Monday, April 10, 2006

The No Excuses Quit Smoking Program (No, I'm not selling anything)

A subscriber to my newsletter sent me an e-mail questioning me about how I quit smoking.  I mentioned that I quit "for real" 9 times before quitting for good years ago.  The reader wanted to know what I meant by "for real".  

I wanted to bring it up in my blog because the truth is that quitting smoking was one thing that actually spawned my “no excuses” mentality.  

Here’s the crux of it:

I had tried to quit smoking almost from the day I started.  I started when I was in Korea (where it seemed like everyone smoked), and I quit for good when I found out my wife was pregnant.  So, I smoked for about 6-7 years.  

All that time when I tried to quit, I never quit “for real”.  The reason is that I always had an excuse for “needing” to smoke.  

I had a bad day.
I had a happy day.
The cravings are killing me.  

When it comes to addiction, any excuse will do.

But one day I looked into the mirror and really told myself that I am addicted to nicotine, and I will not make excuses for it.  

From then on when I tried to quit, when I started smoking again I didn’t make up an excuse.  I told myself honestly that I couldn’t beat the addiction.

  And this pattern repeated itself 9 times till finally my pregnant wife was the final thing that pushed me over the top.  I don't consider any of the other times I tried to quit smoking to be real attempts because I was always looking for an excuse--any excuse--to start smoking again.  

But by admitting the addiction…by not allowing myself to make excuses for why I couldn’t quit…I did in fact quit.

Now, I won’t lie.  I went on the patch, stopped doing things I associated with smoking, and used all sorts of other “aids” to help me quit.  

But I believe, all success begins with our mental attitude.  It’s that way for quitting smoking (ask any ex-smoker) and it’s that way for business success.  

When you have the right attitude, you really can do anything.  

To Your Continued Success,

Carlon Haas
www.carlonhaas.com

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