I don’t know about you but It always motivates me whenever I know that there is something really good waiting for me after completing a task, not that I’m like a vendo machine or something, I just use the motivation and excitement it brings to keep on achieving my goals.

Remember on the last tip I told you to make sub-goals that will lead to your ultimate goal? Which is to achieve 0 cigarettes everyday.

Now put in a reward system for yourself, I’m sure there are things that you’d like to have, put an equivalent prize for every sub-goal achieved and a better one if in case you beat the time frame intended for that sub-goal.

For example; If by October 15th you managed to cut your cigarette consumption in half, you’ll buy yourself a new Nike Free Dynamic TR running shoes, don’t just say Nike shoes coz there are alot of Nike’s. Make your prizes specific so you can really picture them in your minds, that way you will be better motivated.

Now, if in case you managed to cut your cigarette consumption in half by October 10th instead of 15th, up your prize to an Air Jordan 6 rings Olympic edition! Exciting right?

Your prizes doesn’t have to be something pricey like Nike’s but anything that will make you happy. Even small stuff toys that you like will do, or a lighter..lol (joke, don’t do that)

This way you are helping yourself quit smoking and you are getting the things you like in the process. Talk about hitting 2 birds with one stone. : )

How did the announcement go? Cool!

So right now, you’re actually all set. You have everything in place and the only thing you need to do right now is to generate a plan of action. You have to make sub-goals that will lead to your ultimate goal.

Your ultimate goal right now is to achieve 0 cigarettes per day starting on your quit date, whenever that is. Lets assume that you are smoking a pack per day. Now think of the things that you need to do in order to lessen your consumption everyday or every week, depending on how far you are from your quit date.

Make it time bound and write everything down so you can monitor your progress, by this time you might want to start a journal to document everything. Lets go back to the example where you are smoking a pack a day, now make a sub-goal where you have decrease your consumption to 15 sticks a day, give it a deadline as well. It is crucial that everything is time bound, everything should have a deadline and you should make it a habit to achieve each every sub-goal.

Once you’re down to 15 sticks a day, start working to make it 10 sticks a day, then down to 5 sticks a day and so on until you reach your quit date.

Once you have your plan of action written down, stick it to a place where you can easily see it so you are reminded everyday.

Trying to stop smoking is not that easy, it takes a lot of work. It’s goal setting at its best! : ) You have to outline every move that you need to take so you don’t get lost. And its pretty rewarding everytime you look at your journal and see that you have been achieving your goals or sub goals.

You can always do some tweaking as you go along. Another very good tip is to try to beat your goals. If on your journal you wrote “Cut consumption in half by September 30″, work your butt up to achieve it September 29th or even 28th. It will feel so good and you feel all powerful! believe me.

Exciting! Isn’t it? Start working on your plan of action right now.

Great! I can see that you are really determined to quit smoking. Good for you!

OK, so now you got your list of reasons why you want to stop smoking. By continuing, I’m pretty sure you have the determination to quit, unless you’re just reading this out of curiosity. And by now, you should already know your smoking pattern and have decided on a quit date.

Super!

Now, what you wanna do is to make an announcement. Gather your family, friends, co-workers, enemies? : ) everybody you know and make them aware of your plan to quit smoking. You will get “ohs” and “ahs” and a few teases from friends especially if you’ve been announcing the same thing each year. This time let them know that it is real, read them your reasons and make them understand why you really want to stop smoking and then announce your quit date.

Why is this important?

As with any endeavor, we all need support. We all need people to run to whenever things go wrong or go unplanned. Letting everybody know of your plan to stop smoking will get you all the support you need. I know your family will be so grateful and will support you all the way. Some friends will remain a tease but believe me they will get serious once they realize that you are. You might even pull some friends to quitting because they’ll already feel awkward smoking in front of you. That’s a good thing.

Another benefit of making an announcement is that everybody will be looking forward to your quit date. Believe me you will get calls days before your quit date and people will be asking if you’re ready, truly heartwarming. And since you know that everybody is anxious of what will happen on your quit date, you will be so ashamed to even think of canceling your plan.

Getting everybody involved is exciting. You’ll get a lot of tap in the back and “Good Job’s” and you will also get a lot of “I knew you couldn’t do it”, “Loser”, “You are indeed a quitter” and other shameful phrases if you fail or if you don’t go through with it.

What comments you want to hear will depend on you.

So, go ahead and gather everybody or send some messages and announce you intention to quit smoking. Don’t forget to include your quit date.

If you’ve come this far, I want you to know that I am proud of you and I can see that you are well on your way to winning the battle against cigarettes. Writing those reasons takes time and deciding to quit takes a lot of courage. Keep it up and you will succeed, 100%.

The next step that you need to take is to set a Quit Date. It is simply the date when you will eventually stop smoking. Now, this date is very important. You have to gauge yourself and set a date that is achieveable, tomorrow or the next day may not be a good idea coz you could and most likely fail.

There are certain things to ask yourself when setting a quit date, they are;

• How often do you smoke a day?
• When are you likely to smoke?

You have to give yourself time to gradually reduce the amount of cigarettes you’re smoking, this helps avoid nicotine withdrawals. When your Quit Date is set start reducing the amount of cigarettes you smoke per day and make sure its 0 cigarettes when the date comes. But of course don’t give yourself a ridiculously long time frame, like setting your Quit Date a year from now.

Knowing when you are likely to smoke is important so you can avoid those instances and you can think of ways to stop the craving. Like if you crave every after meals, think of something that will stop the craving. A candy or chocolates might help, anything that suits you. If you’re smoking when you’re stressed, think of something that will relieve the stress. Like exercising or maybe walking.

Once you’ve identified those 2 things, you can successfully set a Quit Date.

I remember how excited I was when I set my quit date and how the intensity grows when the date is nearing. I felt like there were butterflies in my stomach everytime I look at the calendar and the days are flying by so quickly. The first few days or even weeks will be hard but it will also be exciting. I thought of it as a game that I need to win so everytime I had cravings I’d think of it as an obstacle in the game that I’m playing and I need to get over it.

Don’t worry, if you got your mind set to it. You will be able to achieve it.

Now sit down, think, and set you Quit Date.

On the first tip, I talked about the importance of having a reason to quit smoking. If you’re reading this post, I would assume that you have thought about your reasons already, you’ve written them down and read a thousand times til you memorized them(Joke). You don’t have to go that far.

Right now I’m going to talk about your DETERMINATION to stop smoking. This is one of the most important, if not the most important factor in your quitting journey. Many fall back to smoking again because of lack of determination.

What is Determination?

Determination is your willingness to achieve your goal. If you are determined, you will not be easily swayed. You stand firm to your decision. In any endeavor, determination almost always assures success.

When I went to party last month, I was able to test my determination to stop smoking. It was barely 2 months after I decided to quit and the party was held at a bar. You can just imagine all the people smoking around me and all the people, who doesn’t know I quit, trying to give me cigarettes. I was averaging 10-15 cigarettes by the way.

The party didn’t end until 5am the next morning and I’m proud to say that I did not smoke, not even a puff. I know I inhaled alot of second hand smoke and it’s just as dangerous but what’s important is, I managed not to smoke despite all the temptations.

From then on, I know that I will be successful in finally getting rid of cigarettes. And true enough I’ve been living smoke free ever since. Not a single relapse.

I owe my success to sheer determination. When I thought about quitting, I made my list of reasons to quit, I set a quit date (which I will be discussing next) and stuck with it. I made it clear in my mind that when that date comes, I am done with cigarettes! My mind and my heart was so into quitting that I’d be so ashamed of myself if I didn’t do it.

It takes courage to quit.

Congratulations if you read the post, I know you have it in you and I believe you have the courage to quit coz if not you wouldn’t be reading this.

Now go ahead and decide if you really want to quit because after this, there is no turning back.

At first I was planning to put a series of videos right here to scare everybody into quitting. Well, not really scare but maybe open up everybody’s eyes and finally realize how stupid cigarette smoking is. But when I found this video I figured that it’s worth a post of its own.

It’s very touching and really really sad, I literally cried the first time I watched it. Watch it please.

I salute this guy for bravely filming, probably the saddest event that could happen in ones life, and for sharing it to everybody. His name is Aaron Shawn Gray, he posted this in youtube. If you want to grab the video, please do so and help spread this video throughout the world.

His mom is a hero and her death will definitely make a change.

A large percentage of those who try to quit smoking each year fails. An accurate stat can’t be determined but I’m sure you will agree, and I’m sure that you know somebody who did try to quit smoking but did not succeed. I myself have alot of friends who quit smoking every year for the last 5 years I think, but… they’re still smoking.

I just quit about 3 months ago and have been very successful in it. I have been able to avoid smoking even at bars when I’m drinking and I’m very proud of that. Anyways, In case you don’t know, I made this blog in order to help me quit smoking and stay quit. And also help others or convince others to stop smoking.

If you’re reading this and planning to quit, continue reading and congratulations! You’re on the right track, keep it up. This is going to be a series of tips numbered from #1 and so on. It’s a step by step quitting process so please do not skip a tip.

Ok, now let’s go to the tip. This probably the first thing that you should think of if you’re planning to quit. Without it, you are bound to fail. What is it?

REASON TO QUIT

You have to clearly identify the reasons why you need to quit. You have to write them down so you won’t forget. I’m sure by now you’ve already thought of 3 or more reasons, right? Write it down so it registers in your mind, so you can see it, touch it, and ponder about it. If not, you’ll forget those reasons, trust me.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE A REASON TO STOP SMOKING?

I guess this is self explanatory. Let me ask you, do you have dreams or goals? For your career maybe or your family? I bet you do, we all have goals. And I bet you have them all listed with their specific time frames or dead lines, right? You know the consequences if they are achieved or not.

Well, trying to quit smoking is a goal and have to be treated as such. You have to think of the reasons why you should quit and you have to identify the consequences if you fail, you have to take it very seriously or else…you will fail.

Let me give you a few of the hundreds of reasons why you should quit;

• Your Health
• Your Family’s Health
• The People Around You
• The Environment

Under the health reason alone, it will branch out to alot of different sub-reason like;

• To Prevent Lung cancer and numerous respiratory diseases
• To prevent A Heart Attack
• To prevent Larynx Cancer etc…

If you will think of it, I’m sure you can fill a whole bond paper with different reasons to quit. If not, do some research and you’ll be frightened of what you don’t know.

Go ahead, take the first step towards a smoke free living.

Whenever a car passes by and its emitting alot of smoke, we always cover our mouth and nose hoping not inhale any of those poisonous smoke. We always tell our kids to stay clear from car exhaust pipes because they emit dangerous smoke.

That dangerous smoke being emitted by running engines is called Carbon Monoxide. And that same kind of smoke is being produced everytime you light your cigarettes. If you are smoking, then I suggest that you don’t bother covering your mouth and nose whenever a car revs up beside because you’re inhaling carbon monoxide anyway everytime you smoke cigarettes. And tell your kids to stay away from you because you are a walking poison.

What is Carbon Monoxide?

Carbon Monoxide is an odorless, colorless, and tasteless substance but is highly toxic. It is produced by burning carbon containing substances - most common in a vehicles internal combustion system. Carbon Monoxide poisoning is the most common type of poisoning in many countries.

Dangers of Carbon Monoxide

Since Carbon Monoxide is odorless, colorless and tasteless it can kill you even before you know its around you. That’s how lethal this compound is.

Carbon Monoxide causes:

• Fatigue
• Chest Pain
• Impaired Vision
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Nausea
• Confusion
• Reduced Brain Functions
• Death

Carbon Monoxide aids the formation of Carboxyhemoglobin in the blood, which inhibits oxygen intake.

If you are a smoker, you are subjecting your family everyday to these risks. The amount of carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke may not be lethal, but remember that exposure to small amounts of carbon monoxide also has health effects and it can accumulate over time.

If you love yourself, your family, and if you care about the people around you. Stop smoking! That simple step makes you an advocate for humanity.

I’ve come across some cigarette advertisements that are amazing because of all the false claims. Ever since, cigarettes have been strongly advertised. Manufacturers are aggressive and I know that upto now, I think especially upto now, cigarette manufacturers spend millions in advertising just to keep their share of the market.

Here are the videos. You’ll be amazed with how cigarettes were wrongly advertised before.

I gotta ask my Doctor if he smokes Camels. I wonder if cigarette companies would want to use this kind of ad today?

I wonder who the Doctor who examined them was? Did you hear him say average smoking is about 10-40 sticks a day?

I didn’t even the Flintstones smoke.

Now that is something! Kids smoking salems. Softened by fresh air?lol

Really Enticing! Probably the reason why the military men I knew prefers luck strikes.

Pall Mall vintage commercial

Wow! Those convincing lines really worked before.

I can’t remember who the models were, but I know they both died from smoking related diseases.

Best Christmas gift ever! I wonder why they don’t make Christmas packagings anymore.lol

Right! Great coupons.

Good thing advertisements like these no longer exists. And that the real health risks are already exposed. If I lived during those days, I probably have died due to lung cancer as well or any respiratory disease.

I hope you enjoyed the videos, watching them is fun. They will make you realize how misinformed the public was before and how lucky we are to have been born or have matured at this present time. But still, cigarette manufacturers are one of the richest folks ever!

I wonder why cigarettes are not being tagged as illegal considering all the deaths it caused?

I am very glad to announce that today I am 2 months and 13 days SMOKE FREE! By now, based on the facts, my coughing and shortness of breath would have subsided. Actually, the coughing is gone. I’ve never really gotten into the point of coughing extremely maybe that’s why it went away that fast. Shortness of breath, I still get them from time to time especially when I’m working out, Yes! I am working out, but I’m not really worried since I know it will eventually disappear.

I know 2 months without cigarettes is a bit too soon to say that I am completely successful in quitting but I’m just so proud and I’ve been successfully avoiding cigarettes even during “extreme conditions” I’d say. Like when I’m walking outside and I see people smoking, it sometimes brings back the cravings. I just pop a candy it takes care of it.

There was one time when I attended a party at a bar where everybody is smoking, it was like hell on Earth! I got so drunk but I still managed to stay away from smoking.

It feels so good, I can’t imagine myself smoking another cigarette right now. I can’t even believe that I liked cigarettes before and I got hooked on smoking them. I think it was just all the peer pressure and the looking cool thing that made want cigarettes, and eventually the nicotine got into my system and I was hooked.

The only thing that I wish I could change right now is where I live. Because everyday I would pass by this road where the pollution is really terrible, there are lots of vehicles lined up and all their engines are running! You can actually see clouds of smoke as you approach the area. Its like everytime I pass that 30 meter area, I feel like I’ve smoked 3 cigarettes already because of the carbon monoxide emitted by the engines.

And of course there are those that are smoking in public and you can’t help but inhale some of the second hand smoke. But anyways, besides those I think I’m doing pretty good and I know I’m off to getting rid of cigarettes forever.

To all those planning to stop smoking, do it now! Now is the best time to quit. To those who keep failing, make up your mind. You’re only failing because you want to.

Til next!

watch out for my posts that will educate you about cigarettes and help you how to quit.