How To Plan To Stop Smoking

If you are reading this you are likely a smoker and are trying to stop. You have likely tried multiple ways to quit – so far unsuccessfully.

You want to quit smoking because of your health and wellbeing, or maybe because social stigma is surrounding smokers more and more, or you may have realized that smoking is an expensive habit.

In either case, the advice that will help you stop smoking is the same.

Do you really want to quit?
First of all make sure you really want to quit. If you are still trying to convince yourself that you want to quit, but are really enjoying cigarettes, there is no way you will be able to stop smoking no matter what you try.

What to do with the hands?
Plan on what you will do with your hands. It may sound silly to you, but many ex smokers report that they just didn’t know what to do with their hands when they quit.

What turned out to help many people is the use of prayer beads. Again, this may sound silly, but whenever they felt uneasy with the hands, they just started playing with the prayer beads, and it worked.

Gum for the mouth
Next, you will want to have something to chew on. Best bet here would be chewing gum, so stock up on some Orbit gums.

If you skip planning for this you may end up eating or drinking too much, simply because you are used to having something in your mouth. If you want to eat something you can use some foods with extremely low calories, like carrots.

Treat this as an experiment
A good idea when you are quitting smoking is to treat it as an experiment. Commit to 30 days without cigarettes no matter what, just to see what would happen and how you would react. Treat the experiment as learning about yourself!

Tell yourself that you are not quitting cigarettes permanently, but only for those 30 days, and when they are up you will start smoking again and will treat yourself good as a reward.

Of course, when the 30 days are up you will have a much easier time without smokes, and you can then prolong the experiment to 60 or 90 days.

Know your triggers
There are surely some activities which you can not imagine without cigarettes. Avoid them at all costs. If you are used to smoking when you drink a glass of beer, then don’t drink, or if you must drink alcohol, drink something else.

If you are used to smoking while drinking the morning cup of coffee, try a different type of coffee that won’t remind you of cigarettes, or maybe even drink green tea.

Also, try to avoid friends that entice you to smoke, at least for the first 30 days. Instead, find activities you can do with non smoking friends. This will help you stay persistent tremendously.

Commit yourself to others
Use social pressure to help you stop smoking. Commit to your friends or family that will hold you accountable. Tell them that you will do something uncomfortable if you start smoking again.

For example promise to give your best friend 50$ if you ever light a cigarette again, or promise your boss that you will work extra hours for free. What you promise to do has to be uncomfortable, the more you find the task uncomfortable the better, as when you think what the consequences will be if you start smoking, you will think again.

Use unconventional aids
Hypnosis has been known to help many people who quit smoking. It is a great aid when you truly commit yourself to quit the bad habit. Hypnosis works by putting you in a relaxed state in which you are susceptible to suggestion, and gives you suggestions that you’re will is strong and that you are in complete control of your self and your habits.

So there you go - some easy tips on how to prepare the field before you stop smoking and what you should plan on in advance.