How To Quit Smoking

June 29, 2010 in Misc with 10 Comments

If you’re a smoker, I know you’ve probably done it.

You’ve gone to Google and typed in “How to quit smoking“.

If you’re overweight, you’ve probably done a search for “how to lose weight“.

There’s a simple little trick to ensuring your success when it comes to “how to do something.”

The trick is this:

It’s realizing that it really has nothing to do with the HOW you do it, it has everything to do with the WANT to do it.

How to = Hoping someone externally will tell you how to do it. We’re willing to spend money on this. Usually we’re hoping the how is quick, easy, pain-free, and fast. This is the reason the world will never have a shortage of “how to” products and diet pills.

Want to = Internal motivation. This is the force inside you. Think Star Wars.

Stop looking for the “how.”

When you truly want to quit smoking, or change a habit, it’s easy.

Yup, I said it. It’s easy.

Question: How do you quit smoking?

Answer: You stop smoking, if you want to. Your internal strength is stronger than the addiction. It comes down to want.

The desire, the thirst, the inspiration, the motivation, all come from deep down within. It’s not about finding a method, or buying another information product, or paying for hypnosis. It’s all about getting that desire’s temperature up to a boiling point. When it reaches the boiling point and you truly “want” to quit, the how part is easy.

  • John-Boy

    Some asked a smoker, who claimed to want to stop smoking…
    “do you have a cigarette in your mouth always every second? Even when sleeping and bathing?”

    Smoker”of course not, that would be silly”

    Sage “Well, SEE!, you actually can Stop Smoking, now just start extending those times”
    :)

  • Paul

    Alcohol, smoking, die hard habits are hard to break. The how to's make it sound quite straight forward but you need the want deep in your gut. This applies to learning about a new skill, starting a new venture….How deep is the desire?

  • http://twitter.com/caroljsroth Carol Roth

    Excellent post Noah. The difference between the idea and the achievement is setting the intention.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    You're right Paul. The want needs to come from the gut. Plain and simple. Thanks for the comment.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Funny but true.
    :-)

    Thanks for the comment.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    You got it. Thanks so much for the comment as always.

  • damionflynn

    As a smoker who has “tried” to quit numerous times, I can agree with the sentiment of setting your mind to it, but can also understand the true complexities of breaking a long-standing habit and addiction. I started smoking at 12, was a pack-a-day smoker by 13, and by my mid to late teens was in excess of three packs a day.
    While I have substantially reduced the amount of cigarettes I have in a day (down to normally under a pack), I still have trouble completely giving up the habit.

    I have tried the patch (reduced my intake to half a pack a day), hypnosis (no effect), cold turkey, prescriptions, gums, and more. The physical craving/addiction wins almost every time. I typically give in because the addiction starts to pull me away from other obligations (working becomes very difficult when you are having an internal battle).

    While I realize that you have to deeply want to quit to do so, but sometimes (every time in my case) the addiction has broken down the desire in one way or another.

  • http://noahfleming.com/ Noah Fleming

    Damion

    You're right. It must seem like I'm always writing towards you…. :-)

    I actually started writing this post in regards to business. The idea of smoking just wouldn't get out of my head, so I ran with it.

    I guess now though, I'm questioning at what point desire becomes enough, because quite frankly, we've seen people in your situation quit. What needs to happen to trigger the desire and make it unbreakable?

    We know it can be done – but what's needed to make it happen? In your case, I do believe you could quit. You've tried various times. The want is bubbling – it's just not boiling yet.

    Thoughts?

    Thanks so much for the open and honest comment about your own smoking issues. I appreciate that.

    Noah

  • damionflynn

    I think you are talking apples to oranges here but do have some good analogical points. While smoking came to mind, if you interpret it as business decisions, many people get into a “bad habit” of doing the same things every day and eventually waning off to an abyss of nothingness. Note that this is bad habits – good habits seem to be easier to break, mostly because they are replaced by bad habits (the most common being procrastination – I am guilty of this myself from time to time). Bad habits are harder to replace in your business and personal life.

    In marketing, whether it be online or general consulting, you have to stay ahead of the curve. If you are doing the same thing everyone else is – you are dying in your business. Good habits are maintaining a consistent balance of current trends as well as being a first-mover to up and coming trends to take advantage of first-mover or early adopter status.

    I know this comment goes into a bit more depth than the scope of your post here, but it really does still revolve around habits. Many people who have successfully quit smoking have replaced that habit by another, whether it be another bad, or potentially a good (or better) habit. In business, this is the same way to get rid of bad working habits – again, it does take dedication.

    It is said that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. I would assume that it would take roughly the same time to effectively trade a bad habit for a good one. One day, I will quit smoking. I will find a way to substitute my bad habit for a good one. Until then, I remain focused in my business even if my health may suffer slightly :(

  • Anonymous

    I think were talking about apples and oranges, but they have some good points analog. Although smoking has come to mind, if we interpret it as a business decision, many people in a bad habit smokeless cigarettes of doing the same things every day and finally to a decrease in the abyss of nothingness. Note that it is bad habits – habits seem to be more easily broken, especially since it replaced by bad habits (the most common is the delay – I am guilty that I from time to time.