1. Believe in yourself. Believe that you can quit. Think about some of
most difficult things you have done in your life and realize that you have guts and determination to quit smoking. It's up to you.2. After reading this list, sit down and write your own list, customized to your personality and way of doing things. Create you own plan for quitting.
3. Write down why you want to quit (the benefits of quitting): live longer, feel better, for your family, save money, smell better, find a mate more easily, etc. You know what's bad about smoking and you know what you'll get by quitting. Put it on paper and read it daily.
4. Ask your family and friends to support your decision to quit. Ask them to be completely supportive and non-judgmental. Let them know ahead of time that you will probably be irritable and even irrational while you withdraw from your smoking habit.
5. Set a quit date. Decide what day you will extinguish your cigarettes forever. Write it down. Plan for it. Prepare your mind for "first day of rest of your life". You might even hold a small ceremony when you smoke you last cigarette, or on morning of quit date.
6. Talk with your doctor about quitting. Support and guidance from a physician is a proven way to better your chances to quit.
7. Begin an exercise program. Exercise is simply incompatible with smoking. Exercise relieves stress and helps your body recover from years of damage from cigarettes. If necessary, start slow, with a short walk once or twice per day. Build up to 30 to 40 minutes of rigorous activity, 3 or 4 times per week. Consult your physician before beginning any exercise program.
8. Do some deep breathing each day for 3 to 5 minutes. Breathe in through your nose very slowly, hold breath for a few seconds, and exhale very slowly through your mouth. Try doing your breathing with your eyes closed and go to step 9.
9. Visualize your way to becoming a non-smoker. While doing your deep breathing in step 8, you can close your eyes and begin to imagine yourself as a non-smoker. See yourself enjoying your exercise in step 7. See yourself turning down a cigarette that someone offers you. See yourself throwing all your cigarettes away, and winning a gold medal for doing so. Develop your own creative visualizations. Visualization works.
10. Cut back on cigarettes gradually (if you cut back gradually, be sure to set a quit date on which you WILL quit). Ways to cut back gradually include: plan how many cigarettes you will smoke each day until your quit date, making number you smoke smaller each day; buy only one pack at a time; change brands so you don't enjoy smoking as much; give your cigarettes to someone else, so that you have to ask for them each time you want to smoke.
