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By Joel Burgess

As 2007 gives way to 2008, I would like to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year and extend a big thank you for a great 2007. Just for fun, I thought that I’d share a few little known facts about New Year’s Day:

What you don’t know about New Year’s Day… The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 23, although they themselves had no written calendar.

Late March actually is a logical choice for the beginning of a new year. It is the time of year when spring begins and new crops are planted. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.

The Babylonian New Year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year’s Eve festivities pale in comparison.

The Romans continued to observe the New Year on March 25, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun. In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate in 153 BC declared January 1 to be the beginning of the New Year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar in 46 BC established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the New Year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year’s Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

What you don’t know about New Year’s Day Resolutions… The tradition of the New Year’s Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome, was placed at the head of the calendar.

With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new. The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year’s Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted with pictures of Janus became more common New Year’s gifts.

What you don’t know about Auld Lang Syne…That song playing in the background, “Auld Lang Syne,” is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700′s, it was first published in 1796 after Burns’ death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scotch tune, “Auld Lang Syne” literally means “old long ago,” or simply, “the good old days.”

Sources: http://www.goalsguy.com/Events/n_facts.html

http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm

By Maria O’Connell

Have you ever wondered why interviews last so long? Or, maybe why the first time you met your fiancee’s parents, time seemed to drag on forever? How about the time that you thought your child was missing and two minutes seemed more like thirty?

A recent study conducted by David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College, explored this phenomenon. He and his colleagues were seeking to explain why scary experiences seem to pass by in slow motion.

To test this question, the researchers had volunteer participants dive backwards out of a plane without any ropes or attachments. Sometimes reaching 70 mph free-falling through the air, they were caught by a very special net that was created to cushion their fall. The results: the volunteer divers estimated that their own fall lasted about a third longer than the dives that they saw other volunteers take.

The next question Eagleman and his colleagues had: can people actually see and perceive more when in dangerous situations? The answer: NO! Using an invented device called a “perceptual chronometer,” the researchers discovered that the brain does not in fact speed up when in danger.

So, why does one perceive that time is slowed in frightening situations? Speed of time is actually a trick of the memory. When one is scared, the amygdala, a part of the brain, becomes much more active. In this state, the amygdala lays down an extra set of memories in addition to those memories that are created by other parts of the brain. So scary memories are associated with denser memories, and the more memory you have of an event, the longer you believe it took.

In this same pattern, the reason those summers seemed so much longer when you were a child is because you lay down rich memories for all of your experiences when you are young. But as you age, because you have already experienced certain events, you will lay down fewer memories to remember them. This is why time seems to speed up as you grow older.

So next time you leave an interview, you will know why time seemed to drag by. When you look back on your first time meeting the parents of your significant other, you will know that your memory double-recorded that experience. And when you find your child after he/she disappeared, you will know that time did not actually slow down.

I find it absolutely amazing just how intricately we are created. Don’t you?

For more information, please visit the source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22208261/

By Jim Bruckbauer

As the newest member of Whittaker Associates, I feel very privileged and blessed to have an opportunity to use my talents and abilities. In Michigan’s tough economic climate, some employees are now tightening their grips on their career plans. As I reflect on my transition to my new position, I can’t help but think about the process I went through to fully understand the job search and focus my attention on choosing my own career path.

Napoleon Hill’s famous book, Think and Grow Rich, may sound like another get-rich-quick book, but it’s really a tried and true textbook on goal-setting and personal development, especially in one’s career. In his section on marketing our personal skills, Hill suggests we can adopt the “QQS” formula to present ourselves effectively. This formula claims that Quality, plus Quantity, plus the proper Spirit of cooperation equals perfect salesmanship of services. Let’s look at the three parts as defined by Hill:

QUALITY of service shall be construed to mean the performance of every detail, in connection with your position, in the most efficient manner possible, with the object of greater efficiency always in mind.

QUANTITY of service shall be understood to mean the HABIT of rendering all the service of which you are capable, at all times, and with the purpose of increasing the amount of service rendered as greater skill is developed through practice and experience. Emphasis is again placed on the word HABIT.

SPIRIT of service shall be construed to mean the HABIT of agreeable, harmonious conduct which will induce cooperation from associates and fellow employees.

(Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich)

The greatest determining factor in connection with the position and duration of employment is usually one’s Spirit. One’s Spirit may make up for what a person lacks in Quality and Quantity; however, nothing can be substituted for harmonious conduct.
Although Hill’s principles seem timeless, I think in today’s job market we can add a forth element to the equation, Passion. Many thoughtful employers will tell you that passion and eagerness to learn can substitute for Quality and Quantity in one’s skill set.

The start of a New Year is a great time to look at your work of the past year and rate your practice according to the formula.  Then try to begin applying the formula to your work routine as a habit.