On Anniversaries

I didn't really notice until I got a flood of congratulations on LinkedIn.

Sometime over the last couple of weeks, LinkedIn reminded all my connections that I started Volition Project two years ago. Of course, I didn't totally forget - I completed my "annual report" to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on time, but that was a month ago. Back in 2014, it took me a month from filing my LLC to launching the first version of VolitionProject.com, with the accompanying presences on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

And that's only the first problem with anniversaries - that things don't necessary start cleanly on a single day. Couples often have multiple anniversary dates: first date, first kiss, getting engaged, getting married... Top that off with the mind-blowing fact that all of time is arbitrary. What does the position of the earth around the sun have to do with anything? We choose this random yardstick to remember past events.

Anniversaries are arbitrary, but worth observing. Because reflecting on the past, on a recurring, ritualized basis, can create cathartic moments. The introspection it prompts can catalyze valuable epiphanies. And those epiphanies may have a profound effect on the future. Anniversaries not only celebrate progress, they drive progress.

While I've only got a few years under my belt at Volition Project, one of my clients is approaching 100 years. That is a pretty big deal. This financial brand has had a huge impact on the lives of educators, medical personnel, and other employees of non-profits since before the '20s. What (if anything) should the brand do to mark the occasion? What do you think? Please let me know in the comments.