makeover

Mar 6 2011

Fear won’t stop you from smoking (or other bad habits)

It’s the funniest thing that campaigns to stop people smoking seem to be based around fear. They make tobacco companies put those weird pictures of bloodied & cancered organs on cigarette cartons; they post infomercials on how tar is in your lungs; and they generally scare you to stop you from smoking. Guess what? It doesn’t work.

Ooh, big surprise you say. “It’s obvious isn’t it?”

Well, apparently it’s not that obvious to the government and all their fancy advisers. All those campaigns endorse fear. Fear doesn’t change behaviour. Proof? Many know that their habits are bad but don’t change those habits.

Examples of bad habits: Smoking, drunk driving, procrastination, over-eating, anorexia, alcoholism, etc.

Why Fear Doesn’t Work

Honestly, I have no idea why it doesn’t work. But its been proven not to. Some argue that the people exposed to the campaigns believe that “it won’t happen to me”. Others say that the fear makes a temporary change because people don’t want to stay focused on their fears.

What To Do

What IS needed in a campaign is a clearly defined road to get from “here” to “there”. Clear instruction will allow people to act on their motivations (whatever they are).

Make a simple campaign. Take an average person that suffers from [insert bad habit here] and show how he handles the problems that are likely to face the person. Problems like social pressure, finances, medicines needed, where to find supplies, government help and where those centers are located, etc.

It would work much better I’m sure.

By Lutfi Torla • Life Hacks • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Feb 27 2011

Pushing past your comfort zone

I always suspected that some people were less challenged by dares than I was. Most times, if I got a dare, I would be too tempted to turn it down. No, tempted isn’t the right word. It’s more like I had to prove to myself that I was able to do it. Some of it wasn’t anything too special. Stuff like climbing trees or asking someone for directions. Hey! When I was a kid, strangers were scary ok!

But because of those few first experiences, you can develop a mindset where you know you can push past your comfort zone and deal with something and it won’t be so bad.

After all, how bad can it be to ask a stranger for directions? And if you can do that, you can also speak in front of some people. If you can do that, then drama and acting in front of an audience is a breeze.

But it takes that one incident where you thought to yourself, “oh my god, can I do it?” And you went ahead and did it anyway.

When you’ve had that moment in your life, even once, it changes your entire life. It changes everything that’s possible for you. It changes you from a sniveling coward to a person who can actually push past your limits and embrace new experiences.

Sure, it’s a scary thing. Honestly? It’s very scary. It takes guts to put yourself (your pride, honor and reputation) on the line and just hope for the best. Logic has little to do with it. Reality has even less hold on the matter. It doesn’t particularly matter that you’re performing in front of a bunch of strangers who will probably never see you again (or even bother to remember your face), it’s the act of baring your self and soul in a moment where your past experiences can do nothing to help you.

It’s that act of faith in only your own self that you are strong enough to overcome this new thing. And it has to be faith. Since you’ve never done such a thing before (out of your comfort zone), you can’t rely on your own experiences to tell you that you’ll make it out alright.

That act of faith in yourself is what will grow your personal seed of courage. Courage that says, “I can do it, no matter what new things life throws at me. I can do it, and I will prevail!”

It’s so worth it! Those of you who’ve had the opportunity to push past your comfort zone (in whatever way), a whole world of experiences lies before you.

There are many who limit themselves by saying, “It’s just not my style”.

Don’t be that person. Don’t limit yourself.

By Lutfi Torla • Life Hacks • 3 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Nov 9 2009

A bunch of things to workout

By December I’ll work them out. And there’ll be a completely new site here. I felt that I didn’t like some of the old things I wrote. So I figured I should just reset everything and start from scratch. Come by then ok?

Update: So I finally got around to blogging again. January, not December. Meh. Small difference. Sorry Kye and Zati!

By Lutfi Torla • Events • 2 • Tags: ,