Playing let’s pretend the other day, I started daydreaming about what I’d choose to come back as if I had the chance. Premiership footballer? Ocean going yachtsman? No, it would have to be a straight toss-up between F1 driver and fighter pilot. Either would sit well on my broader than average shoulders, don’t you think?

Or not. In the end – like most sensible, pragmatic, grounded people – I know the difference between pipe-dream and reality. Then again, it might be nice to be one of those people that aren’t like that. One of those that isn’t afraid to take a risk and gamble it all for something bigger and better.

Take this mate of mine. 32 years old and he’s just sold his recruitment business for several million quid. The git. It’s tempting to say he got lucky, or something similarly churlish. But you know what? He didn’t. He’s just always had this sort of, well, knack. Part of it, I think, is that he’s never been frightened of walking away and starting again from scratch. That’s what sets him – and others like him – apart.

A certain Mr Steven Jobs for instance. If ever there was a wheel that didn’t need reinventing it was Apple. Or so we thought. But in a few short years Jobs and his team somehow managed to turn a cool but frankly niche business into an even cooler mainstream consumer electronics giant. Talk about visionary thinking.

Again, it’s tempting to put it all down to blind providence (I mean, apart from tapping into popular culture at the perfect time, and apart from having style to burn, great functionality, superb portability, true mass market appeal and being uncannily well-pitched in terms of price, Apple really just got lucky with the iPod, right?). Well, not really. And here’s why. What would most of us do in possession of arguably the most iconic personal accessory ever? Why we’d milk the early market for all it was worth, naturally. But not Apple. It went back to the drawing board and came up with another little gadget called the iPhone.

The point is this. When times get tough – like they probably will over the next year or two – most businesses will consolidate, take stock, retrench, and forswear any kind of risk. Of course they will. And who could blame them?
The truth is though, that the best time to buck a trend, take a risk and change something is often when everybody else is least willing to do so.

Airline industry in the toilet? Stuff it. It’s about time I took those flying lessons.”