How to Deal With Overbearing Personalities

Well all have those people in life who are just a little bit wearing on the spirit. You know who I mean. Their intentions are good, yet they always manage to stir things up. Sometimes it feels like you can't get anything done when they're around. They're criticizing, they're correcting, they're meddling. They're giving you all the reasons why you can't (when you know that you CAN!).

So how do you accomplish anything when overbearing friends and relatives are all up in your face and playing self-appointed cruise director or drill sergeant? How to maintain some semblance of self-respect and dignity around these people?

1. Erect boundaries. Although at times you feel like booting the overbearing person right out of your life... we all know that this is not always possible. Maybe they're your coworker, someone in your circle of friends... maybe it's your mother or your brother! The best thing to do in that case is to keep it on friendly terms but control the situation. Some ideas:

How to Deal With Overbearing Personalities

o Relocate. If you live with them... move out! It's not healthy to be around someone who is impeding your personal growth. No need to broach this topic in an accusatory way. Just explain that it's time to make a go of it on your own.

o Limit contact. If they're a frequent visitor... try to arrange it so they're only showing up X times in a month. Politely discourage drop-in visits and weekend stays if you can.

o Limit context. For example, if it's your coworker, keep it friendly at the office but don't go out of your way to hang with them at happy hour.

2. Let go of the guilt. Just because you love someone doesn't mean you have to like them. Many people suffer a great deal of unnecessary guilt over this. They think that because they feel annoyed, angered and hurt by overbearing friends and family members, that they're a bad person. Some reminders:

o Be choosy about what you share. You're not obliged to reveal everything about your life to this person. If your gut tells you that something is better left unsaid, then go with that thought.

o Counseling or coaching can help. If the overbearing person has had a hold on you for your whole life, you may harbor some hostility and resentment. An impartial outsider can often be hugely helpful when you just want to let go of these feelings and move forward with things.

o Different people can serve different purposes in your life. You may have another person you're close to who fulfills you in a different way than this person does. Know that this is perfectly healthy and a way to gain equilibrium in your relationships.

3. Try to put the overbearing personality to constructive use. Sometimes people who want to control everything just don't have enough going on in their own lives. If there's no getting rid of them, at least make their tendencies work for you. Give them a task or project to complete and it might just make them happier.

o Put them in charge. The truth is that most people are not great at leading others or organizing themselves. If there's an event that needs managing, why not put the overbearing person at the helm of the project?

o Offer up the floor. For the times that you're forced to be with them, it's worth keeping the peace by making the overbearing person the center of attention. At least you'll know that it will only be for a little while.

o Learn something from them. Get past the emotional turmoil they've caused you in the past. Recognize that everyone has something to share - even those whose delivery isn't always the smoothest. Who knows... if you listen, you might learn something!

4. Let them go. When all else fails, you can always say goodbye. Sometimes we're just better off losing the baggage that comes with one too many overbearing personalities in our lives. This is why people divorce, change friends, move far away from their families and search for new jobs. You may need to do some serious soul-searching before you make a decision. Know that this is a good and healthy process to put yourself through.

How to Deal With Overbearing Personalities
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Lifestyle Mentor, Personal Coach, Author, Educator, and Entrepreneur, David B. Bohl is the creator of Slow Down FAST. To learn more about this step-by-step strategy for Living YOUR Life YOUR way, and to sign up for his 9 FREE Tips for Finding Happiness in a Fast-Paced World, free teleseminars, free Special Report, free bi-monthly ezine and more, go to: http://www.SlowDownFAST.com

Linear Regression Analysis - Centering For Multicollinearity Between Main Effects and Quadratic Term

In Regression Analysis, one of the most common causes of multicollinearity is when predictor variables are multiplied to create an interaction term or a quadratic or higher order terms (X squared, X cubed, etc.).

Why does this happen? When all the X values are positive, higher values produce high products and lower values produce low products. So the product variable is highly correlated with the component variable. I will do a very simple example to clarify. (Actually, if they are all on a negative scale, the same thing would happen, but the correlation would be negative). In a small sample, say you have the following values of a predictor variable X, sorted in ascending order:

2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8

Linear Regression Analysis - Centering For Multicollinearity Between Main Effects and Quadratic Term

It is clear to you that the relationship between X and Y is not linear, but curved, so you add a quadratic term, X squared (X2), to the model. The values of X squared are:

4, 16, 16, 25, 49, 49, 64, 64, 64

The correlation between X and X2 is .987 - almost perfect.

To remedy this, simply center X at its mean. The mean of X is 5.9. So to center X, I simply create a new variable XCen=X-5.9.

These are the values of XCen:

-3.90, -1.90, -1.90, -.90, .10, 1.10, 1.10, 2.10, 2.10, 2.10

Now, the values of XCen squared are:

15.21, 3.61, 3.61, .81, .01, 1.21, 1.21, 4.41, 4.41, 4.41

The correlation between XCen and XCen2 is -.54-still not 0, but much more manageable. Definitely low enough to not cause severe multicollinearity. This works because the low end of the scale now has large absolute values, so its square becomes large.

If the values of X had been less skewed, this would be a perfectly balanced parabola, and the correlation would be 0.

Linear Regression Analysis - Centering For Multicollinearity Between Main Effects and Quadratic Term
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And now I would like to invite you to learn all about what multicollinearity is, how to diagnose it, and what to do about it in one of my FREE monthly Analysis Factor Teleseminars: "Correlated Predictors in Linear Regression: How to Detect and What to Do about Multicollinearity." Visit Teletraining 1 to get started today.

© 2008 Karen Grace-Martin -- Statistical Consultant and founder of The Analysis Factor

Wedding Reception Food Ideas That Stretch Your Budget : How To Self-Cater Fancy Appetizers

Wedding reception foods do not have to be expensive. The ideas for stretching a small wedding budget are as unlimited as the imagination!

Any bride can have fancy appetizers at her wedding reception.

So what is the secret?

Wedding Reception Food Ideas That Stretch Your Budget : How To Self-Cater Fancy Appetizers

How can a bride with a tiny budget have fancy appetizers? The secret to having fancy appetizers on a small budget can be found in the freezer of a smart, budget-conscious bride months before her wedding day.

By starting months in advance and devoting one morning, afternoon, or evening a week to baking freezable appetizers, the budget-conscious bride can amass a delicious collection of appetizers for her wedding reception.

Delicious savory spanokopita, tiropita, miniature quiches, bruschetta, baby crab cakes, tea breads, mexican wedding cakes... the list is unlimited!

Yes, you truly can have the food you want at your wedding reception! If you are willing to think outside the box, tie an apron on yourself once a week in the months preceding your wedding day, and ask for some help from family and friends you will be able to have the food you want at your wedding reception.

Having the dream wedding foods you want at your wedding reception is not something that is only available to some brides! Every bride can indeed have a wedding menu that delights the taste buds.

Maybe you are thinking "I want lobster or surf and turf." And you are thinking there is no way that you can afford lobster and filet mignon.

I ran into this situation hundreds and hundreds of times as a caterer. I can tell you that every single time I was able to come up with a creative and affordable solution that fit the bride's budget.

Even though the wedding reception budget did not allow for lobster tails for each guest, it did allow for a delicious lobster sauce to be served with a more economical, yet delicious dish. While the wedding reception budget did not allow for 8 oz. of filet mignon for each guest, perhaps it allowed for a delightful appetizer that incorporated a tender beef morsel into a flaky phyllo pastry. Again, I want to reiterate that the creative solutions for your wedding reception are truly unlimited. If you are willing to think outside the box, tie on an apron once a week, and ask for help - the solutions will be provided to you.

© 2006 Kathi Dameron, Kathi Dameron and Associates

Note To Publishers: You are invited to share this article through your ezine, website or print publication provided you publish this article in its entirety and include the copyright statement, bio information, active website links and contact information for Kathi Dameron and Associates as provided in the resource section at the bottom of the article.

Wedding Reception Food Ideas That Stretch Your Budget : How To Self-Cater Fancy Appetizers
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Abundant Blessings!

Kathi Dameron

Wedding Reception Teleseminars For Brides

Learn How To Self-Cater or Semi-Cater Your Own Wedding Reception

http://www.kathidameron.com 850-422-3599

Kathi Dameron teaches brides-to-be how to create beautiful and affordable wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, bridesmaid luncheons and other festive soirees that pop with personality and panache.

Today, Kathi shares her wedding reception expertise that she gained during her tenure as the owner, chef, and event designer of Canopy Rose Catering, a high end catering and special event company that was located in Tallahassee, Florida. Brides and other interested individuals who want to learn the secrets to creating a dream wedding on any budget can attend Kathi's Wedding Reception Teleseminars.

Brides can learn more about attending these teleseminars from the comfort of their own home by visiting http://www.kathidameron.com or contacting Kathi Dameron at 850-422-3599

How to Make Money Online Without a Website Or a List - Posting Ads For Companies Online

For those who have been hit hard by the economic recession and have lost their jobs in the process or those who do not want to rely on only one channel of income through their day time jobs,making money online through simply posting ads for blue chip companies all over the world is an opportunity which has not been properly tapped by various online money makers.

The idea behind this online making opportunity is that these companies have recognized the expanse and viral spread of the internet technology to all parts of the world,that it has become necessary to use the opportunity to advertise their products and services to every nook and cranny of the universe.

The ability to post such ads extensively by an in-house employee workforce can be so demanding that these companies decide to outsource such tasks to offshore companies who have a worldwide network of data entry workers who took the opportunity by subscribing to the online money making program.It must be noted that it is a win-win situation for the companies who pay you for submitting their ads likewise you who takes the pain,effort and energy to submit their ads for them.The companies make money through people who view and click their ads by subscribing to their services or buying their products while you get paid for posting those ads.The beauty of this program is the more you post the more you earn.You can actually set a goal of how much you intend to earn for the week or the month and go to work with determination and resilience.This is about the best money making opportunity from the comfort of your home on the internet.

How to Make Money Online Without a Website Or a List - Posting Ads For Companies Online

Five tips to get started on this money making opportunity include:

1.Look for companies you know their track record and financial status
2.Look for companies that offer services or products you are familiar with especially those within your locality
3.Post regularly, offering valuable information
4.Look for forums who have similar interest to what you do and share your experiences.This comes with lots of moral boost and extra energy on your part to keep on in achieving your goal.Some forums recommended for this purpose include warriorforum.com, sitepoint.com, digitalpoint.com etc.These are forums with lots of members and lots of activity.
5.Finally to succeed you need to register to start posting ads,registration is free but you need the right information on how to get started and useful resources on the best companies who have had a good payment record to work for.One place to acquire resources on how to get started could be found on http://behome-employed.blogspot.com/

How to Make Money Online Without a Website Or a List - Posting Ads For Companies Online
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John Lee Edwards shares information on this money making opportunity on his blog http://behome-employed.blogspot.com/. Visit his website to get free information and resources on how to get started on making money online through posting ads for companies.

Linear Regression Analysis - Interpreting Regression Coefficients

So what do those regression coefficients really mean?  It can actually get quite tricky--unless you have a very straightforward, textbook-like example with all continuous predictors.  (And almost no one has those if they're using real data).

A linear regression model with two predictor variables will look something like this:

Y = B0 %2B  B1*X1 %2B B2*X2 %2B E.

Linear Regression Analysis - Interpreting Regression Coefficients

Y is the response variable; X1, the first predictor variable; X2, the second predictor variable; and E, the residual error. The parameters in the model are B0, the Y-intercept; B1, the first regression coefficient; and B2, the second regression coefficient.

One example would be a model of an overall physical health score (Y) based on years of education (X1) and whether the individual is or is not in poverty (X2 ). Poverty status is a dummy coded variable, coded 0 for respondents who are not in poverty, and coded 1 for respondents who are in poverty.  Let us say it turned out that the regression equation was estimated as follows:

Y = 42 %2B 2.3*Education - 11*Poverty

Interpreting the Intercept

42, the Y-intercept, can be interpreted as the mean value of Y if both Education and Poverty = 0. We would expect an average physical health score of 42 people not in poverty with no education.  In this model, as is often the case, this isn't a meaningful value, since Education never really equals 0.  So in a model like this, the only use of B0 is in calculating predicted values.  It has no real interpretation.

Interpreting Coefficients of Continuous Predictor Variables

Since Education is a continuous variable, its coefficient, 2.3, is the difference in the mean physical health score for each one-year difference in Education across all levels of Poverty Status. This means that if two groups of people all had the same poverty status, but differed on education by one year, the group with one more year of education would have a mean physical health score that's 2.3 points higher. 

Interpreting Coefficients of Categorical Predictor Variables

Similarly, the coefficient for Poverty Status, -11, is interpreted as the difference in the mean physical health score for each one-unit difference in Poverty Status, if Education remains constant. However, since Poverty Status is a categorical variable coded as 0 or 1, a one unit difference represents switching from one category to the other.  The coefficient is then the average difference in physical health for people not in poverty (Poverty = 0) and people in poverty (Poverty = 1).   So compared to people not in poverty, we would expect people in poverty to have physical health scores 11 points lower, on average, at the same level of education. 

Interpreting Coefficients of Correlated Predictor Variables

It is really, really important to keep in mind that each coefficient is influenced by the other variables in a regression model. Because predictor variables are nearly always correlated, two or more variables may explain the same variation in Y. Therefore, each coefficient does not explain the total effect on Y of its corresponding variable, as it would if it were the only variable in the model. Rather, each coefficient represents the additional effect of adding that variable to the model, if the effects of all other variables in the model are already accounted for. This means each coefficient will change when other variables are added to or deleted from the model.

It is also important to remember that all these interpretations change when the model gets more complicated.  Centering, interactions, and polynomial terms all affect the meaning of the regression coefficients.

Linear Regression Analysis - Interpreting Regression Coefficients
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And now I would like to invite you to learn more about interpreting regression coefficients, including interactions, centered predictors, and more in one of my FREE monthly Analysis Factor Teleseminars: "Interpreting Linear Regression Parameters: A Walk Through Output." Visit http://www.analysisfactor.com/learning/teletraining4.html to get started today.

© 2008 Karen Grace-Martin -- Statistical Consultant and founder of The Analysis Factor

How to Decide When It's the Right Time to Set Up a Teleseminar

When should you set up a teleseminar?

Teleseminars are a great learning content product. They can be sold as they are. They can be used to do your selling. They can be packaged and sold as CD or MP3 products. They are flexible. They are well received. And they are one of the easier products to create.

Cool. Every advice guru, learning content producer and information marketer should be creating teleseminars.

How to Decide When It's the Right Time to Set Up a Teleseminar

But when is the right time to set up a teleseminar?

And how do I decide?

First of all, let's clarify a few terms. Teleseminar refers to delivering learning content over a telephone conference call system. In today's world, that system could be a traditional telephone service, a digital service or a web collaboration service. The key thing that is important to understand is that there are three types of teleseminars. Sales teleseminars are arranged to sell another product. The second type is the true teleseminar. These are products in their own right. The third type is really a conference call. It's used to present coaching information.

Each of these types has a different answer.

One of the concepts that I am great proponent of is planning your product line before you start. You need to plan a full product line up front. Doing so will allow you to maximize your sales, create the content you need without overwork and have a real target to work towards.

As a product, teleseminars are a mid range value product typically (though not exclusively) selling around the range (plus or minus one or two steps). Depending on the strategy you select you would therefore need to have at least one teleseminar based product available within ten days of your product launch just slightly after your low cost product and well after your opt-in or free product.

Additional product teleseminars can be created as the need and opportunity is identified. During your planning you should probably schedule one every month or so. This will allow you to build up a catalog of mid-range products.

Sales teleseminars are usually used to promote high end products such as coaching. Why? Because you're giving away a great deal of value in the teleseminar. So during planning you should arrange the preparation of your first sales teleseminar to be part of the high end product launch.

However, sales teleseminars are part of your marketing effort. As such they tend to be driven by demand and the needs of your business. You also need to take into account your ability at any point in time to drive traffic to them.

Coaching seminars are a mix of pre-planned and spur of the moment. Your first coaching teleseminar should be preplanned. It needs to be available when the coaching program is launched. Subsequent teleseminars can be written during the period prior to them being needed. If your coaching is a micro-continuity style then you'll only need a set number of teleseminars. Once you've finished one cycle you only need to modify the teleseminar on an as needed basis. If your coaching is an open-ended style then you are going to need to prepare teleseminars for every call.

How to Decide When It's the Right Time to Set Up a Teleseminar
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Do you want to learn how to create information products (learning content)? Check out my new free eBook "7 Myths and Seven Tricks in Nine Steps": http://www.learningcreators.com/myths.htm

Do you want to read more free information like this? Go to my blog: http://www.learningcreators.com/blog/

Glen Ford is an accomplished consultant, trainer and writer. He has far too many years experience as a trainer and facilitator to willingly admit.