One of the strongest indicators of your likelihood of success as a quitter is what can be described as your “readiness to quit”. I’ve noticed over the years that people who go into a quit with a certain set of characteristics tend to succeed, and that people who lack one or more of those characteristics tend to fail.
This doesn’t mean that if you personally don’t have all (or any) of the characteristics I’m about to describe that you can’t successfully quit smoking: statistics and averages only apply to groups of people; not to individuals. Your chances of success are 100%, as long as you make the right choices.
Characteristics of Successful Quitters
- First, successful quitters tend to quit for themselves. They don’t quit because someone else wants them to, or expects them to, or hopes they will. They quit for their own deeply personal reasons; reasons that have a powerful emotional resonance for them.
- Secondly, successful quitters make quitting smoking their top priority. They weigh their choices in light of whether they will help or hurt their chances of quitting and staying quit. For instance, if they’re invited to a party where there will be alcohol served, and where they know there will be a lot of smokers, they may decide not to go to the party (or avoid drinking if they do) because they realize that the temptation to smoke may be too much for them to resist.
- Finally, successful quitter are committed to quitting, no matter what it takes. If they have to miss the holiday party, or not go out for happy hour for a while, or spend less time with smoking friends for a while, they’re willing to make those sacrifices to make sure that their quits are secure.
Self-Assessment Quiz
To help you gauge your own readiness factor, here’s a simple self-assessment quiz: Be completely honest with yourself when answering the following questions. If your honest answer to any question is not emphatically “YES,” then it’s a definite “NO”.
You’ll notice that “MAYBE” is not an option; if your answer to any of these questions is “MAYBE”, it counts as a “NO.”
-
- Am I quitting for myself (i.e., NOT for my husband, wife, parents, kids, friends, coworkers, or anybody else)?
- YES or NO
-
- Do I have strong personal and emotional reasons for quitting?
- YES or NO
-
- Is quitting smoking my top priority?
- YES or NO
-
- Am I committed to quitting, no matter what it takes?
- YES or NO
If your answer to any of these questions was “NO,” you may not be ready to quit. If that’s the case, please leave a comment below about which question (or questions) you couldn’t answer “YES” to and why; maybe one of us can help you figure it out.