Perhaps in an effort to finish me off prematurely, or perhaps even to have me around for a lot longer, Mrs Yates made the necessary arrangements to ensure the pool was in pride of place beneath the tree on Christmas morning.
Getting into the pool for the first time was a shock to the system to say the least and two weeks in, the first act of submersion still, literally, takes your breath away! It’s then followed by a few involuntary short breaths until your conscience kicks in and you’re able to breathe as intended – deeply and slowly. What I’ve noticed though is if you use a watch to time your effort, you really feel the cold. The very part of the brain you’re trying to give calm and clarity to is racing to get you out of the water as soon as possible. After a few days, I reverted to the kitchen egg timer which itself takes care of the timing and allows me to take care of the breathing.
This leads me on to the reason we’re here though.

I’ve just finished writing my draft Commercial Development Plan for the next couple of years ahead. Once signed off by the board, this document keeps me on track and the business moving forwards (a la the egg timer) whilst I can work on the tasks at hand (the breathing). It allows me to keep the focus on delivering our mission without worrying about choosing the direction to take to get there. It’s an exercise I’d highly recommend taking in January ahead of the financial new year in April.