Over the past four years at the Stop Smoking Centre, we have helped over 2,000 people quit smoking. In that time, we’ve heard every story and have lost count of the times clients have begun by saying, “You may think this is silly, but…”

So first of all, let me ask you, how determined you are to stop smoking? On a scale of zero (not bothered) to ten (nothing will stop me), how determined are you to quit?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

If you have scored less than eight, you almost certainly have ‘mixed feelings’ about stopping. But don’t worry, that’s normal. Many smokers know all the reasons why they 'should' stop, but still struggle making the final decision. They beat themselves up, complaining of a lack of willpower. But they are wrong, it isn't willpower, you just need to make the decision.

Smokers who find it easy to quit say things like:

“I spent a year thinking about it before I finally decided to quit...

“…You just make a decision.”

Our experience of helping many hundreds of smokers is that ‘Making that decision’ is the main reason why those who quit easily found it easy to stop. Honestly answering the following questions will help you 'get off the fence' and reach the decision to quit.

Please answer the following questions:

How many cigarettes you smoke each day? ____

Note down what are you doing when you are smoking.

Is it while having a drink, after a meal, taking a break?

How many of these cigarettes do you actually enjoy? ____

Many clients tell us they smoke ‘all the time.’ If that’s your belief, just calculate how many hours you are actually smoking each day - assuming it takes about four minutes to smoke each cigarette, just multiply the number you smoke each day by 4. Then divide by 60 to get the number of hours you smoke.

Hours I smoke: ____

How many hours you are awake each day (Hint, the Av is 16 hours)? As you can see, even a heavy smoker doesn’t smoke all the time. In fact, even a heavy smoker is a ‘non-smoker’ more hours then they are a smoker!