2005 is here! And it is time to start on quitting smoking. But do you notice how your enthusiasm tends to fade away as February comes around, as you realize that quitting smoking is a lifetime goal and not something you can accomplish in a few weeks. If you really want to be successful, always keep 3 important things in mind.

1: Adjust Your Attitude To Work For You

If you have the wrong attitude about quitting smoking, you're already setting yourself up for failure. Most people look at quitting smoking as:

• A bad experience of cravings and urges

• A punishment or torment

• A loss of years of nurturing the habit 

• An obligation to someone else

• Painful and suffering

• A waste of time

• Not sustainable at all

If any of these sound familiar, how long do you expect to stick with your resolution to quit smoking? Nobody wants to do something painful, boring or obligatory. So before you throw yourself at quitting smoking, sort out your attitudes about it and figure out whether these attitudes are true or just lies you've been telling yourself for years. Then, try a positive approach to quitting smoking and take it as:

• The best way to improve health and stamina right now

• The best thing you can do right now to ensure better health in the future 

• A great way to dramatically boost your energy and mood

• A clear-cut way to save a few thousand bucks a year

• The most basic way to eliminate lingering cigarette smells 

• The simplest way to get rid of cigarette butts and ash stain

• A chance to improve the overall quality of your life at once

Here are some key points about quitting smoking that you need to understand as well:

1. Willpower does not work. It is meant for short-term success, whereas long-term success requires planning, discipline and seeking ways and methods to help and motivate yourself. 

2. Motivation will not happen miraculously. And motivation changes from day to day. You have to recommit to your goals each day, twist them around to fit changes in your lifestyle and attitude and find new ways to motivate yourself over time.

3. Commitment means that you will do make it happen, even when you do not want to at times. Know that you will always have to work at it.

4. Plan to work and work your plan. Once you have made your own plan to quit smoking, figure out how you will make your plan work effectively.

2: Change Your Lifestyle

Did smoking creep up on you without you knowing? But then, 

1. You can't smoke if your lifestyle doesn't support it.

2. You can't smoke if you haven't allowed yourself to.

3. You can't smoke if you've not made time and space for it.

Never forget that quitting smoking is a lifetime prospect. You will need to keep working on it to stay quit. But just like other lifetime commitments, staying quit will get easier and easier as you progress. Once you have molded staying quit as part of your lifestyle, it becomes a more natural and instinctive process. 

Recognize the gravity of permanently quitting smoking for you will need to change your lifestyle to accommodate this goal.

• Keep track of the things you do when you smoke and identify your smoking patterns. This could be drinking coffee, driving, studying, during a break, after meals, drinking alcohol or anything that comes to mind.  

• Change these smoking patterns. Drink orange juice or tea instead of coffee, take a bus instead of driving, study in a library, chat with non-smoker friends during breaks, eat in a non-smoking section or switching from alcohol to other beverages. These are just examples. The bottom line is that by making these simple changes to disrupt your smoking patterns, you can put off your triggers and urges to smoke easier.

Although this may sound too easy, making these changes are not. You may even need to change your environment to avoid encounters with certain patterns. For example, if you want to change from smoking during breaks, you may need to 

1. Change what you do during breaks. You may need to make new circle of non-smoker friends you to hang out with during breaks.

2. Do something else that will occupy your time, maybe take a nap or simple stretching exercises

3. Stay in smoke-free areas during your breaks. 

4. Stop carrying cigarettes with you on your break. And do not carry enough money to buy cigarettes either. This is a good way of making sure you do not have any means to smoke.   

3: Plan to Work and Work your Plan

You've figured out how to change your smoking patterns by adjusting or changing them with better ones and creating an environment that keeps you away from smoking too. Now, you need to make a plan for you to work on.

Set Your Goals

Quote Anthony Robbins: goals are visions with a deadline. Write down specific goals you have, not just 'I want to quit smoking' but details such as:

• A target quit date for you to quit smoking. Make sure that this is a realistic goal.

• Strong reasons for you want to achieve your goal.

• What you think will happen if you reach your goal.

• How you will stay smoke-free. Remember, it is a lifetime issue, even when you reach your goal, you cannot stop!

Set Up Your Program

Choose a program for quitting smoking. Psychologists have determined that quitting smoking without the use of a quit program will result in high failure rates. By making the choice to start with a quit program, and with the help included in the program, you stand a much better chance of quitting smoking. Kicking off with the Quit Today! Program is a fantastic start. 

Ensuring Your Success

Success involves using every resource you have to keep you going. Do whatever it takes to be consistent including:

• Stick to your initial plan for at least 3 months without changes. No matter what happens, you must be committed to what you start out to complete. 

• Get your friends and family members involved too. Quitting smoking with someone else close like a spouse or friend can be easier as you support and motivate each other. 

• Get support from other smokers and non-smokers. Smokers will try their best not to smoke when you are around, and non-smokers will show you respect and encouragement. 

• Keep a journal to track your progress. 

• Reward yourself often with the money you have saved from not smoking. Put aside the money you would normally spend on cigarettes into a piggy bank daily and at the end of each month, take out this amount and treat yourself to deserving new clothes or a vacation.

• Re-visit your goals every month and gauge your progress. Reward yourself for goals achieved and work harder on those that are still in progress. 

The most important thing to remember is that quitting smoking is your resolution, not only for 2005, but for all years to come. Staying quit is a lifelong process and by simply making a few good initial choices, you will make this resolution work for sure.