The Monthly Goalpost for April (featuring The March Dip)

Have you ever heard of “The March Dip”? This is not something tasty to spread on a cracker but a drop in motivation during the month of March.

The school year calendar of our student days can influence us. For me, September is a point of departure: the summer is over, school’s beginning and it’s time to get back to work.  A few months later, winter holidays provide a break and the New Year hails in another fresh start. But then there’s March. That in-betweeny month that seems SO long after the brevity of February. It drags on with no end in sight. Summer vacation is months away. That New Year zest has worn off and you are left with the dreaded March Dip.

If your March was less than you’d hoped for, if winter is hanging around too long, if your subbing motivation has been subdued, I have good news. April is here! And we can use it to reassess goals and renew our motivation.

Here’s what Wikipedia has for motivation:

Motivation is a psychological feature that arouses an organism to act towards a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal directed behaviors. It can be considered a driving force; a psychological drive that compels or reinforces an action toward a desired goal.

“sustains certain goal directed behaviors…” Yes! We need to do that. This submission process needs lots of “SUSTAIN”!

And from Psychology Today:

Motivation is an inner drive to behave or act in a certain manner. It’s the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day.

OK! I get it. Lazing around the house all day won’t get those subs out. But sometimes it happens. If it happened to you in March, don’t be too hard on yourself. The March Dip is notorious for making people stay in their pajamas and stare into space.

If your sub numbers were down, if you didn’t meet all your goals this past month, I’m giving you a Get Out of Jail Free Card, or better yet a Spring Out of March Dip Card. April is here. Perseverance and renewal will team up. Your own personal spring will have sprung and your work and submission process will stay on track.

Renew your motivation by believing in yourself and your work. Think back to why you set off on this journey. Take out your work and reconnect with it. Subbing is first and foremost about the work you are subbing–not just the number of subs, replies and rejections.

Persevere. Sometimes you have to power through the rough spots by doing simple tasks that lead to the goal and keep you in contact with it. Staying on track can sometimes mean not going too far off track. Take into account the small things you do towards your goal to create a sense of accomplishment.

Recognize your emotional state in regards to the submission process. If you’re feeling down because you didn’t sub this month, figure out why, make a list of obstacles you encountered and a list a possible solutions to those obstacles.

Reassess your goals. Take out March’s to-do list and see what you’ve done, acknowledge it, reward yourself then make a new list for April. Don’t just put all the undone March items on your April list: reevaluate whether or not they were attainable then modify.

Sub It Club wants to know how you did in March and what you’ve got planned for April. Comment here or if you’re part of the private Facebook group, tells us how you’re doing on the April Goalpost thread there. If you’d like to join our Facebook group, send a request.