Are you one of those people that fear gets in your way of quitting smoking? If so, then you want to read to the end of this post. I’m going to give you six tips, tricks, and hacks to get past the fear and quit smoking for the rest of your life.  

At the end of this post I’m going to put in the description a link to my calendar where you can book yourself into a free 15-minute phone consultation with me to get you on track to quit smoking for the rest of your life. I’m happy to answer any questions and set you on the right course. I’ve helped over 9,000 people quit smoking for life in my program. Take advantage of that and click on the link. Also, please follow my content and subscribe to my YouTube channel. It helps me make more great content with tips, tricks, and hacks to quit smoking for the rest of your life.

Make sure you hit the notification button. It simply tells you when I post new content. I post two new videos on YouTube every week.

Now, the big question – is fear stopping you from quitting smoking? Stay to the end, and I’ll give you six tips, tricks, and hacks to get you past that fear.

Let’s get right into the fears. We have seven fears. I didn’t just make these up. We do a survey with people who use my program to quit smoking, and over the last couple decades we’ve helped over 9,000 people quit for life. This is taken from those surveys. These are fears that were getting in their way when they went to quit smoking before they did my program. So let’s go through these.

Number one is fear of failure. This is very universal. We’re all afraid of failing at quitting smoking. We know from neuroscience why.

Here’s how it works. Even if you’re not conscious of it this is what typically is happening in a smoker’s mind. “If I try to quit smoking, and I don’t really try, but I kind of try cold turkey because all these people want me quit, and I have all this pressure on me to try to quit, but I don’t give it a hundred percent and I fail, well, I neverreally tried.”

We can kind of fall back on that. In a way it’s a comfort and gives us an out. However, if you actually really try to quit,  jump into the pool of quitting smoking, go a hundred percent, and then you fail, well, that really says something about you, doesn’t it?

So, we don’t do that. What we do is we self-sabotage. Along the way we let these fears get in our way. That’s fear of failure.

Fear of relapse is very much tied to number one. This is a very common fear. Here’s why. The reason is most people attempt at some point to quit smoking using cold turkey and almost everybody fails. Only seven percent of people ever quit cold turkey for longer than months. That’s just seven percent of people! So, ninety-three percent of people that quit smoking for ten years or longer do so from the aid of a program.

If you’re one of those people that’s saying, “Oh, I quit smoking cold turkey.”, but you started again. You didn’t quit. You took a vacation, and now you’re reading this. You never quit you just took some time off no matter how long it was.             

The average person of this cold turkey does that thirty times. This sort of fear of relapse is really real because most people relapse. That’s why we’re afraid of it! We just kind of reinforce this fear of failure. “I’m failing! I relapse. I fail. I relapse. l do cold turkey. I relapse.” It’s a vicious cycle that’s just a downward spiral. We’re going to tell you how to get out of it.

Fear of life without cigarettes is another big one. Here’s why most people have this. Most people start smoking as a teenager, not everyone, but almost everyone, and so smoking is kind of with us every day. We don’t take days off. We don’t forget to smoke on the weekend, right. We smoke all the time. Smoking is with us when we have our first boyfriend or girlfriend, when we graduate high school, when we go to university, when we graduate university, when we get our first job, and in all of the major events we go to.

When we go to weddings and celebrations we smoke outside. Smoking is with us all the time for thirty years. It’s a companion. It feels like it’s a part of us because we develop associations with smoking. So, we have this fear of what life is going to be like without it because we’ve always smoked. It’s a very real fear.

Four is fear of boredom. This is one of those ones that is also universal, but here’s the interesting thing everyone that has this fear thinks they’re the only one. You’re not.

Think about this. Something you do when you’re a smoker is you get bored. People reach for a cigarette. What am I going to do if I’m bored and I don’t have cigarettes? I’m going to be bored all the time!

The easy answer is you’re not. You’re going to be like everybody else. Look at all these non-smokers. There are more non-smokers then there are smokers, and when they get bored they don’t sit there and think to themselves, “Hmm. I’ve never smoked a day in my life. I’m bored. I think I might smoke.”

It doesn’t happen! It’s not going to happen to you either. Other things are going to happen.

That doesn’t actually help solve this one, because even though I’m telling you that’s true, and you’re not going to be bored, well, everyone gets bored. It isn’t going to drive you to smoke again, though.

This is not really an issue. I can tell you that but that doesn’t really help you, does it? So, read on. We’re going to give you some things to do to help with this boredom, this fear of boredom. It’s a real fear. It’s a real authentic fear.

Next is fear of weight gain. Here’s why. This is real. One third of people gain weight when they quit smoking. Here’s what you need to know. The average person gains six pounds. It’s not a lot, but a third of people do gain weight when they quit smoking.

We know why. Nicotine is appetite suppressant. Smoking suppresses our appetite.

When we quit smoking our taste buds come back. Guess what happens when our taste comes back. Food tastes better and we don’t have an appetite suppressant anymore. It’s a recipe for weight gain.

So, you have to make sure that you do a program that has a component of dealing with this to make sure you don’t gain weight. This has been in my program for more than a decade. Lots of programs have this in it.

Number six is fear of anger or depression. (You can get more information on this if you go watch my video Quitting Smoking: Why Do I Feel Angry, Stressed, & Frustrated.)  The reason why this is such a huge fear is most people who quit smoking get angry. They get irritable and short-temped and some people will feel depressed. Some people will be dominant one way, and some dominant the other.

There’s lots of things you can do. Always look for a program that has this in it.

Seven is fear of withdrawal or cravings. Lots of people will experience withdrawal and cravings because most people don’t do a program that has a component to help with this.

Cold turkey doesn’t have a component that helps with this. The nicotine replacement therapy does not either. Ask anyone that’s gone through it. They failed again and again because they still had the cravings and the withdrawal.

The nicotine replacement therapies have the same efficacy rate as placebo, as me giving you a magic pill and saying you won’t smoke. They have the same success rate.

This fear is a real one because what happens is we try to quit cold turkey or doing the patch or the gum, and then what happens? We start to get the cravings, and we buckle and fail. We relapse and get in this spiral. The nicotine replacement therapies are part of this spiral. That’s for another post, but this is a very real and authentic fear.

So, let’s just jump into one last thing before we get into the tips, tricks, and hacks. The issue with these fears is they lead to excuses. Here are the top excuses from all these fears.

• I don’t have enough money.
• Gaining weight would be worse for me.
• It’s not the right time to quit.
• I’ll be angry and everybody will hate me.
• I’m just too afraid.

Some people just feel crippled by the fear.

Now let’s address some of these excuses. Here’s just a couple things for you to know. 

“I don’t have enough money” – this excuse is absolutely something we use to keep ourselves stuck.

If you can go out and buy cigarettes you can pay for a program to quit smoking. Most programs cost a month to two months’ worth of cigarettes. It’s not about the money. If it was about the money you wouldn’t smoke!

If you have money to buy cigarettes you have money to invest in a quit smoking program because if it is really about money you will save so much money by quitting smoking. On average you’ll save five thousand dollars a year. In fact, here’s how I’ll prove it to you.

If I said to you, “I’ve got five thousand dollars that I’m going to spend on ten gifts for you.”

What are the ten things that you would give me in a list that you want me to spend five thousand dollars on for you?

Your list might look like this.

• Pay your bills
• Caribbean vacation
• Shopping trip

You probably can come up with a list for that five thousand dollars no problem!

I bet a hundred, million dollars that cigarettes does not appear on your list. It’s not about the money.

Weight gain – here’s what you need to know. Yes.  A third of people do gain weight.

Look for a program that has weight loss in it. Even if you do gain weight though the likelihood is only going to be six pounds. This is really not going to be a huge issue for most people, but it’s one that is an issue, so you need to look for a program that deals with weight gain.

It’s not the right time to quit – okay, there’s never a right time to quit. Do you know the worst day of the week to quit smoking? Someday. You need only three things to get you to the right time to quit. You need to know:

1. Something has to change
2. That something has to be me.
3. The time for change is now.

When you walk out on that diving board of fear of quitting smoking, and you’re standing at the edge wanting to jump into the pool of quitting for the rest of your life you have all of these fears, but there is no good time.

The only good time is right now. That’s it.

Hit that link in the description below, and sign yourself up for that free phone consultation. Do something! Jump into the pool of quitting smoking.

There is no right time. That’s an excuse or a reason not to quit. There is only one time. The best time is right now.

I’ll be angry and everyone will hate me – yeah, there’s a really good chance that you’ll be angry. So, what you do is you just have to remember that it’s okay to be angry. It’s natural and authentic. It’s just not okay to take it out on somebody. If you can remember that and tell the people in your life, “Hey, I’m going to be upset for the next few months. I could be angry. I might be a little bit depressed. Please cut me a wide berth. Have a little bit of grace for me and what I’m going through.”

People usually respect that, and it really helps deal with this anger.

We’re going to get into the tips and tricks in one second, here.

I’m too afraid – again, this is authentic and real. So, let’s use that one to jump right into the tips, tricks, and hacks.

How do we get past these excuses and quit? Well, the truth is you just jump off the diving board, pick a program, and go, but here’s some tips, tricks, and hacks to help.

We’ll take some tricks from my program. There’s way more to it than this, but these are just some highlights that will be helpful to you that you can use.

1. Remember that the fear is natural and real. It’s biologically driven. Everyone has fear. Fear exists in people on a continuum. Some people have a lot of fear. Some people have a little bit less fear than others, but everybody has fear. Even those people you know in your life that seem fearless. They still have fear. Fear exists on a continuum. It’s natural, biologically driven, and it helps us survive. It’s one of the things that has made us so successful as a species. Remember that it’s natural and it’s authentic.
2. A really good tip and trick is to sit with your fear for three to four minutes. Here’s why. It’s natural and you’re going to feel it anyways. The only way through fear is through it. You can’t go over it, under it, or around it. You’ve got to go through it. Get to know fear. It’s your traveling companion. Fear is not bad or negative by necessity. It can be, especially, if we allow it to overcome us, but one of the ways that we use the techniques to make sure that doesn’t happen is we bring it along with us for the journey. So, get to know it. Set an amount of time, three or four minutes. Put a stop watch on and sit with your fear. Get to know it, and think about it. Contemplate it, and make notes.
3. Get a journal and write your fears down. Write those fears down, and then when you’re done create a grateful list. It is just a list of things you’re grateful for. The next time you have fear and you sit with it for three to four minutes read your grateful list afterwards. Watch how that shifts the fear. It’s really amazing what you can do to kind of hack your own brain. You’ll be surprised when you try this.
4. Remember fear is a storehouse of wisdom. Not all wisdom comes from fear. It also comes from love, hope, and other things. Learning comes from all different aspects of life including fear. That’s the thing. Remember that there’s a lot of wisdom to be gained by fear. That’s why we want to get to know it, why it is a traveling companion with us, why it’s part of our evolutionary process, and why it helps us survive and be successful. So get to know it. What wisdom can you take from it? Lots.
5. Exercise emotion. I put this one in here because these top four aren’t for everybody. For some people this is just not how they deal with life. If the top four weren’t for you this one is, and even if the top four are for you, you can use this one too. Here’s why you want to move your body and exercise. Whenever you feel some emotion that’s energy. However much you fear, to not feel that fear takes the same amount of energy or more. To resist it is a complete waste of energy. We want to let that energy out, let it move, and let it flow. How do we do that? Move your body. If you move your body it puts energy in motion. When we get fearful and we sit, crouch, or lie down the fear and the energy from it doesn’t have anywhere to go. Move your body. Go for a walk. Walk around the block. Take your dog for a walk. Hit the gym or whatever you’re into, but just move your body.
6. Learn to relax and visualize a smoke free future. This is one of the tips, tricks, and hacks that hypnotists use. Here’s why. When we relax it brings our unconscious mind forward, and when our unconscious mind comes forward we are more suggestible. (Now for the hypnotists that I know watch my channel I know that most hypnotists don’t necessarily use progressive relaxation as a way to induce hypno-trance anymore, but that’s for another video for hypnotists.) What you need to know is what relaxation does and why in hypnosis and meditation we get you to relax. It is because it allows the unconscious mind to come forward and participate more. When the unconscious mind comes forward we’re more suggestible. That’s why you want to visualize a smoke-free life. What it does is it paints a picture for our unconscious mind of something contrary to the fear. It paints a different picture.

You can actually do all of these in order if you want, but number six to me is one of the best tips, tricks, and hacks. Learn to relax using breathing techniques. You can google “box breathing”. YouTube it, and learn to visualize the smoke-free life. It will literally change your life. If you can change your mind you can change your life.

Remember in the description below there’s a link to get a free 15-minute phone consultation with me. Take advantage of it. It’s free. Also, if this post was useful to you watch the videos on my YouTube channel. There are over fifty videos with tips, tricks, and hacks on how to quit smoking.

Subscribe to the channel and make sure you hit the notification button. All it simply does is it tells you when I post a new video, and I post two new videos every week. Subscribe, smash the like button, and share. Thank you so much and blessings to everyone.