Quitting Smoking? Be Accountable to Others

If you want to quit smoking - and truly quit, not just have it as some passing fancy - you must hold yourself accountable not only to yourself but others as well. The nicotine beast, other smokers and your subconscious can all be very persuasive threats on the road to quitting so this is why I so firmly advocate a solid support group of at least two or three other people. Five is even better.

If you only have to answer to yourself when an overwhelming urge strikes, that’s only one person the nicotine beast has to overcome, but if you have a group, that’s a whole other story.

So how do you hold yourself accountable to others?

It kind of works backwards to just being accountable to yourself. For example, let’s say you’ve been off cigarettes for a week and for whatever silly reason your mind has come up with, you figure you need a smoke. Well, before you can do that, you have to battle your inner demons and then live with the guilt that you have failed. But the nicotine beast, as I said, is very strong and you are only one person. Many people fall down at this point.

But what if you had five loyal soldiers standing between the nicotine demon and you? Ah, now that’s a completely new ball game.

Here’s how it works.

Set up a small support group for yourself whether it be via email, telephone, or a support forum. Tell these people your goal to quit smoking but also ask them not to pester you about it - just to be there when you need help and positive support. Use them for encouragement.

But here’s the thing. Let’s say you are once again at the point of convincing yourself that you need a cigarette. Only this time instead of just coping with your own guilty conscience, you have to call these five people and say to them. "Hello, it’s me. I just needed to call you and tell you that I have decided to start smoking again."

And that’s all you get to say. No more. Then you just have to sit back and listen without getting angry or upset. If you can make it through all five members of your support team and you still think that their advice and support is misguided and your deep down beliefs that you should quit are suddenly wrong, then by all means have that ‘one’ cigarette. But I warn you now, don’t think that you’ll just have the one - you won’t. It’s always, always, always the first one that will get you.

This is why the support system works so well - because now it’s six (your support team plus you) against the ‘one’.

As I say, the more you know about quitting, the more successful you will be. So get all the information you need BEFORE you try to quit. It’s much easier, believe me.

To your success,

Darren Warmuth

Darren Warmuth is the developer and founder of the End the Habit Stop Smoking Program.

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Darren Warmuth starte smoking at age 9. After multiple attempts to quit, he finally devised his own system and quit in just four weeks, a system that will work for anyone who uses it. Contact him through his "End the Habit" stop smoking method website.