People begin their smoking habits in a number of different ways.
Some try it because they're curious, others want to fit in and others may just want to rebel because the establishment or their parents told them not to.
Whatever the reason, smoking is something that is pretty easy to get the hang of.
You light it up, draw it in and cough like crazy the first 5 or 6 cigarettes.
Then, you just kind of settle into the habit with less and less coughing.
The nicotine does the rest.
Imagine if quitting were that easy.
You just stop smoking, cough for the first couple of hours and then you stop! Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way does it? Most smokers have a very difficult time laying them down.
A few may get help from various stop smoking aids or enroll in some kind of stop smoking program, but most will just try to stop without any idea of what happens next.
For whatever the reason, they take the same approach to quitting as they did when they first started smoking.
This casual quitter is someone who probably doesn't expect to really quit or isn't that interested in quitting in the first place.
So the first step in quitting smoking is to decide to quit, right? Everyone who tries to quit makes that decision.
But not every successful quitter takes the next step.
This simple next step is often missed by the casual quitter.
For example, if someone is burned out at work and needs a vacation, they do several key things; first of which is deciding to go on vacation.
Okay, now that decision is out of the way.
What happens next? Does the person just magically show up at their destination? No, because once the decision is made, a series of other decisions are then necessary.
They need to decide when to start their vacation, where to go, how to get there, how much money to spend, how long to stay, what activities to participate in, etc.
For the person who just casually decides to stop smoking and then doesn't think of the "what, how, where, when and why", is really setting themselves up for relapse.
The step of planning is the key to any endeavor, especially one as noble as quitting smoking.
It's sad that people spend more time planning their Friday night out, than they do on their smoking cessation attempt.
What should the future ex-smoker plan for then? That's a simple question to answer: everything! Here's an abbreviated planning list to get you started: 1) Find out why you really want to quit 2) What are you going to do with the leftover ashtrays, lighters, cigarettes 3) Plan for the withdrawal cravings, how will you cope with them 4) Are you going to hang out with your smoking friends 5) What day are you going to quit 6) Should you talk to your doctor 7) Do you need help to stop smoking 8) Is this your secret or are you going to share it with others 9) Which way are you going to use to help you stop smoking 10) What benefits do you hope to get from quitting smoking