How many of us have heard the saying with which I have entitled this piece? I have heard it so often that I tended to start rolling my eyes as soon as I heard ‘If…’. I am not saying it’s not true but it has been used so often in so many contexts by so many people it just becomes another saying we all try to forget along with those in-service or management away days that plagued our lives for so long. In my previous work incarnations I created care plans, patient plans, lessson plans, resource plans, project plans, staffing plans etc etc etc! I was so planned out that by the time I retired if someone had asked me to look at another plan I would have suggested a nice dark place where they could put it. But that was until last week!

Last week I received my ClassGlobe 5.80 boat plans – I am hull number 256! I opened them like a child opening a present and I just looked at the blue folder for a minute thinking this is it, the start of a 5-year adventure -which only a few months ago I didn’t even know existed. Leafing through the folder, taking each plan out one by one and unfolding it – then reading and scanning every detail it was everything I thought it would be. It was exciting, worrying, confusing, and brilliant!

These are plans that are meant to actually build something, do something, achieve something. It is a set of plans that will not be corrected or changed or mulled over by inspectors or senior colleagues; no, this is a perfect set of plans with no judgment or criticism. These will show me and instruct me how to build a boat that can one day be sailed around the world. Now this is a plan I can literally get on board with.