In 2016 I represented Team GB as a triathlete. Two and a half years ago.

The spring after, I had a bike crash while training in the Spanish countryside. After leaving skin on the road and taking three months to get back on a bike, I figured I was on the road back to qualification.

The next ride saw me in hospital with a cracked sternum and broken teeth. In any training regime, this takes a while to come back from.

I had a choice: dig in and train again, or find a new way.

It’s not as if Team GB isn’t within reach. Like innovation, anyone can achieve the level of fitness with the commitment to learn what’s required and an investment of time.

But, what’s the best option? Falling off bikes isn’t much fun. It’s not mandatory, of course, but to run a business it helps to have teeth.

So, I decided to sell a race bike, get an e-bike to commute on and spend more time running and swimming.

And now I have options. Hopefully, I’m not going to fall off anything. I can train long and I can give more time over to swimming. The plan is to run a 100km race this summer, to do a 24 hour relay and to enter some 6km and 10km swims.

It’s not giving up.

It’s pivoting away from past glories and focusing on what needs to come next.

Whether I’ll go back to triathlon is something to think about when the time is right but just now, maybe not.

Planning a race strategy and planning an innovation strategy both take a degree of pragmatism and realism.

They both require tenacity, persistence, energy and self-awareness – of ability and of what the business needs. It isn’t that there are bad ideas, just that some ideas need to meet their moment.

room44 has a method of testing ideas, and it’s called the CRiTT test. It considers Commercial, Regulatory, Technical and Time factors. Through this process, we can place ideas on a timeline of probability, and specify the insight needed to keep an eye on market developments – so you know when the time will be right for the ideas that can’t work now.

To find out how we see innovation differently, you can download our free guide by clicking here. It’s no coincidence that our book is called “Seeing it differently – how to sell innovation into your own company.”

Or click here to start a conversation about our CRiTT test.

Future thinking. Future proofing. It’s what we do.