Coaching Corner: April Fools!!
By Marilou Butcher Roth, Master Coach
When I realized today was actually April Fools day, I decided to do a bit of exploring to see exactly how this sometimes humorous “holiday” began. Here is what I found on history.com:
Origins of April Fools' Day
Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.
People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
Clearly, this has been going on for quite some time, and, I have often found myself impressed with the creativity of some as they prank their family and friends, some more elaborately than others. What is it about people’s responses to these pranks that entertain us? This day can be a fun and playful time, bringing “got ya’s” to the forefront. How can you enlist your own creativity, finding ideas to have fun with? We all could use some amusement right now!
And... if you are one of those creative pranksters, be nice please!!
Marilou Butcher Roth
Marilou Butcher Roth is the owner of The MBR Group, a coaching and training company working primarily with REALTORS who have a desire to work and live from a more inspired place. She is also the Broker/Owner of Group REALTORS in Cincinnati.
Marilou is a member of the Ohio REALTORS Board of Directors and past chairman of the organization’s Communications Committee.
