In trying to solve a problem it seems logical to begin by trying to answer three basic questions. What exactly is the problem? How big is it? And how serious??
The problem is smoking. How big? The World population is between five and six billion. It is estimated that 25% of adults smoke. That is 1,300,000,000 smokers. Makes you wonder how sunlight ever breaks through! It is also estimated that half of the World’s children are exposed to second hand smoke. How serious is the problem? DEADLY! If I were to list all the terrible health results of smoking and the horrific ways in which smoking kills, this would be a very long article indeed. Suffice it to say that these deadly consequences are well beyond proven.?
There is also a very interesting aspect to this problem, however. It is estimated that about 70% of these smokers actually WANT to quit, presumably permanently. Most will have tried to quit, meaning that they have succeeded in stopping, only to resume later. So here we are with 910,000,000,000 (almost a billion) smokers looking for a solution.
There is a plethora of so-called solutions, from pills to patches to prescriptions, special foods, drinks, diets, chewing gum or candy, acupuncture and hypnosis, creams, lotions, excercises, brainwashing at clinics and seminars, magic and meditation, prayer, low-poison or no-poison fake cigarettes, huge doses of willpower, prolonged tapering-off or a desperate buddy system. The truth about all of these is that for the vast majority of would-be quitters they represent undue effort, unecessary expense, false hope and finally major disappointment, leading to further reduction in self-confidence and self-esteem. Why? Because for the most part these quit-smoking solutions DO NOT WORK!
Let us then construct a model with all the characteristics that an ideal stop-smoking method should include.
First, having disposed of all those invasive and intrusive solutions that generally fail, our ideal method must logically be Non-invasive and Non-intrusive. No big mind-stretch to agree to that.
Second, it has to be Cost-effective. There is no reason to spend more than is absolutely necessary, especially in these currently challenging economic times.
In third place, I would suggest that it must be Repeatable. With all the gimmicks and gadgets we eliminated above, once they fail it is unlikely they will be tried again. Our ideal method should be such that a failed first attempt may be attributed to indecision (the most likely reason for failure) so that the practitioner may tighten up his/her resolve and go for a second try.
In fourth place I suggest the method should be followed in Private. The concept of applying the ?buddy-system? to such a difficult process as quitting smoking is absurd. What can a buddy do for you when you are fighting internal demons? Hold your hand?
Fifth, and here’s a tough one, the method must be Painless. There just has to be a way to avoid the hellish cravings and other nasty symptoms that smokers trying to quit lay claim to.
Number six is demanding, but not impossible. It must be Easy. Easy in the sense that what is asked of the smoker must be true, straightforward, believable and achievable. Goes back to being painless, too. And finally, number seven in our ?Seven Pillars of Wisdom? is that it must be rewarding. . . you might almost say Euphoric! Having succeeded, the would-be smoke-free user of this method will be elated, not least because she/he has done it alone, with help from nobody and no “things.” As a result, the feeling of increased self-confidence and self-esteem will be paramount.
John English, ex-smoker and quitter for 50 years, is author of the book KILL THE ADDICTION, Stop Smoking: Without Quitting, which left him smoke-free for the past 8 years. His revolutionary method meets all seven criteria discussed in this article and he invites your comments at his blog, http://killtheaddiction.blogspot.com/
John English was born in Grenoble, France in 1930 to an English teacher and his french wife. Raised in England he left for Canada at the age of 21, made it his home and eventually became Canadian CEO for three consecutive multinational companies in the Beauty products business, over a 25 year span. Now retired, he and his wife divide their time equally between Florida and Canada.
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