I get people coming to me to quit smoking cigarettes who say to me that their friend just decided to quit smoking and they were successful, why can’t they do it?
In reality the success rate for quitting smoking using willpower is less than 7%. In fact quitting like this has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with your top values.
We all live our lives according to our top values and when we are fulfilling our top values we do not need motivation or willpower. Smoking has a direct effect on health so if health is not one of your top values then the chances of you quitting smoking with no help is almost nil.
Take for example a woman that smokes, she falls pregnant and stops smoking cigarettes overnight. When the baby is born and is doing well the woman will often go back to smoking.
What has happened here is that the value of health, and in particular the health of the baby has become a top value. Result is that the woman stops smoking overnight. When the baby is born and is healthy the value of health is not a priority so the woman goes back to smoking.
Often when you study how someone has just quit smoking you will find that health has become more important than it was.
So if you are considering quitting smoking then link how smoking is going to improve your help. This probably won’t help you quit overnight but it will help with the motivation to stop smoking cigarettes.
The reality is that in most cases we need help to quit smoking but if we can approach it with a mindset of improving our lives by being healthier then the chances of success are markedly improved.