Six Sigma Blogs

Prior to their adoption of the Western solar calendar scheme, the Chinese almost wholly followed their own lunar calendar for determining the times of planting and harvesting and festival days. Although people in China today use the Western calendar for almost all business, governmental and practical matters of daily life, the old method still serves as the basis for determining many seasonal holidays. This coexistence of two calendar schemes has long been accepted by the people of China.

However, this does not only happen in China, it also happens in most other Eastern countries, like Thailand, and most Arabic countries.

A lunar month is determined by measuring the period of time needed for the moon to finish its full cycle of 29 and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a full eleven days shorter than its solar counterpart. This difference is made up every 19 years by the addition of seven lunar months.

The 12 lunar months are further divided into 24 solar divisions characterized by the four seasons and times of heat and cold, all of which bear a close relationship to the annual cycle of agricultural work.

The Chinese calendar - very much like the Hebrew calendar- is a combination of the solar and lunar calendars in that it strives to have its years concur with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar.

For instance, an ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. When determining what a Chinese year will be like, one needs to make a couple of astronomical calculations.

First of all, you have to work out the dates for the new moons. In these instances, a new Moon is the completely black Moon (that is to say, when the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun), not the first visible crescent, as is used by the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is then the first day of a new month.

The reason why the majority of countries which had their own calendars had to dump them in favour of the Western, Julian calendar that we use today, is business. First the British and then the Americans ran international business and they used the Gregorian calendar. Anyone who sought to work with them had to follow suit. This is why national policy often varies from local custom in Third World countries.

The government desires to deal on the International markets, but the ordinary family in the country can not. So, the government took up the Gregorian calendar but the people only pay lip service to it. I live in Thailand and people here do not even use the 24 hour day divided into two halves. Their day has four sections of six hours each and the first part starts at 6AM, not midnight. Therefore, they have four 4 o’clocks a day, for instance but no 7 o’clocks. They are also 543 years ahead of us, although this is more common, for instance in Muslim countries.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching Franklin planner pages. If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our website now at Promotional Desk Calendars

What makes an effective leader? Many people might say character, leadership style, and values define an effective leader. However, it is not enough to measure the effectiveness of a leader based on character, style, and values alone. These attributes should not be the only criteria in evaluating the effectiveness of a leader in any organization. Effective leadership takes more than just analytic thinking, personal integrity, and working with ambiguity. An effective leader should also learn how to connect these attributes with leadership results.

Many of us might have learned from college or from a management book the formula for results based leadership involves attributes, results, and effective leadership. This can be better illustrated as effective leadership = attributes x results. It is not merely the inputs of leadership that organizations and leaders must give importance to - leaders must also think about outcomes or results and organizations should start learning how to put stress or emphasis on the outcomes of leadership.

It has always been a challenge for organizations to make its people have a better understanding of results based leadership. And it has always been a challenge for executives, managers, and human resources personnel to help develop leaders (in different levels of the organizations) who are able to focus on both attributes and results. To help organizations have a deeper understanding and appreciation of leadership that is based on results, it is recommended that executives and managers should continually ask for things that are required for attaining results and recurrently tell stories about how to get results.

There are four ways by which we can evaluate whether or not leaders are observing and exhibiting results based leadership. Results must help balance the employees, organization, customers, and investors - and it must not ignore any one. Results must also be able to strongly connect to the strategy of the organization, as well as its competitive position. It should also meet both short-term and long-term goals, and it must not sacrifice long-term plans. Moreover, results must support the whole organization and should go beyond the personal gain of the manager, executive or any other leader.

There are also four areas by which results based leadership can be delivered - for employees, for the organization, for its customers, and for its investors. There are certain metrics for each of these areas, and they should all be taken into consideration if a leader wants to deliver results.

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Do you think that Im exaggerating when I say that I can make you two inches taller in two minutes?

It’s simple to grow taller. First, however, let me show something to you. Go stand in front of a mirror. If you look at yourself from the side you’ll notice that if you’re like most American’s, your head is jutting forward. This is from excessive time sitting with poor posture.

Modern have dictates that you will spend most of you time sitting. Unlike our ancestors who spent most of their time doing physical labor, we spend most of our time on our rears. In our cars. At the office. All day long we’re sitting.

Poor posture while sitting leads to host of problems. Most of them involve tightness on the front of the body. The hip flexors and muscles of the neck get especially tight. Sitting like this for too long will lead to long term problems like back pain and neck pain.

Now, back to the mirror. When you look in the mirror, sideways, you noticed that like most people, your head is forward and so are your shoulders.

All of this makes you essentially shrink. I was talking to a client awhile ago and he told me that he has shrunk 1-inch in the past 10 years. The reality is that he didnt really shrink. His posture simply fell apart. If you look at him from the side youll see that his head is resting not over his shoulders but over - air. There is no support from his bodies natural pillar-of-strength.

So, now, what is the solution to all of this sitting? How can you grow taller? Think “shoulders, back, and down.”

No, that doesnt stand for the Small Business Development-Center. SBD stands for shoulders- back-down. I want you to keep your shoulder blades pushed back toward each other and down toward your back pockets. Do this all the time. Youll notice that when you do this that your chest pops up. Also, when you SBD your head will pull back over your shoulders.

This will make you two inches taller. Youll also feel more confident. If you already have perfect posture and are confident, then this will make you arrogant (joking). Anyway, thats all there is to it!