Quit by Choice

But (ironically) you can’t do it by deciding that you’re never going to smoke again.

Never is just a concept; it doesn’t really mean anything. At least, for our purposes, it doesn’t mean anything useful: smoking is an act that always occurs at a specific moment in time (more on this in a minute), and never doesn’t imply anything about a specific moment in time; it just means “not ever.”

Once again, smoking is an act that always occurs at a specific moment in time (just like all actions; if you’re doing something, you’re doing it at a specific time: 2:00 on Wednesday, or 10:00 on Saturday, or 6:00 on Tuesday). And, as I’ve mentioned in other articles, the act of smoking is always preceded by the act of choosing to smoke.

Make Your Choice

Understand this: any time you’re smoking, you have just chosen to smoke. It doesn’t matter whether the choice was conscious or automatic; if you didn’t just choose to smoke, you wouldn’t have reached for the cigarette, put it in your mouth, lit it, and started sucking.

Now, add this concept to the mix: whenever you’re smoking, it’s right now. Whenever you choose to smoke, it’s right now. If you’re doing something, it’s always right now, because right now is the only time you can do anything. If you say, “I’ll do that tomorrow,” that’s a prediction, not an action. If you say, “I did that yesterday,” that’s a memory, not an action.

But if you say, “I’m doing this right now,” that’s an action.

The Time to Act is Now

Telling ourselves we’re never going to smoke again doesn’t work, because never is not right now, and the only time we can actually make the choice whether to do something or not is right now. Telling ourselves we’re never going to smoke again gives us a built-in excuse to relapse because it’s an impossible goal.

Instead, the way to stay quit forever is to decide you’re not going to smoke right now. No matter when you get a crave, if you commit that you’re not going to smoke right now in response to it, you’ll never be smoking. Because the only time you can act is right now, and if you’re not doing something right now, you’re not doing it at all.

The 2-Step Quit Plan

So, now, understanding all of that, here’s my simple, patented, sure-fire, never-been-known-to-fail 2-step plan to stay quit forever:

1. Make the commitment that you’ll always wait at least five minutes before caving in to a crave and lighting up.
2. If the crave persists for more than five minutes, see step 1.