Quit Smoking Cold Turkey: Step Three – Behavior Modification

After setting yourself up with an optimal quite date and recording your smoking behavior (Step Two), it’s time to begin shaking up those habits. Look at the list you made from Step Two.  Are there any specific patterns, routines, or behaviors that you recognize?

For example, do you smoke with your right hand or left?  From now until your quit date, try smoking with the opposite hand.  If you smoke inside your home, stop; have your cigarettes outside.  The same applies for lighting up in your car. And here’s a big one – change your brand of cigarettes! Preferably to one you know you won’t like. Switch to menthol or regular, shorts or longs.

The point here is to not only become uncomfortable with smoking, but also to make your mind and body aware of the behavior.  Quitting cold turkey means ridding the smoking habits you have become accustomed to over time.  Yes, nicotine is a powerful drug. But science tells us that the physical withdrawal symptoms will pass within a relatively short period of time, relative to behavioral  modification that is a more difficult and lengthy procedure.  Review your “smoking habits” list carefully and challenge yourself to change your behaviors associated with lighting up a cigarette.

Willpower will also play an important role in combating your smoking habits. But what is willpower? When the brain is examined, there is no designated “willpower” section, so how can we make it stronger? Psychologically, the mind needs to be retrained, and in a sense, rewarded for desired behavior. Giving the mind positive and consistent feedback can only strengthen willpower.

To apply this to quitting smoking cold turkey, remember that the thoughtful planning method (Step One) means mental preparedness and action; therefore, our thinking must be made physical. In this exercise, think of and write down the reasons you wish to give up smoking forever. I have many that I can even break down into categories: health, vanity, social stigma, and economic. Which are the top three? How about the top reason? Carry these reasons with you and look at them often. If you really want to play hard ball with your head, write each reason down on a post-it-note and plaster them all over as constant reminders.

Old habits die hard, but the important lesson is…they can die!