National Cat Herders Day
From project managers to parents, show appreciation for people in your life who achieve seemingly impossible tasks with patience and humility.
Celebrate and recognize the unsung heroes managing complex teams and impossible projects with a lighthearted December campaign that drives employee appreciation and workplace culture engagement.
- Share cat memes paired with shout-outs to your hardest-working managers and team leads
- Create a 'Cat Herder of the Month' internal recognition program with fun awards
- Post behind-the-scenes content showing how your team tackles 'impossible' projects with humor and grace
- Launch a social media challenge encouraging followers to nominate their favorite 'cat herders' in their lives
While the idiom that something impossible is “like herding cats” is a popular saying now, the phrase has relatively recent origins – one story has it that IT expert Dave Platt popularized the phrase when he said that “managing senior programmers is like herding cats”. Some folks attribute the idea of herding cats to Monty Python, the British comedy troupe, whose 1979 film Life of Brian opened with a scene related to the subject.
Another possibility is the popularity the phrase gained during the Super Bowl in the year 2000. Electronic Data Systems released an ad on that occasion boasting of their ability to serve customers, as easily as cowboys herding cats.
Since then the phrase has taken on a life of its own but in general is applied to those able to go above and beyond the call of duty, able to handle the impossible without thought of reward – in short, life’s thankless tasks.
What we can say is that the phrase is pretty suitable for what it describes. And while cats are independent, solitary, and easily distracted, many humans also share the same characteristics.
So you may well have to complete tasks that are in fact as difficult as herding cats. Cat Herders’ Day seems to have gotten started some time in the 1980s by Wellcat founders Thomas and Ruth Roy
Share About Cat Herders Day
The first thing to do on this day is to let people know about it! Pick a favorite cat video or internet meme featuring a cat and post it on social media with a cat herding hashtag. Use your post to demonstrate your intentions of highlighting the great work of the overworked and under-appreciated people of the world.
Create Cat Herders Day Traditions
Depending on who you’re celebrating you can get creative and come up with your own special traditions. One idea is to draw a picture of a cat and put it in your front window, almost always neighbors catch on and imitate. Very soon your street is competing for who had the best cat picture.
Show Appreciation to a Cat Herder
Cat Herders’ Day may not be the most well known holiday but it is an important one. Regardless of its origin, the idea of appreciating the work some people do and of how hard that work can be under some extremely difficult circumstances cannot be overlooked. Having a day like Cat Herders’ Day raises our awareness of others and helps us to appreciate them more throughout the year. From project managers to daycare workers, let those who handle impossible tasks with aplomb every day know how much you appreciate and stand in awe of them. Someone has to be there to get these tasks done, and without those who seem to be capable of herding felines of the metaphoric variety, the world may not work as well as it does!