What I’m not going to do is tell you how bad it is for you, or try to make you feel bad about it. You already know how bad it is. Everybody knows how bad it is—even the tobacco companies, which is enough to make you angry, but anyway.

What I want to talk about is real, practical methods for quitting.

One thing you’ve got to understand about smoking, it’s the definition of an addiction. A lot of self-destructive behavior has its root in some psychological issue, and if you can resolve that issue, the behavior goes away.

With smoking, it’s more like a trap. You may be a well-balanced, well-intentioned, completely normal person who smokes because you’re simply hooked on a chemical, physiological level. So that means it’s about breaking the addiction. There are several methods, some of which are known to work better than others. What generally doesn’t work is “cold turkey.” If you just think you’re going to stop one day, you have a very low chance of success. And the big problem with that is you reinforce for yourself that you can’t do it. Every failure makes you think it’s that much more impossible.

Do you really want it? – This is the big question. A lot of this is going to come down to some iron willpower. But listen, human beings have survived concentration camps, extreme weather, being lost in the wilderness, working jobs they hate for decades, training for triathlons and so much more. You CAN do this. It’s not easy. It’s not pleasant, but it’s worth it and it IS POSSIBLE!

DAY 1 and Planning

Step one is to get yourself pumped. I mean excited. I mean you know this is coming. It’s like your favorite band is in town and you have front row tickets. This is happening! It’s going to be big! It’s going to change your life! Just like a big concert or event, you’ve got a date. This is important. You need to be psychologically prepared. Let’s say your date is August 1^st. You keep that in your mind. Do not waver. Get yourself prepared (we’ll talk about that shortly), but you might start to smoke less as the day approaches, try meditating on quitting as the day approaches, start ramping up your exercise routine as the day approaches.

You need to create a plan for the first day. What are you going to do when you first wake up? What are you going to do at lunch time? What are you going to do after dinner? Before bed? Set that day in stone. Plan it down to the minute if you have to. This is up to you how you handle it. I have only two things I need you to do on that day.

1. First, don’t smoke. Just don’t smoke for that one day. That’s all you have to worry about is that day. Don’t think about how you’re going to get through day 2, or day 3 or the first week or month. That’s TOO MUCH. Just focus on getting through day 1. If you’ve planned it right, it shouldn’t be too hard. You should have a full schedule of activities.
2. And second, at the end of the day, right before you go to bed and you know you aren’t going to cave, I want you to congratulate yourself. I want you to celebrate a major victory. BUT DON’T CELEBRATE WITH A CIGARETTE! Just be mindful of the major triumph you have accomplished. And then, make a plan for day 2. Don’t make a plan for day 3 or the week or the month. You’re not out of the woods yet.

Do the same thing for as long as it takes. If you’re still planning out day 125, so be it. Just do that for as long as it takes.

Disrupting the habit

Smoking is a habit, a ritual, an addiction. It’s not only chemical, it’s mental. You start associating certain activates with smoking, maybe talking on the phone or drinking a morning coffee or after a meal. These habits and rituals need to be disrupted.

If you smoke first thing in the morning, you need to plan to do something else first thing in the morning. Meditate for 10 or 15 minutes or jump rope or listen to your favorite song very loud in your headphones. It’s got to be something that works for you but replaces the habit. That’s very important. Nature despises a void. People hate a void. It needs to be filled. Identify as many of your triggers, rituals as you can and make a plan for each one.

Managing cravings

Here’s the big one. You can plan and anticipate and have all your ducks in a row, but still going to get those cravings. And that’s the big danger. How do you stop yourself from caving in?

One technique is deep breathing exercises.

• You simply sit down, close your eyes and breathe deeply in for a count of five. Completely fill your lungs. Then breathe out for a count of ten.
• Focus your attention only on your breathing. Think about how it feels for the air to fill your lungs, feel your chest rising, listen to the sound the air makes as it enters your body. When you let it out, do the same. How does it feel? What does it sound like?
• Do this until the craving subsides. It should only take a few minutes, then go back to your plan.

Stop smoking aids like nicotine gum, nicotine patches and electronic cigarettes can be very helpful. The help you break certain habits, be it the oral fixation or that sense of missing something when you don’t have a cigarette in your hand. But they don’t address the chemical addiction.  It’s true that you are only chemically addicted to nicotine for three days. After three days, it’s all in your head. So if you use a stop-smoking aid, you’re only elongating that chemical addiction. A lot of people use them to slowly wean themselves off of the nicotine addiction. If nothing else works for you, this might be a good option.

BUT, there have been studies showing that taking a 2-4 oz shot of lime juice is just as effective as nicotine gum or patches for managing nicotine cravings. Plus, you get the benefits of lime as well!

Alternative methods

For some people, certain alternative methods can work. For about 10 percent of people (an approximation), hypnosis can be very effective. I’ve actually personally spoke to a man who smoked for 20 years, got hypnotized and never touched a cigarette again.

There’s a certain point in your ear that, if manipulated by an acupuncturist, can actually stop your nicotine cravings. It’s called Auriculotherapy and some people swear by it!

A couple of final notes. Make yourself accountable to others. Have people check up on you. Make deals with people. Make it someone you respect, or who respects you. Accountability partners are really helpful in weigh-loss efforts, so it should be helpful with smoking cessation as well. Don’t forget to make yourself feel good (eat good food, get exercise, remember what it’s like to feel healthy and how great that is). Quitting smoking is, to put it bluntly, going to kind of suck for a while. Do other things to balance out those nasty feelings.