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Advertise for Your Life part one

Guest post by: Elizabeth Mullen

Article Overview: While driving to Providence a few years ago, I noticed a swath of a certain color blue on a billboard, and immediately found myself humming the jingle of a bank whose logo is that same color. Within moments I was thinking about opening a new bank account and feeling a mild sense of urgency about doing so. My drive had become drastically different: what had started out a pleasant day-dreaming drive to the city became a whiteknuckled rush to get somewhere so I could get somewhere else to fix a problem with my banking (which was just fine).

Advertise for Your Life part one

While driving to Providence a few years ago, I noticed a swath of a certain color blue on a billboard, and immediately found myself humming the jingle of a bank whose logo is that same color. Within moments I was thinking about opening a new bank account and feeling a mild sense of urgency about doing so. My drive had become drastically different: what had started out a pleasant day-dreaming drive to the city became a whiteknuckled rush to get somewhere so I could get somewhere else to fix a problem with my banking (which was just fine).

Then I made a decision that has completely changed my life.

See, during that drive I "caught" myself doing what I had always done... internally repeating jingles, advertising slogans and pondering future purchases... all without the conscious decision of doing so, and all without examination or analysis.

That moment I also "caught" the interruption of my own creative process (just before I saw that billboard I was enjoying planning a project), and recognized how programmed I was to think "XYZ Bank" at the sight of a certain color. I also evaluated how often my associations with simple things like colors and words would lead my thinking right toward someone else's agenda.... instead of my own.

So during that drive I made a new decision about how I'd be thinking (and consequently living) from that moment forward; how I would nurture my own creativity and original thought so as to benefit my own life, and hopefully my community too. And here is what I did to evidence it:

1) I put myself on a strict media diet; nearly eliminating television, radio, magazines and newspapers.

2) those times I did "consume" ads, I did so as an active participant: viewing myself as an "ad critic" or "advertising executive" which lowered the instances of unconscious internal repetition of ad slogans not in my best interest.

3) I began questioning my own purchasing urges whenever they would come up. I asked myself questions such as: what is the agenda of the company that makes this product/service? Is this purchase a need, or a programmed desire? If I were to advertise this, how might I do it? Would I advertise this? What emotional experience was I hoping to achieve by purchasing this?

4) I decided to advertise for my own life by surrounding myself with slogans, images and quotes that inspired my own best thinking. These were all chosen by me, and reflected those things I thought were important in my present day and future.

The benefits of these changes has had broad and profound impact in my life. Not only do I feel freer of anxieties and desires (the emotional hallmarks of an effective ad campaign), but I also get much more accomplished. During a few spare moments that I used to spend "consuming" advertisements, now I am producing things that really matter to me, and finding the energy to execute my most cherished goals and plans...

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