The Development of Your Stop Smoking Plan

You are ready to free yourself from the damaging, mind controlling, disgusting habit of smoking. You have finally decided enough is enough, you are tired of playing games, and you have made the absolute final decision to quit smoking. Now what?

The first thing you want to consider after you have made the decision to quit smoking is when you are going to quit. Knowing when you are going to quit will help you hold yourself accountable. You can't say 'one day I will quit' because that does not live up to your decision. You have decided to quit so you need to start acting on your decision.

Take out a calendar and figure out when you want your quit date to be. There is no magical day or month or time of year to quit. You don't have t wait for the moon to align with Saturn or anything of that nature to decide when you will stop. Pick a day, circle it, and be prepared to quit on that day.

Once you have chosen your date you need to start preparing for it. One of the first things you want to do in preparation is decide how you are going to quit. You have an enormous amount of options to choose from. You have to decide what the best choice is for you. Talk to friends who have quit smoking, research the internet to find out what has helped others. Just remember though, just because something worked for one person doesn't mean it will necessarily work for you. The same goes for options that didn't help other people, that option may be the perfect way for you to quit smoking.

Some of the options that you do have that are fairly mainstream are in the form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy. NRT comes in gum, lozenges, patches and so on. These work best for people that are addicted to mainly the nicotine in cigarettes. Another option is hypnotism. Being hypnotized is completely a decision that you have to make. Joining a support group whether in your community or online can go a long way in helping you succeed and will provide you with outside input on ways to quit smoking, things to avoid, and things to research.

You must get all tobacco related products out of your home, office, and car at least the eve of your quit date. There is no sense in having reminders of cigarettes. Seeing a pack of cigarettes of an ashtray may make your cravings worse, your temptations greater, and your urge to smoke unbearable. Remove the items to have a smoother transition into becoming a non-smoker.

On your calendar circle your goal dates and what rewards you are willing to give yourself for each goal met. Commonly smokers who are in the process of quitting set goals at 24 and 48 hours, one week, two weeks, and so on until they are at their month mark of no smoking. Some common rewards are not that common. Your rewards will be up to you. One idea, however, is to take the money you would have spent on smoking and buy yourself something nice with it.

While you are quitting smoking you may start to feel better. This should come as no surprise because as you rid your body of nicotine and all the build up from smoking you will breathe better and thus feel better. Your energy is likely to increase and you may want to take advantage of the easier breathing and increased energy. Joining a gym and getting fit may help you stay motivated to keep up the good work and only increase your already increasing health.

Remember, as you are making your plans to quit smoking you should probably consult your doctor. Your medical provider is not going to discourage you from quitting, but he may be able to offer you advice on how to quit as well as tell you if you are cleared to use Nicotine Replacement Therapy. Your doctor can also help you track your progress and monitor your overall health.

If you have a plan of action before you quit smoking your chances of succeeding are greatly increased. It is always best in life and with quitting smoking to have a Plan A and a Plan B. if you are not reaching your goals you may want to readjust your plan. Quitting smoking should be your number one priority. It may take you more or less time to achieve this goal than you originally thought. As long as you end up quitting smoking then you have accomplished your main goal. Just because you aren't completely smoke free by X time doesn't mean you have failed. If you keep trying you cannot consider yourself a failure, you are just a work in progress.

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