe people and events around us, do some analysis, learn the best practices, and apply them to ourselves. The cycle of learning and practice will undoubtedly open our eyes and sharpen our skills to make us better and more valuable people.
池畔一隅趣談 (2024/9/10)
–作者 許俊宸博士
–中譯 薛乃綺
我「學習圈」的夥伴們經常問我兩個問題：如何平衡工作和生活，以及如何有效利用時間。一般來說，大家的回答無外乎是設定優先順序和時間分配。其實，我在第62篇部落格文章《你怎麼花你的時間》中已經討論過這個問題，並且建議了一個分析時間分配的框架。
不過，今天我在游泳池裡看到了一個有趣的例子，完美示範了如何同時達成 家庭相聚、運動、學習、和自我放鬆 的多重目的。
一位年輕媽媽帶著兩個孩子來游泳池，先是開心地嬉戲了十五分鐘，大家一起潑水，玩追逐遊戲。接著，孩子們加入了游泳課程，和其他小朋友一起學習游泳技巧。而這位媽媽，泳技相當不錯，就在我的泳道旁開始來回游了三十來分。之後，又跳進我旁邊的按摩池，很是放鬆地泡在熱水中，偶爾瞄一下手機，看些東西，完全沒有在意孩子們還在上課中。
在短短的一個小時內，這家人不但一起玩樂，孩子們也學到了新的游泳技巧，而媽媽則完成了她的運動計畫，還順便享受了一下按摩池的放鬆時光。他們成功地在這段時間內達成了家庭連結、學習、運動和休閒放鬆的多項目標。
相比之下，我也常看到有些父母在游泳池裡費力地自己教孩子游泳，或者只是坐在池邊打瞌睡，或者一邊看著孩子上課，一邊無所事事。課程結束後，這些父母可能還會抱怨說，因為孩子要上游泳課，他們自己都沒時間運動或放鬆一下。
當然，這個比較可能過於直接了，也未必適用於每個人，但它讓我們看到了一個不同的做事方式，也許能給大家帶來全新的視野和結果。 要想解決生活中的問題，並持續提升自己，我們需要觀察身邊的人和事、進行分析、學習他們好的做法，並且用在自己身上。這樣的學習和實踐循環，無疑能讓我們的眼界更加開闊、能力更精湛，從而成為一個更好、更有價值的人。
