Improve your chances of quitting smoking for good. Whether you are trying to stop smoking for the first time, or having another try after failing before, the following tips could increase your chances of success:
What’s your motivation?
Think about why you want to give up. Maybe for your health, for your family, to save money or a combination of reasons.
Stay focused on your motivation and keep a picture to represent it on your desk or your phone lock screen. Look at the picture when you feel tempted to smoke.
Make a plan (and stick to it)
Set a date to stop smoking, mark it in your calendars and let people know — to make it more real.
Find the tools and support you think you’ll need, and schedule activities which will take your mind off the strong initial cravings.
Support from a stop-smoking service (like ours) can make you three times more likely to succeed*.
Understand your triggers
However determined you are, you will definitely face strong temptation to light up. These triggers could be situation based (e.g. having a pint with friends) or could be emotional (e.g. feeling stressed about something).
Understanding what your triggers are, and planning for how to deal with them, is crucial. One example is keeping something to occupy your hands with at times of stress.
Build a support network
We’ve already mentioned telling other people that you are quitting smoking. As well as giving you accountability, this also gives you someone to turn to for support when it’s getting tough.
You could even pair up with someone else who is kicking the habit or join a group of people trying to quit at the same time.
