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How To Quit Smoking Summary

How many times have you tried to quit smoking and ended up miserable and either failed or gave up?

Studies have shown that if you use nicotine patches or the 'will power' method, it is going to take you an average of seven attempts before you succeed.

Now that is a lot of time and effort! But why does it take so long? I believe that it is because you probably haven't been given a how to quit smoking summary.

I mean, most pharmacists, doctors and so called quit smoking experts point you in the same direction - drugs, patches, gums, lozenges, will power etc.

But the things is, none of these things help you to deal with the dozens of things you need to consider when you stop smoking. And none of them provide you with an adequate, thought through and tried and tested how to quit smoking summary.

Here's My How To Quit Smoking Summary

Smoking is not just about nicotine addiction, it involves habits and routines, stress relief, pleasure, boredom, companionship, socializing and several more aspects. A patch or pill and the will power method will come nowhere near to helping you deal with all of these.

My personal how to quit summary can be broken down into Two Main Stages:

1. Stopping Smoking
2. Staying Stopped

I'm going to start off with the second stage because it is the most important one and the one that I find most smokers either forget about or never even consider.

I mean you've probably never thought about how to stay off cigarettes and stop yourself from going back, you're more likely thinking about withdrawal symptoms, how to let go of your cigarettes, dealing with irritability and how on edge you are.

The second stage is harder, much harder in fact. Just think about it. If you had a cigarette in your hand right now and I said - put that cigarette out, you would have no problem doing it.

But you would struggle after a while when I say don't light that next cigarette, wouldn't you! You can put a cigarette out no problem, but it's not lighting the next cigarette that you struggle with!

And this is why I place so much emphasis on this second stage. You have to absolutely and completely make sure you never go back - you have to give yourself the self-control, ability and tools to ensure that you don't ever light that next cigarette!

So how do you do that?

Well firstly my quit smoking summary shows that you need to look at the many different aspects of smoking in order to stay stopped. And this is what gives you the understanding and power to be able to say no to the next cigarette.

Think about it, why do you pick up that next cigarette? Is it due to addiction? Yes it is, but there's more to it than that. Just think, do any of the following situations and things make you light up?

Boredom
Pleasure
Stress
Social occasions
Alcohol
Waking up / going to bed routines and times
Driving
Working
Your break

When most people stop smoking, they think - that's it! They don't consider the above factors. Once you put out your cigarette 'for good / forever' or whatever you tell yourself, you probably don't think about the situations above do you?!

These are only a few of the things that make you pick up that cigarette again! They are a few of the things that lead to a relapse! So you need a how to quit smoking summary that includes a relapse prevention plan!

When you stop smoking you need to ensure that none of the above issues or weight gain, or withdrawal symptoms, cravings and life's problems ect. make you so anxious or panicky that you pick up that cigarette again.

Your relapse prevention plan should include how to prevent weight gain and how to deal with stress, what to do in social situations and during your break and during your everyday routines like driving and waking up and going to bed.

You need to figure out how to enjoy yourself and cure boredom without cigarettes, you need to ensure that nothing reminds you of cigarettes and smoking, and how much you used to 'enjoy' them, you need to change the way you look at cigarettes.

For example, you need to go from thinking about how much you are going to miss them / struggle without them, to thinking about how much happier you will be when you're free from them and how they were a part of your past, but not your future.

These are some of the things that you should have been give in a quit smoking summary by your pharmacist and doctor. But the problem is that they didn�t know any better!

So that forms the backbone of my second stage of stopping smoking - you need to plan a relapse prevention plan.

The first stage of stopping smoking is just as important, and when I give my prospective clients a quit smoking summary over the phone I tell them that stage two actually starts in stage one. To stop smoking successfully you need to take a few more things into account than you probably thought.

You simply can't just put your cigarettes out and expect to stay off cigarettes for good!

You need to find out the root cause of your smoking (not addiction - but the thing that made you smoke in the first place, be it peer pressure, trying to impress siblings etc.), and you need to find the things that make you smoke.

When you know these you kill two birds with one stone. First you find out the things that make you smoke - so you can understand why you smoke and therefore know that it is not just addiction.

And secondly, when you start stage two, you know what kinds of things are likely to lead to relapse - and you can then take active steps to prevent them from causing that relapse.

Some of the things that make you smoke are:

Habit
Routine
Confidence boost
Need to belong
Something to do
You always have a cigarette when �..
When you finish your meal
When you have a cup of tea / coffee
On your way to work
When you pick up the phone

There are literally dozens of these things! All of which make you smoke! And you need to break them all, and then prevent them from making you pick up that next cigarette when you stop!

In my how to quit smoking summary I will say that you need to look in detail at the two stages of stopping smoking. Firstly you need to stop smoking and remove any and all reasons for smoking - each and every single individual thing, and you need to completely destroy it! If you haven't got a reason to smoke, why smoke?

Then in second stage you need to be aware of the things that are likely to make you want to light up and you need to take active steps to prevent that from happening. The second stage also involves helping you and your mind to look at cigarettes in a different way.

You really don't want to stop smoking and be a misery do you! Spending weeks, months and years without smoking all the while thinking about how you would kill for 'just one', or thinking 'I can't believe it's been x days since my last cigarette' or 'she looks like she's really enjoying that cigarette, I wish I could have just one drag', is going to kill you mentally!

This is the last kind of smoker that you want to be! I know plenty of people who have stopped for years - all the while secretly wishing they could start up again, don't make this mistake!

In my second stage of stopping smoking I insist that you change the way you look at cigarettes - so you can be a happy ex-smoker, much happier in fact than when you smoked!

So that's my how to quit smoking summary - look at what makes you smoke, break it and then prevent anything and everything at all costs from making you pick up that next cigarette!

Daniel Fargher
Stop Smoking For Good

Click here to learn how to quit smoking with hypnosis in less than 28 Days - All Completely Risk Free!