March Fo(u)rth

Many blog posts and feature articles contain "spoiler warnings" to alert you that they may spoil your enjoyment of some other media, such as movies and TV. This blog does not contain any such "spoilers," but I feel compelled to start with a "content warning."

That's because most of the blog posts on this site are specifically about instructional design information, techniques and strategies to help develop training and learning materials. But this blog is going to be a little different. So hold on, it'll still be helpful.

Today we're going to take a look at my favorite informal holiday that I celebrate every year, both personally and professionally: March Fourth. For me, it started in college as a silly day that some of my co-workers celebrated. But over the years, it's become so much more.

Do something!

If you haven’t gotten the pun yet, "March fourth" (the fourth day of March) sounds like the command “march forth!” The site timeanddate.com describes this as “March Fourth and do something,” and emphasizes getting out and doing something charitable. For me, however, March Fourth is a day to re-establish momentum:

• I start the year with high hopes and lofty expectations to make positive changes in my life.

• But by mid-January, I start to lose momentum.

• And by mid-February, the combination of short, dark days and a limited attention span have all but extinguished my excitement for yearly resolutions.

March Fourth is my day of reassessing goals for the year and doing whatever I can to renew my momentum. It’s like a second cup of hot fresh coffee at 10:30 a.m. when you realize your morning is half over and you’ve let the early distractions of the day knock you back on your heels and the day is slipping away. So, you grab that new cup of coffee, sit down at your desk, take a sip, and say, “All right… let’s do this.”

I invite you to celebrate March Fourth with me. Let’s "march forth" together.

What big hopes or novel ideas did you have for 2020 that you haven’t given the attention you had hoped? In what areas has momentum started to slow, and atrophy started to show signs? What goals of the new year do you need to abandon for new ones, and how can you pursue those new goals with new vigor? How do you even begin to re-address these stagnating areas?

That’s what March Fourth is all about. If possible, block out some time on your calendar to celebrate this special day by reassessing what you hope to accomplish and giving yourself the opportunity to come up with specific plans and strategies to keep marching forward. That’s what this day is really all about.

Happy March Fo(u)rth!