Daily Lessons from Life 18 May 2013 - 'I Quit' Campaign Volunteering

No headlines to comment on today but like to share my observation of my volunteering this morning at the 'I Quit 28-Day Countdown' campaign for Health Promotion Board (HPB)from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with an hour lunch break. This is the 3rd year HPB is holding this campaign. The objective is to help any smokers who want to quit smoking successfully on his or her own volition. It starts officially on 1 June and last till 28 June with a weekly SMS to encourage and engage the Quitters. Researc said that if one engages in an activity for a continuous 28-day period, one has a 5x success rate than an ad hoc and intermittent effort. The campaign is fully funded by HPB and MOH and the Quitters only need to decide for themselves if they want to join or not. Lessons for me are: 1. it is a direct sales job really as my duty is to engage with potential quitters, total strangers, to register with the 'I Quit 28-Day Countdown' program. In the 4 active hours I have approached many people and have many different type of responses. I can appreciate how hard it would be for the commercial direct sales promoters whom I see often at many public places like bus interchange, MRT station, etc, working for a full 8-10 hours each day; 2. starting with a 'I am here to offer a possibility for you to help yourself with no judgement' mindset is most helpful for me when I perform this volunteer work. I went to the smokers' corner first to look for my 1st potential Quitter and was met with 'I have tried but not successful.' and 'I am not ready to quit. Thank you.' Both are good for me as for the 1st response, my follow up is: 'Would you like to try again with the HPB campaign and the resources like: I Quit Counselors' presence and advice, I Quit Pledge Photo and I Quit T-Shirt with the reasons to quit written by you, etc made available to help?". For the 2nd response, I said: 'Thank you very much and you are welcome to visit the booth at your own time.' Quit smoking and living a healthy lifestyle is very much a personal choice. Many people have the KNOWLEDGE about what is good and what is bad for them when they engage in this or that activities. It is the 'heart' that need to be reached. One-off contact can only trigger something that the respondent possibly had been contemplating for a while and NOT because of my presence or so-called 'good sales pitch'!; 3. it is very heartening whenevr I am able to steer some young people to sign up and embark on this I Quit 28-Day Countdown journey. They have taken the 1st step to kick the smoking habit. Hopefully with the resources provided in the campaign and through their own deepening commitment and resolve to kick the habit, something positive will emerge. This coupled with the constant encouraging SMS, easily available tips on how to strategize to stay smoke-free for a continuous 28 days, etc 'in-your-face' supports, etc will make it easier for them to succeed in this journey. While I think that my 4-hour active direct selling volunteer work is hard, the Quitters who had signed up will have to work even harder. My best wishes to them and thank you to HPB for this volunteering opportunity!