Archive for the ‘planning’ Category

How to Quit Smoking

Monday, January 7th, 2008

If you are among the hundreds of people who have tried to quit smoking only to light up again in a day, or perhaps a week, you are likely wondering how you can successfully quit smoking.


If this sounds familiar you aren’t alone and there is hope. Smoking cigarettes has been shown to be more addictive than some illegal narcotics. Learning how to quit smoking can be a very difficult process and may take several attempts before you are successful.

It is quite possible for you to be successful in your attempt to quit if you keep a few things in mind. First you have to recognize that smoking is a habit, and a very difficult one to break. This isn’t like giving up your favorite pair of sneakers or old car for a new one. This is going to mean beginning a new routine and training your body and mind to accept this new routing as well as training your body to go without nicotine and the immediate effects of smoking. Once you have acknowledged this you are ready to quit smoking and until you take this step you aren’t going to see success.

Learning how to quit is going to involve more than just acknowledging that it is a habit you have to break, you are going to have to work at it. Breaking the habit is going to mean changing not only the habit itself but also avoiding the circumstances that lead up to smoking as well. These are triggers that are telling you to light up all of the time. Once you have changed these you will have a much easier time stopping.

You need to make it more difficult on yourself to make the choice to smoke. For some people choosing to smoke outdoors only is one of their first steps to quitting. Having to stop what you are doing to go outdoors makes it difficult enough that you are going to start to get annoyed with this extra step just to smoke. If you keep it up that will help.

Having a good support system is going to help quite a bit as well. Each situation is different but if you have friends and family routing you along you are going to be more successful than you will if your friends are constantly trying to get you to join them to have a smoke.

It may not be easy but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for you to break the habit. As long as you are determined and you don’t give up when it becomes difficult you can join the thousands of people who successfully quit smoking every year.

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Quit Smoking New Year Resolution

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to quit smoking. There are quite literally thousands of people each year who plan on dropping this habit with the beginning of the new year. For some it is an easy transition but for most this is a battle they have fought and lost at least once in the past. For this to be a successful year you need to be prepared and start off in the right frame of mind.

Good reasons to quit.

There are several good reasons to quit beginning with the simple reasons like saving money to more profound reasons like saving your own life and the lives of those who spend large amounts of time with you.

Smoking is harmful to your health. Protecting your children or close friends from second hand smoke is another excellent reason to quit smoking.

Once you have quit you will gradually regain the ability to taste the food you eat properly. The stress on your lungs and the rest of your body will decrease and you will be able to do more without tiring as easily once you have quit.

The price of cigarettes has gone up so drastically over the past two decades that it is a habit that is beginning to be difficult to afford and the money you spend on cigarettes alone can be used for a nice vacation annually.

It doesn’t matter which good reason you choose, as long as you have one in mind and you stay focused on that reason.

Now is the perfect time to quit.

There never is a better time than right now when it comes to quitting smoking. It is easy to put off quitting for later and continue to put it off forever. Instead of putting off the health gains and the added savings you will have once you quit smoking gather your reasons and start on a plan to quit now. Procrastination can make it difficult to implement plans to quit smoking and this procrastination is what is feeding your habit and making it a chore to quit.

Simple Steps: decision, planning, get information.

Take the direct approach to quitting and keep this New Year’s resolution. The first step is to make the decision to quit. This step is one that isn’t as simple as it sounds. When you make this decision you need to truly commit yourself to doing this, not just say it sounds fun or even sounds like a good idea.

Once you have committed yourself to this choice then you need to plan out how you will succeed. You need to decide upon a plan of action. It is easy to say you are going to do it but if you don’t have a well thought out plan you will most likely not quit smoking. Whether you choose to go cold turkey or you want to use patches or support groups you need to plan out what you are going to do.

Gathering information from others who have been successful and from those who haven’t so you can see what kept them from succeeding. Finding out more about quitting smoking can help you with your plan of action.

Do it: Quit Today

Taking the steps to plan your actions will help to ensure that you are successful in quitting smoking. The only way this planning is going to do you any good though is by you taking the step and actually quitting. To be successful in quitting smoking it doesn’t have to be the first of another year, you can quit today.

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