How To Quit Smoking

How cliché is that headline? Actually quitting smoking is pretty easy. The main problem, with people who try to quit and fail, is the approach they are using. A simple change in the approach will make your life so much easier. The technique I’m going to teach you can be used for anything and everything in your life really. I’m going to write a more general article about this later, but for now, let’s focus on smoking. Or I should say: on quitting smoking.

Most methods try to get people to totally give up smoking overnight. One day you’re a smoker and the next you’re not. Sure you might be sticking stuff on your body, or chewing gum all day. Is it any good replacing a bad habit with another bad habit? And anyway, most often, what happens is that after a week, you’re back in your old habit, you’re a smoker again. The problem here is that these techniques try to change your whole identity and personality way too fast for most people’s taste. Sure you’ll get a lot of approval and support from your friends and family, but you’ll get envy and jaleousy and rejection from your smoker-friends. The one you used to hang out with on the balcony at parties, the ones who shared a smoke at the break at work, etc… When you stop smoking it’s like you betrayed the clan. You switched to the other side. What do you think you’ll get in return? These people will hate you.

And this is no fun. Chances are you have been smoking for some time. So much time actually that you are identifying yourself with these people. You share something with these guys. There is an intimacy between you and the other clan members. How will you feel when your own clan is rejecting you? Most probably you’ll feel bad. You’ll feel so much pressure that you’ll want to go back. It’s human nature. Rejection is one of the hardest thing to cope with.

So how can you stop smoking and not be rejected? The secret is to go slowly. How much are you smoking per day? How much could you reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke without really noticing? Without feeling like you’ve reduced your smoking? Without the other people noticing you’ve decreased your smoking?

Let’s say you’re smoking a pack a day. Let’s say 20 cigarettes. Could you skip smoking 2 out of 20 without really noticing? Maybe you’re already doing it on some days. If you could, then challenge yourself for 21 days to smoke exactly 18 cigarettes a day. You won’t even notice it. Every day twice in the day, take a cigarette out of the pack and either throw it in the garbage or put it in an empty pack that you will start filling everyday with 2 smokes a day. At the end of the 21 days you’ll have reduced your smoking from 420 cigarettes to 378. You’ll actually have 2 free packs at the end of the 21 days.

Now, if during these 21 days, you felt really bad, and couldn’t keep up with reducing your smoking by 2 cigarettes out of 20 a day, you’re lying and you’re just trying to prove me wrong. Go away, we don’t need liars around here

So what’s next? You guessed it, repeat the process over and over again and you’ll soon have reached your goal without really noticing, whitout even really trying. When you’re reaching a lower number of cigarettes a day, let’s say 6, reducing to 4 might be too much. You might want to do 5. Then 21 days later, reduce to 4. When you reach 1 smoke a day, the next step could be skipping 1 day in the week. Adapt the method to how you feel. Don’t listen to what other people say. In fact I recommend not telling anyone that you’re decreasing your smoking. And don’t ever tell to yourself that you are quitting smoking. You’re only skipping 2 cigarettes a day for 21 days. Not a big deal. You can do what you want after. You don’t want to scare your brain or your friends

Sure it may take some time, maybe a year or more if you’re a heavy smoker. But so what, at the end you might not be a smoker anymore and you won’t even have noticed.

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[…] How To Quit Smoking […]

hi,
did you actually try this? the thing is: it is much much more easier to stop something completely then to resist. Especially with addictions. Once a smoker/drinker always a smoker/drinker. This way you simply stay longer a smoker. and you will go through the same when you stop completely. Also it is easier to fall back to your old amount of ciggies. You simply can’t cut back drugs.

And even if you fail after 1 month of going cold turkey, you still had 1 month of healthy living.

The best way to deal with your smoker-friends is to tell them that you stop, and you won’t start again. Do it in the boldest way possible. Brag and annoy them for 2 weeks. This way the social pressure works for you. You won’t smoke again, just to avoid the embarassment.

Who said it is easier to stop something that completely resist? Going cold turkey is a huge step that not a lot of people can convince themselves to take. And even if they did, chances are they can’t keep it up for too long.

What you started smoking, did you smoke as much as you do now? Heavy smokers did not become heavy smokers overnight. If they want to quit, why should they become non-smokers overnight. Why not just reverse the process that worked for them? If the process worked one way, why can’t it be applied for something else?

The social pressure you talk about is probably the only thing that keeps people using your method from going back. The commitment they made in front of everyone. But it is often not enough compared to the need to smoke they feel. And that’s why going cold turkey fails so often. The method I teach does not use pressure. Pressure doesn’t last. As soon as the pressure is gone, everything goes back to normal. Social pressure usually decreases over time anyway. Learning, on the other hand, stays.

did you smoke and have you applied method?

the thing is as long as you’re smoking, 20, 18, - 1 cigarette a day, You are smoking and thus in your addiction. You fall back to your old routine in no time. You are much more likely to just smoke 20 ciggies again. You always want to go back to your initial (and steadily increasing) amount of nicotine/day.

The social pressure equals out the mental stress of quitting. As both are decreasing it doesn’t matter anymore.

But i completely agree on your last paragraph. You have to learn understanding that you do not want to smoke, but that it is the addiction that keeps you smoking. This is also what allen carrs quit-smoking-bible tells. this is a must read for every smoker.

[…] areas of your life to focus on. If you still want to beat your pal at the weight-loss race, or quit smoking before January 1st of next year, there is still plenty of […]

i think this method works and i will try it, may be by the next year i may feel that i finally succeeded in quiting smoking.

I’ve quit smoking for 39 days without gradually stopping.. sure there’s been hurdles. But paying a whole price of a pack for 1 cigarette and then ripping the rest apart sure teaches you how much of a waste of money it all is. I’ve messed up a few times but why let that stop me giving up. I’m going to continue pushing on with my goal and try to ignore those drunken cries for me to smoke.