Don't Try to Cut Down – Just Go Cold Turkey

If you want to quit smoking without drug and patches, you can use two approaches. The first is to quit gradually by cutting down the number of cigarettes you smoke until you are not smoking at all. The second way is to quit cold turkey.

Which is the better method to quit smoking? Statistics have shown that those who set a quit date and then quit cold turkey have a much better success rate than those who try to cut down on their cigarette consumption daily.

The reason that quitting smoking cold turkey might work better than cutting down gradually is because once the smoker strikes the quit date they are in a invariable position with their craving. They cannot just say, "Oh, one more today is not going to hurt."

In addition, smokers who are cutting down the cigarettes are still surrounded by all the triggers for smoking including the lighter and the cigarette pack. This is like telling a heroin addict not to do heroin while at the same time giving them a needle and ounce of the drug.

Cutting down on cigarettes before an actual quit date seems to help. Also, to reduce your smoking before quit date try to buy only one pack at a time, change brands each time, and give your cigarettes to someone else to hold, so that you have to ask for one every time you want to smoke.

Already Quitted? What's your next goal?

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life.

Many ex-smokers forgot about their struggle with smoking, all quitting smoking drama, and finally forgot their pride of leaving this unmitigated evil behind not long after smoking cessation process. There is no doubt that it's not good to forget any experience, and it's not good to stop self-perfection process.

Do you remember a man that gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food? He was healthy right up to the day he killed himself. So, maybe, it is not good idea to implement new great life changes for ex-smoker, who quitted smoking three or less months ago, it is too early to make some other movements. However, it's not good if you can't praise yourself for something more than one year old quitting smoking triumph. You must have some further ideas of self-development.

First, ex-smoker needs to give priority to personal goals, but, certainly, one of the most important goals is health. Many of ex-smokers not have the time in their busy schedule (or have strong enough reasons) to implement a balanced and healthy lifestyle, but ex-smoker should try to follow through plain health principles such as enough sleep, a healthy diet and plenty of exercise.

Goal setting is a powerful process that helps ex-smoker choose where to go in life. By knowing exactly what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. Decide what you want to do with your life, and what major goals you want to achieve, and then divide these into the smaller and smaller aims that you must strike to reach your lifetime goals. Finally, once you have your plan, start working on it.

When you have achieved a goal, take the time to enjoy the satisfaction of having done so, as you did when finally quitted. With the experience of having achieved this goal, observe the progress you have made towards other goals. Adjust your goals regularly to reflect growth in your knowledge and experience, and if some goals do not hold any magnetism any longer, then let them go.

Goal setting is an important technique of motivating yourself; deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life; separating what is important from what is irrelevant, or a distraction; and building your self-confidence, based on successful achievement of goals. If you don't already set goals, do so, starting now. As you make this method part of your life, you will wonder how you did without it!

by the courtesy of Quit Smoking Pro

Companies Forbidding Smoking in Private Lives

A growing number of companies in Florida are forbidding their workers from smoking not only at work, but also in their private lives. Westgate Resorts, the largest private employer in Central Florida, has banned smoking and won't budge from a policy of not hiring smokers and firing employees who do smoke.

"When I found out it was legal to discriminate against smokers, I put the policy in place. If you are too stupid to understand that smoking is going to kill you, then we are going to tell you that if you want to work for our company, you will not smoke," Westgate president and CEO David Seigel said. Seigel also said that the policy was prompted by the death of his close friend - a heavy smoker who died of cancer.

Seigel said his policy is cost effective and said since it went into effect, health insurance claims have gone down significantly - making insurance more affordable for employees. The concern for privacy groups is that policies could extend beyond health issues. "Anything we can do that is legal and not discriminatory, we will do," Seigel said. "If you are an alcoholic and we have the right to fire you, we will do so. And if you are obese and there is a way for us not to hire you or to fire you, we will do that, too."

Several Westgate employees were found leaving his building and smoking in a nearby strip mall. Seigel said if those smokers will be disciplined and assisted to quit smoking, when the non-smoking policy initially went into effect he gave employees a year to stop smoking and opportunities to receive counseling, patches and other smoking cessation programs.

How to Quit Smoking Cold Turkey?

Do you know that reasons for quitting smoking and even problems with smoking cessation vary with age? Older smokers name different reasons to quit smoking compared with younger smokers. In most cases, it is connected with major health problems. Younger smokers attributed their reasons for quitting to the cost of cigarettes, tobacco odor, and general health concerns.

Also younger smokers were more likely than older smokers to report concerns of weight gain, stress management, fear of failure, handling social situations, and cravings as obstacles to quitting smoking. Young smokers believe that trying to quit "cold turkey" is best method, when in reality, only small quantity of smokers achieve long-term abstinence from smoking without professional help.

Physicians tell us that "The more we know about what motivates smokers to quit their habit and what personal obstacles they face in doing so, the more we can tailor smoking cessation programs to fit the individual needs of our patients." In reality all these programs should be individual, but it's hard to imagine and definitely will cost a smoker a pretty penny.

And what's about most popular "cold turkey" free method? Yes, going cold turkey or relying on willpower to quit smoking most often ends in failure, but this failure can teach you a great lesson. Using this failure or even several failures you are able to create your own successful quit smoking program. You will learn how your mind makes you believe that you really need another cigarette, and you will not be same blockhead next time.

There are countless ways to quit smoking, and the majority of smokers have tried their hands at most of them. Nicotine replacement therapies like gum, patches, and other drugs tend to send people into long and painful period of withdrawal that eventually causes them to start smoking again. And sometimes smokers cannot gather enough strength to repeat this process.

Cold turkey method also needs all smoker's power to succeed, but free from additional expenses and helps you to find your own guaranteed way to quit smoking for good. Just doesn't be panic if you failed in your cold turkey challenge. Your failure means that you need another chance only. And this time your experience will help you to succeed.

Do Not Even Try to Quit Smoking

Are you trying to quit smoking, but fail every time? Well, most probably you fixated on the idea of quitting smoking. Maybe you are thinking about quitting smoking all the time. These thoughts slowly change to the idea to smoke another cigarette, and after some time, one more. You think that it is impossible to break down this order. This chain seems to be as firm as steel chain.

It is impossible to quit smoking, really. If you think that it's just a question of willpower, you probably will fail in every attempt to quit smoking. If you think that you stand upon the idea to quit smoking, you most likely will not succeed. When you are talking about quitting smoking, it seems that you are talking about losing some part of your life. If you tell your friends that you are going to quit smoking, almost all of them will certainly doubt that your attempt will be successful. And in all probability, they are going to be right.

The meaning of phrase "quit smoking" is doubtful. If you have slept for 8 hours, you definitely quit smoking 8 hours ago. If you have seen movie in cinema you quit smoking 2 hours ago. What is the difference between these people and those ones, who stopped smoking 1 month ago, or even 1 year ago? There are many examples when people return to smoking after long abstention from it. These people do not quit smoking; they just did not smoke for some time.

Do you think that it is possible to quit smoking? You haven't stopped to read this article yet, so you think that it is possible to quit smoking somehow. You hope that author of this article will tell you some magic and easy ways to quit smoking that will help you to quit smoking fast and pain-free. No, it will not happen. Most of smokers will go through negative experience during smoking cessation process. Nicotine addiction is strong, and there is no way to relieve you of responsibility for your past decision to be nicotine addict. It is impossible to forget taste of your "favorite" cigarettes. You will remember this taste even when you will be 100 years old and it will be no problem for you to light up and smoke a cigarette.

Do you want to know how you can live without cigarettes and without nicotine addiction? To begin with, stop thinking about quitting smoking. Accent your intentions on a healthy lifestyle, your life goals, and the joy of life. Life will return favor to you without fail. If you do not smoke for some time, please, enjoy you smokeless life, enjoy fragrance of flowers, feel your own quality perfume, be glad that your family is free from secondhand smoke. You should feel more power, enjoy more spare time, more money and use these resources better than before.

You should know what you will do during a coffee break, when you will have knotty problem, or find yourself in stress situation. The best way to deal with this kind of problems is positive thinking. Just say: "I am happy and successful person, I solved my nicotine addiction problem and I am going to solve this new problem without cigarettes too".

If you are grateful for the opportunity to continue your life without harmful smoke, if you are happy every new day, and can do something for this positive perception of the world, you will never return to hopeless routine of everyday smoking. Think positively, feel joy of life, live without smoke.

by the courtesy of Quit Smoking Pro