How To Quit Smoking Cigarettes

Do You Really Want To Stop Smoking?

Want to know how to quit smoking cigarettes and have long term success (i.e to stop and stay stopped)? There is only one price to pay: You have to want to do it!

Really want to! Stop, stay stopped - QUIT - completely.

Why? Well, just for the moment, forget about willpower, products, aids and programs. If you attempt to do anything half heartedly, the most likely outcome is failure.

It takes far less effort to make a determined effort to stop when you want to do it and you're in the right frame of mind, than a half baked attempt when you don't really want to. You just can't get your head around it.

Don't waste time and effort going through the motions if you don't want to stop. It's like waiting for a bus you know is unreliable to get you somewhere on time - setting yourself up with a lame excuse to blame for failure.

Find real reasons to quit that mean something to you and you will be well on your way. This is so important, as these reasons will help motivate you through difficult moments of craving, stress, social situations and peer pressure.

Below are some of the most common reasons ex smokers give for quitting. Apply these to your circumstances, try to picture how they affect you and those around you and personalise them. You may find hidden, constructive and real reasons to stop.

• I want to stop feeling ashamed. My clothes, car and house smell because of it. The ceilings in my house need repainting and my curtains look grimy. Even my fingernails and teeth are stained.
• I want improve my health. Stopping reduces the risk of serious illnesses such as heart disease and lung cancer. My family will suffer and their feelings will be hurt if I get ill.
• I can't afford it. The money I spend on cigarettes could buy a nice used family car every few years. When I don't have enough money I think about how much I'm wasting.
• I don't want to smoke around my non smoking family and friends. It's unfair. They don't smoke but face increased risk of ill health because of my smoking.

• It's anti social. Finding places to smoke in public is becoming increasingly difficult. It's an unecessary strain when I eat out, go to the cinema and even shopping.

What are Your Reasons For Stopping?

Make a note of at least one key reason why you want to stop. Try and make it as specific and personal as possible e.g

"I want to quit smoking because I've seen the grief it caused when so-n-so died from lung cancer. I don't want to put my kids through that"

Write it down on a sheet of paper and number it 1.

Develop A Quit Smoking Action Plan

Now you know you really want to stop, and why, it's useful to identify why YOU smoke. Identifying the reasons helps you to form an action plan for how to combat these issues.

If at the end you can face the reality of what it is going to take and you are prepared to commit to the challenge, success can be yours.

Quit Smoking Tip 2

Identify and understand the reasons why you smoke and you will find it easier to form a personal quit smoking action plan.

Don't underestimate the value of this important step. The process will help you develop practical solutions for combating many of the issues you will face while quitting. For example withdrawal symptoms and coping with stress.

The most common reasons smokers give for smoking are:

• Pleasure: 'I enjoy smoking', 'Relaxation'
• For a boost: Mental or physical
• Habit: The being used to doing things while smoking
• Addiction: to satisfy nicotine cravings
• Peer/Social: Pressure or to feel part of the crowd
• Emotion: Feelings such as stress, anger, upset, anxiety etc.

Beginnings Of Your Quit Smoking Action Plan

To get a good idea of what makes YOU smoke, think about the reasons above every time you light a cigarette for the next couple of days.

It is also useful to rate how much you need each of them e.g

1. I don't really need it
2. I need it
3. I have to have one

Keep records in a notebook and tally how many cigarettes you could have gone without and how many you really needed to smoke. You will begin to see which cigarettes you are likely to miss the most.

Try to picture yourself in the same situations without a cigarette.

With just a little perseverance the cigarettes you rated with a "1" should be quite easy to eliminate. Most likely the cigarettes rated "2" and "3" will also be the ones that will tempt you back to smoking once you have stopped.

Make a note of what specifically makes you want to smoke. Maybe something like:

"The cigarettes I really have to smoke are through habit, first thing in the morning and after meals".

Write it down on the sheet of paper you started in tip 1 and number it 2.

Develop Your Plan

If you want to quit smoking, it will mean life without cigarettes. If you can 'consistently defeat each and every urge to smoke' you will succeed.

The notes you have been making form the basis of your own quitting plan. Notes? You have been making them - right? If not visit: Quit Smoking Tip 1: Do you really want to?.

To develop your plan further let's cover all the bases by identifying the most common problem areas smokers give for not succeeding.