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Quitting habits is probably the single most-resolved New Years resolution, they’re likely also the most commonly failed. The reason is obvious, people are going about the whole process the wrong way.

From my experience, a few tips:

No half measures: This may seem daunting, but I have found it much easier to quit a habit when I do so cold-turkey, so to speak. Weaning yourself off an addiction, with the exception of ones you have to for physical reasons, is never a good idea. Think about it. What do you think its easier to do:

Cave in and smoke your first cigarette in 2 days after resolving to quit

or

Smoke your 6th cigarette, after you resolved to cut back to 5 a day.

If you answered the latter, you’re right. To cave to the second only requires you betray yourself for one cigarette, your sixth. To cave to first requires you betray yourself to all the cigarettes you didn’t smoke in the past 2 days.

Beyond that, its always true that the more time you can put between you and your last fix of whatever you’re addicted to, the better your odds are of succeeding in quitting.

Set your mind: The next step is to set your mind to the fact that what you were doing was harmful to yourself, and must NEVER be done again. Realize that you probably quit just in time and if you start right now you can still fix it.

I think the worst thing that can happen to an addicted person, is despair. The “it’s too late for me” syndrome. I’ve found it to be as popular amongst alcoholics as the “I don’t have a problem” disease. It’s never too late. I knew a woman who conquered her alcoholism and smoking addiction 2 years before she died of lung cancer and liver failure. She told me, I’ll never forget it, that even with all that had happened, her proudest accomplishment was winning her fight with her addictions. This was a dying woman, did she feel it was too late for her? No. So whats your excuse?

On the opposite end of the spectrum are those who believe that they have “plenty of time”. This may be true, but have you ever heard of a downside to quitting an addiction too early? No? How about quitting one too late?

Find an alternative: For the first while, ‘while’ being any where from a week to a year depending on what you’re addicted to, its probably best to find something to take the place of your addiction. For instance, if you used to have a drink after dinner, instead start taking a walk. The benefits of this are two-fold, you’re keeping your mind occupied and off your addiction, and you’re simultaneously getting rid of a bad habit and adding a good one. This sets your subconscious to start thinking in terms of whats really good for you.

Keep a journal: Write down every days progress, when you thought about your addiction, what tempted you. If your friends already know about your problem, consider making the journal public. This makes it more difficult to fall back in to your old habit. Now not only will you have to deal with your own conscience, you’ll also have to explain to your friends why you smell like smoke again. Register a blog at blogger.com and let them read about your daily trials, you might inspire someone else.

Clean up the other aspects of your life: If you’re an alcholic, its a good idea to quit smoking as well.One could argue that taking on more than one addiction at a time is more difficult, but I don’t believe so. I think if you are truly committing yourself to becoming more healthy, you would want to get rid of every unhealthy habit you have.

Realize that you are not unique: This probably seems counter-intuitive, but listen to what I’m saying first. You need to realize that you are not the first person to suffer from your addiction. There have been thousands, probably millions of people before you just as addicted as you are, and as long as at least one of them successfully kicked the habit, why can’t you?

Don’t make excuses, you’re only fooling yourself. Don’t say, “I only smoke because my life is stressful”, are you honestly arrogant enough to believe that your life is more stressful than every other non-smoker? Not one of them has a rougher time than you?

In conclusion: The bottom line is you have to realize that, whatever your problem is, its not that difficult to fix. You’re worth the best shot at a good life you can get.

Tags: lifehacks, howto, quitting