Just how long is five years?

Yes I know this sounds like a stupid question, but do bear with me.

Yesterday I was in a meeting of senior managers discussing the RSPB's next corporate strategy, which looks ahead for five years. When you're talking about an organisation that has been around for nearly 120 years, five years is a relatively short timescale. Which isn't to suggest that a lot can't happen in that time, but at the end of it the organisation is unlikely to be radically different.

When you're talking about a six week old baby, five weeks is plenty long enough to experience radical change. At this stage of their development no two weeks are the same, which is all part of the fun. Every single day young babies experience something new and do something different.

In five years' time Dan will certainly be radically different from how he is now - he'll be walking, talking and going to school. His personality will have emerged and we'll have some strong indicators of what his future might hold.

Of course as adults we have much more control over lives - five weeks, five days, five years or five minutes - they can be as long or short, as radical or predictable as you choose to make them.