How can I quit smoking? (again)

The question, "how can I quit smoking?" is not really the full, true question that most smokers want answering. The real gist of the question I believe that most smokers want to know the answer to is "how can I quit smoking easily?" or "how can I quit smoking without any effort?" or "how can I quit smoking when I haven't the willpower to?"

The answer to these questions is a valuable piece of information because quitting smoking is generally seen as a very difficult thing to do. When I finally managed to quit smoking back in early 2006, I actually found it very easy. What was the reason for this? Well, I knew how to quit smoking when I made my last attempt.

Unlike 95% of smokers, when I quit smoking, I had actually learned how to quit smoking before I bothered doing it. By learning what had to be done in advance, I found the process of quitting very easy.

Most smokers, when they chose to quit, do so without the full knowledge of what they are trying to do. They start by 'giving up' cigarettes and hoping to 'beat the cravings'. They enter into the process knowing that they are going to have a battle on their hands.

To put it another way, any normal person will refer to the owner's manual of a car, before attempting to change a wheel or even a light bulb on the vehicle. Once they have read the manual regarding changing the light bulb or the wheel, they will never read it again, because they know now how to do it. What's more, when they do it for the first time, they know what to do and what to expect throughout the process.

The difference of course between changing a bulb and quitting smoking is that hopefully, you should only quit smoking once! But why is it that most people try to quit smoking several times?

Studies have shown that smoker on average take about 7 attempts, normally over several years to quit smoking. Whoa! That's outrageous! Could you imagine how many cars would be abandoned on the road if we didn't bother reading our owner's manuals?

The reason of course why smokers take so many attempts to quit smoking is that they don't know what they are doing! Each attempt is like another fumble round the back of the gym on prom night. But making light of this is unfair. When I quit, I knew what I was doing - I was like an unstoppable sex machine (if only -haha)! This made quitting so easy, it isn't even worth making mention of.

Many smokers who use their 'brute willpower' to quit smoking rightly feel that they have achieved a great success over a crafty and devious foe. And they are right. Using willpower as motivation to quit smoking is bloody difficult! I know, I tried about 15 times to quit using willpower and got nowhere! I tried using nicotine replacement too, patches, gum, lozenges and inhalators, all to no avail.

Quitting smoking using willpower as your main weapon against nicotine addiction is a very difficult thing to do. Becoming a 'gazillionaire' by selling ice to Eskimos is easier than quitting smoking with willpower (I think).

Quitting smoking armed with the full knowledge of why you smoke and what effects smoking has on you (no not the health effects!) is a walk in the park. That is why, when I quit smoking I didn't look upon it as a major achievement in my life. It was so simple, brushing my teeth properly (and I am 35!) is still more difficult than quitting smoking when you know how.

As ever, if you are trying to quit smoking, my most important message to you is to keep trying no matter how many times you fail. Never quit trying to quit.

Pete Howells has written the EasyQuit System that will help any smoker quit tobacco. He also blogs quit smoking advice at http://quit-smoking-motivator.blogspot.com Visit http://easyquitsystem.com/ to find out more about his incredible process for quitting smoking that boasts 96% customer satisfaction.

How can I quit smoking?

"How can I quit smoking?" is one of the most important questions for any smoker. In the back of every smokers mind, most days is a question about how they can go without their lovely, tasty smokes! Anyone who actually knows the answer to this question and can add, without any effort to it, will be rich beyond belief.

In our modern lifestyles, we all want a magic pill that will stop us smoking, improve our bedroom performance and keep us a slim as a racing snake for our entire lives. We want this and we don't want to have to do anything about it either.

But there is the rub.

There is always a little bit or a lot of effort involved in achieving anything of significance. So in answer to the question "how can I quit smoking?" the first response I would give is you will have to use some effort.

Making an effort to quit smoking is different from it being hard to stop smoking. Personally, I do not believe it is hard to stop smoking. The reason I have this outlandish opinion is because I also don't think brain surgery is difficult - for brain surgeons!

Let me expand a little. I think that quitting smoking is easy because a) I learned how to do it and b) I did it and c) so now I know how easy it was.

Brain surgery is a skill that must be learned. Unless you are actually a brain surgeon, brain surgery may seem like a very difficult thing to do. It isn't so long as a) you have studied and learned how to do it b) you have understood and practiced it and c) you successfully complete brain surgery.

OK, that may seem a bit brash so lets put it another way. Rather than saying "How can I quit smoking?", lets say "How can I do brick laying?"

To become a brick layer, you must learn about the relevant materials - your bricks, blocks and stone and then learn about the relevant mortar that you need to use depending on the building blocks. You then need to learn how to put the mortar in the right place and lay the bricks etc. etc.

The point is, you may not be able to do brick laying but given a little time, studying and effort, you could probably learn how to build a straight and vertical wall. The point is you must learn.

My view on how to quit smoking is that it is all about education. There is a desire in our hectic lifestyle to just take some magic pill to cure all of our problems, but to be honest, one doesn't exist. Sure Zyban boasts some effectiveness as does Chantix but they are far from 100% effective.

Smokers still want to smoke, irrespective of the pills you give them. Only by changing ones mindset to smoking is it possible to stop smoking with ease.

So in answer to the question, "How can I quit smoking?" My answer is to take some time and effort to learn how to quit smoking. You already know why you need to quit smoking, now it is time to actually learn how to quit smoking.

As ever, however many times you have tried and however many methods you have used, never stop trying to quit smoking.

Pete Howells has written the EasyQuit System that will help any smoker quit tobacco. He also blogs quit smoking advice at http://quit-smoking-motivator.blogspot.com Visit http://easyquitsystem.com/ to find out more about his incredible process for quitting smoking that boasts 96% customer satisfaction.