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Every year about this time, people begin thinking about
the new year and the changes it will bring. Some people make
New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, get a better
job, get married, or simply to get a life. Millions of Americans
will also make the resolution to quit smoking.
Nearly 48 million Americans aged 18 years and older smoke.
Of these, fully 70%--nearly 34 million smokers--want to quit,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
in Atlanta. This year 1.3 million of these smokers will quit
successfully. Why do tens of millions want to quit but only
a fraction actually succeeds? The answer is that most people
just don’t know how to go about quitting.
Follow the 11 simple steps outlined below to assure your
quit-smoking success.
1. Decide Right Now to Believe that You CAN Quit Smoking
Studies of smokers who successfully quit smoking show that
one of the most important traits of a successful quitter
is their belief that they have the ability to quit smoking.
Do you believe that you can quit? If you don’t, you
will have a much harder time trying to quit. The best action
you can take right now to start the quitting process is to
fix in your mind the belief that you have the ability to
quit smoking. You might say that you can’t change your
belief, but you can.
Believing you can quit is so important because your belief
will guide everything you do in your attempt to quit. The
way you think, the research you do, the steps you take, the
people you talk to, the help you seek--all these will be
influenced by the belief you have in your ability to give
up cigarettes.
If you don’t truly believe you can quit, you’ll
probably find yourself saying, "What’s one little
cigarette? I’ve got a headache. I just can’t
quit like other people." If you believe you can quit,
instead you’ll be saying "My head is hurting from
withdrawal, but I can make it through this. I know the headache
and other withdrawal symptoms will go away in a few days.
My life is more important than a stupid cigarette."
Believing shapes everything you do. So does not believing.
If you believe something strongly enough your mind will give
you the correct thoughts to help your body take you in the
direction of your belief.
Can you imagine what life would be like if Thomas Edison
hadn’t believed that he could invent the incandescent
light bulb? If Edison had begun his search for the solution
without really believing he could create a light bulb that
worked, he would have quit long before finding the answer.
Edison tested more than 10,000 combinations of materials
before finding the right one to create a light bulb! You
must believe that you can quit smoking, even if it takes
10,000 attempts.
Fixing in your mind a belief that you can quit smoking may
sound impossible if you now believe that you don’t
have the ability. Here are some tips to help you change your
beliefs:
Realize that your old belief was founded on old ideas and
circumstances and that your new belief is based on new information
and your newfound desire to quit smoking now.
On 3X5 cards, write out several positive statements about
your ability to quit. Read your cards three times a day:
morning, noon and bedtime. Some statements to use: "I
believe that I have the ability to quit smoking," "I
am a non-smoker," "I no longer need cigarettes
in my life," "I happily quit smoking," "It’s
easy to quit smoking," "I am a powerful, self-directed
person," "I control my own life." Make up
some of your own statements. Make them positive, as if you
have already completed the task.
Post a sign on your bathroom mirror with one of the above
statements on it.
Repeat the above statements to yourself, whenever you have
a free moment.
Use visualization techniques (see Step 7 below) to visualize
yourself mastering your smoking habit and winning the fight.
Ask your family and friends to encourage you with positive
statements about your ability to quit smoking (See Step 5
below).
2. Create a "Quit Plan"
Successful people in all walks of life become successful
through planning. The same is true for smokers who successfully
quit smoking. You must create a plan that you will follow
daily, so that you quit smoking purposefully, not haphazardly.
Put your plan on paper. Write each of these steps in your
plan:
Study this report and write down how you will mentally prepare
yourself to quit smoking. Don’t try to quit until you
feel you are ready.
Decide on a specific date that you will quit. Write down
your "quit date." Make sure your quit date comes
after you have completed step "a" above. Also,
choose a quit date that occurs during a relatively low stress
time. Don’t try to quit during a stressful time at
work or during the break-up of a relationship, for example.
Quitting on a specific date is preferable to slowly reducing
the number of cigarettes that you smoke. By going "cold
turkey" you won’t have to keep track of how many
cigarettes you smoked yesterday and how many you will smoke
today. You will also remove the temptation to cheat and smoke
too many. By using this report to prepare yourself for your
quit date you will be ready to quit, and going cold turkey
won’t be so difficult.
Write down all the things you will enjoy doing after you
quit smoking (long walks, eating out without being restricted
to the smoking section, taking a vacation with the money
you will save, etc.). This step is very important, so spend
extra time dreaming up your "smoke-free future."
Write down the times and occasions when you are most likely
to smoke. Write down what "triggers" your desire
to smoke (See Step 8 below). You may be surprised to find
that you have organized your day around smoking.
Write down five to ten things you will do instead of smoking,
whenever you feel a cigarette craving coming on. For example,
you might drink a glass of water, go for a short walk, type
a letter, do some filing, call a friend, read a book, or
mow the grass. Plan how you will distract yourself. Try to
distract yourself with something healthy and/or beneficial.
Match the distractions you’ve created in this step
with the times and occasions your wrote down in step "d" above.
Write down the names of three people whom you trust to support
your efforts to quit smoking. Contact them and ask for their
support. Make sure you tell them that you want only positive
support. Ask them to call you each day and give you positive
encouragement. Also, ask them if you can call them if you
need help.
Write down a list of all the items that you use when smoking:
cigarettes, lighters, matches, ashtrays, etc. Make notes
about where every single item is. Then on your "quit
date" track down each item and throw them away. Don’t
forget to clean out your car and your office at work.
Write down a list of rewards that you will give yourself.
Be sure to reward yourself as you go longer and longer without
smoking. For example: End of Day One -- long, hot bubble
bath. End of Week One -- see a Movie. End of Week Three --
dinner at an exclusive restaurant. End of Month Two -- take
a day off from work. End of Six Months -- take a weekend
getaway. End of Year One -- take a 7-day vacation. Whenever
possible, write down the specific date that you will reward
yourself. By the way, these rewards won’t cost you
much, if anything, because you’ll be saving hundreds
of dollars by not smoking!
Make an appointment to see your doctor (See Step 6 below).
3. Take Action
You can’t win the battle if you don't start the battle.
The problem with too many unmet goals and plans is that no
action was ever taken to start down the road to achieving
the goal or plan. If you created your "Quit Plan" in
Step 2 above (you did create a "Quit Plan", didn't
you?) you now have a plan for quitting. What is step "a" of
your Quit Plan? Have you done it yet? Do it now! You must
put your plan into action.
If you ever studied physics in high school you’ve
probably heard of inertia. Inertia is the characteristic
of an object (you) wanting to maintain its current state.
In other words, objects at rest (doing nothing, not moving)
tend to want to stay at rest. An object in motion tends to
want to stay in motion.
Anytime you have to slam on your car’s brakes you
experience inertia. When your car slows down rapidly, what
happens to you and your passengers? Your bodies lunge forward
before they are (hopefully) restrained by a seatbelt. If
not restrained you could go right through the windshield.
The point is this: if you begin taking action--even the smallest
action--to quit smoking, you'll start a chain reaction, carrying
you forward to the next step in your quit smoking action
plan. Getting started on your plan is difficult, but once
you get started it’s hard to stop. So get started today!
4. Prepare Yourself Mentally
While most of the media attention surrounding the smoking
addiction focuses on chemical addictions to nicotine, you
are in reality "multi-addicted." You are addicted
to the feel of the cigarette in your hand and mouth. You
are addicted to the actions of lighting your cigarette, moving
your cigarette up to your mouth, flicking ashes from the
cigarette and holding your cigarette between your fingers.
You've also become addicted to the visual appeal of cigarettes:
the flame, the smoke, even a dirty ashtray. You’re
also addicted to the deep inhalations and exhalations you
take as you puff on your cigarettes. You may have become
addicted to smoking buddies at your workplace. All these
stimuli serve to meet some physical, psychological or emotional
need within you.
Part of preparing yourself mentally is understanding, studying
and attacking your addictions. Think about the pleasures
you derive from smoking. Does it make you feel "cool"?
Do you get a lift or relax? Do you need to have something
in your mouth or hands? Do you enjoy breathing deeply when
you smoke? Do you feel a compulsion to head out to socialize
with your smoking buddies every morning at 10:30?
Think through how you feel when you smoke. Are you happy,
sad, soothed, or more alert? The next time you smoke a cigarette,
notice all these things. Jot down your observations, then
re-read them regularly. Study your own addiction so you understand
what you must overcome. As Socrates said, "Know thyself."
5. Get Help and Support from Family and Friends
Sometimes our family and friends can be our worst enemies
when we are attempting something very difficult or "different." If
your family or friends don’t smoke, they may not understand
your desire to quit. Nor will they understand the extreme
difficulty of overcoming your addiction.
If your family and friends do smoke, they may have attempted
to quit themselves, but failed. Or they may not want to quit
at all, thereby placing pressure on you not to quit also.
Human nature causes people to try to "hold others back" when
someone close to them begins to move in a direction different
from the norm. If you quit, you will place pressure and the
spotlight on family and friends who are still smoking.
Your challenge will be to let others around you know that
you are doing this for YOU. Let them know that if they will
not encourage you, then they should "keep quiet while
you quit." But by all means encourage others to encourage
you.
Ask your family and friends to give you positive encouragement.
Make sure they know that you do not want them to point out
your faults, mistakes and slips. Ask them to praise your
victories, large or small. Ask them to be understanding during
the times that you may be less than friendly or patient.
Ask them to be a part of the solution, not a part of the
problem.
6. Get Help From Your Doctor
Research shows that smokers who quit with assistance and
support from a physician have higher rates of success. Even
patients who received only minimal instruction and encouragement
from their doctor showed improved "quitting" results.
Your doctor can give you the medical facts regarding the
effect of cigarettes, plus tell you the benefits of quitting
cigarettes. Also, he or she may prescribe some of the latest
prescription-only quit-smoking medications.
Your doctor can also help you determine steps you can take
to give up cigarettes and improve your health. Part of improving
your health involves changing your diet and exercising. A
doctor can test your current physical fitness and give you
a plan for getting more fit (See Step 9 below).
Contact your doctor today. If he or she can't or won't help
you, ask for a referral to a doctor who can and will help
you.
7. Visualize Your Way to Quit Smoking Success
Your mind is a powerful "device." This device
can be used for positive or negative purposes. You win or
lose in life based on the way you "run" your mind.
Much of running your mind involves visualizing--visualizing
what has already happened in your life, as well as what may
happen, good or bad.
Visualization is very similar to what our teachers and parents
may have called "day dreaming." Children excel
at day dreaming and playing "make believe." As
we grow older, we tend to suppress our daydreams because
of pressures to conform to society’s practical approach.
Day dreaming or visualization allows us to create bright,
fun, fantastic futures for ourselves. Unfortunately, visualization
for adults becomes scenarios of unfounded fears, drudgery,
regretful memories or just plain darkness.
You never lose your ability to visualize. Instead, you change
your visualization to "practical" and logical thoughts.
And often, adults do have vivid visualizations but of the
negative doom and gloom, "the worst thing that can happen" variety.
How often have you let your mind race with pictures of disaster
and destruction? You see yourself lashed to a whipping post,
being beaten by an IRS auditor, or you see your doctor telling
you the pain in your head is a malignant brain tumor.
Your mind can just as easily show you a refund check from
the IRS or a "clean bill of health" from the routine
physical.
The problem and the opportunity with visualization is that
your mind doesn’t know truth from fiction when it evaluates
the visions in your mind. Your mind simply accepts the visualization
as reality.
An example of this is the effect a scary movie may have
on you. When the movie Jaws came out in 1975 many people
were so frightened by it that they would go nowhere near
a beach or lake. Some people were even afraid to take a bath
or shower. The mental images of this monster shark took over
the mind’s rational ability to think and allowed people
to imagine sharks coming out of the showerhead. For these
people the experience was so real that they changed their
actions in the physical world. This is an extreme example,
yet it is typical of the way that imagination and visualization
can affect your physical existence.
In your mind you can create many different scenarios for
yourself. You can visualize good or bad events. Your mind
tends to act on these visualizations. Whatever you imagine,
your mind will accept as real. In time your mind will work
to "fulfill" your thoughts, creating them in reality.
Think negative thoughts, create negative results. Think positive
thoughts, create positive results.
Much has been written on visualization, and you should seek
some more in-depth information on visualization techniques.
Here are some quick tips for using visualization to help
you quit smoking:
Visualization often begins with affirmations--positive statements
you make to yourself. State your affirmations positively
and as if you already have what you are affirming. If possible,
state your affirmations aloud, five to ten times.
Some examples of positive affirmations include: "I
enjoy breathing easily and deeply," "I am free
from any desire to smoke," "My hands and teeth
are clean and smoke free," "I enjoy being around
non-smokers," and "I am relaxed and calm."
Write down some goals for yourself, relating to smoking.
For example, "I will quit smoking by the last day of
March," or "My body no longer desires nicotine," or "I
will take a vacation to Mexico next year with the money I
save by not smoking."
To create deep visualizations that can profoundly affect
you, relaxation is very important. To relax you should sit
in a comfortable chair and close your eyes. Begin breathing
long, deep breaths. Imagine yourself at the top of a staircase.
Count down from ten to one, breathing once per number. As
you count down, imagine yourself walking or even floating
down the stairs. In between breaths repeat statements like "I’m
getting very relaxed," and "going deeper."
Once you reach the count of "one" (and the bottom
of the steps), let your mind wander for a minute or two.
Then begin focusing on the affirmations and goals you have
created for yourself. Don’t be concerned if you don’t
immediately see anything. You may only see cloudy or fleeting
images. That’s okay. With practice your visualizations
will become more vivid.
Focus on controlling the images, however faint they may
be. If you have set a goal to quit smoking by the end of
March, see yourself throwing all your cigarettes and ashtrays
away on March 31. Try visualizing a package of cigarettes,
then make it "explode." Visualize your lungs as
very clean and healthy. Visualize socializing with non-smokers.
Visualize yourself effortlessly running a marathon. Visualize
your friends and loved ones honoring you at a quit-smoking
banquet. Create your visualizations from the goals and affirmations
you have written down.
Don’t "push" your visualization. Lee Pulos,
author of The Power of Visualization suggests that your "visualizations
should be no more than 30 seconds at one time."
Pulos suggests doing your visualizations in an enthusiastic,
excited state as if you have already achieved your goal.
8. Know Your Triggers
Your next step toward self-knowledge and quitting is learning
what triggers your smoking. A trigger is anything that instantly
engenders within you a desire to smoke. For example, the
end of a meal may be a signal (trigger) to your mind and
body that it's time for a cigarette. In part "d" of
Step 2 above you wrote down what triggers your desire to
smoke. After reading the following, go back to your written
plan and add to it if necessary.
Common triggers include people, places, events and stress.
People: when you are with other smokers you are more likely
to light up. Also, certain people may put you under stress,
encouraging you to reach for a cigarette.
Places: certain places are synonymous with smoking, such
as bars or restaurants. Your smoking may also be triggered
when you are in a place where you have smoked before or a
place where you smoke regularly, such as a designated smoking
area at your office.
Events: stressful or extraordinary events such as a family
member’s illness or death can trigger stress, which
consequently triggers your smoking. You may also tend to
light up at sporting events, parties, or as mentioned earlier,
the end of a meal.
Stress: As mentioned above, stress can be a trigger, causing
you to reach for a cigarette. Cigarettes do have a legitimate
calming effect on many smokers, encouraging the use of cigarettes
as tranquilizers.
Stress is caused by numerous things in our lives and is
most likely a daily influence in your life. Part of your
job when giving up cigarettes is learning how to deal with
your stress in some way other than smoking. Step 9 below
discusses exercise as a stress reliever and quit-smoking
method. Meditation and visualization (Step 7 above) are also
good stress relievers. Plan how you will reduce stress in
your life.
9. Exercise
As previously mentioned, exercise is an excellent method
for reducing stress. Exercise also can play an important
role in helping you to quit smoking.
Research shows that smokers who take up a regular exercise
program have a much higher quit-smoking success rate. The
higher the level of activity, the higher the success rate.
Smoking and exercise simply aren’t compatible. A Gallup
Poll found that smokers who exercised were twice as likely
to quit smoking versus smokers who did not exercise.
Cigarettes do alleviate stress for many smokers. When you
give up cigarettes, your stress level likely will rise. Exercise
is an excellent stress reliever and can replace your dependence
on cigarettes for stress relief.
The many positive effects of exercise are too numerous to
mention or explain here. However, here is a list of some
of the most common benefits of exercise:
Reduced stress
Increased stamina
Increased feelings of well being and improved health
Weight loss
Improved muscle tone and physical appearance
Increased self-esteem and sense of accomplishment
Improved sleep
Improved performance at work
Improved attitudes and disposition
To get started exercising you need to choose one or two activities
that you enjoy. Common exercises include walking, jogging,
biking, swimming, tennis, basketball, etc. You may even decide
to undertake regular, strenuous yard work for your neighbors.
Try to exercise 20-30 minutes at a time, three to four times
per week. If you are out of shape, give yourself time to
work up to this regular exercise schedule. Consult your doctor
before beginning your exercise program.
For many people, exercise is drudgery. Be sure you pick
an exercise that you enjoy, and consider exercising with
a buddy. Your buddy can encourage you to "keep moving" when
you want to stop. You’ll also be more likely to exercise
when another person is depending upon you to be there. The
next Step discusses quitting smoking with a "Quit Buddy." Your
exercise buddy also may be your "Quit Buddy."
10. Find a Quit Buddy
Chances are you know another smoker who wants to quit. Suggest
to that smoker that you help each other "douse the flames" forever.
Studies show that smokers who partner with a Quit Buddy to
provide mutual support are more successful when giving up
cigarettes than are smokers who try to quit on their own.
If you can’t readily find a Quit Buddy, try contacting
some of the resources listed at the end of this report. Also,
many local hospitals and churches have quit-smoking programs
and you may be able to find a Quit Buddy or even a Quit Group
there.
Quit Buddies can provide support by way of daily or even
hourly phone calls. Make yourself available to your Buddy
whenever he or she needs help making it through the tougher
moments. Provide positive encouragement when your Buddy succeeds.
Do your best to ignore any relapse your Buddy may have. Don’t
try to "shame" or coerce your Buddy into quitting.
Studies show that negative feedback does not improve quit-smoking
success rates.
Plan outings and activities together. As previously mentioned,
you might exercise with your Quit Buddy. Sign contracts with
each other stating that you will quit smoking and provide
your Buddy with support while they quit.
11. Don't Give Up
Many smokers who have successfully given up cigarettes have
made several attempts to quit before they finally kicked
the habit. You should know going in that quitting may be
a lengthy, or even life-long, process. There is no failure
as long as you follow Step 1 above (Believe). If you believe
you will quit, you will! It may take three or four attempts
before your quitting "sticks." If you quit for
a short time then resume smoking, you are one step closer
to quitting for good. Just quit again. Keep doing it Until.
Until you win, until you quit for life.
You may find that after a first or second attempt to quit
you have reduced the number of cigarettes that you smoke
each day. That's great! You are no longer as dependent! Now,
go for the gold!
Conclusion
The beginning of a new year is a wonderful time to decide
or "resolve" to quit smoking. Use this report to
formulate your quit smoking plan. Share the report and your
plan with your family, friends and other smokers.
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