NORTHERN PLANNER

A few years ago I got my leg banged up playing 5 a side.

I was in intensive training for something swimming related at the time, so I couldn't just stop the pool visits.

So I had to do session after session with a pull float between my legs.

Six weeks later, when the float was discarded, I found I couldn't swim without. My stroke was totally destroyed.

My muscle memory had temporarily forgotten what it had known for years and years.

What made it worse was that now I was thinking about every stroke.

And the more I thought, the worse it got, until a coach finally sorted me out again.

Just like when people who choke in high level sport.

Suddenly finding the ability to not think about what they're doing taken away.

Because that's what years of experience really is, the ability to not think about what you're doing. 

That's why someone told me it would take seven years learning to be a planner, before I could hope to find my own voice.

Do the basics without thinking, then you can start to experiment and mess around.

This is why the groovy case studies with 'something new to tell the industry' can be so dangerous. 

The brain is a muscle too and you need to build up that muscle memory to 'do' without thinking about it. 

And when you stop 'doing' your powers fade pretty quickly.

Like a Great White Shark, the moment you stop moving, you're pretty much fucked.