It’s simple. I promised myself I would smoke AFTER accomplishing some mundane task that didn’t merit reward. And then, I told myself if I was good and didn’t smoke that time, that I would the next time I offered my self a reward. Effectively, I procrastinated smoking. That’s it. Sure there were a few tense days in the beginning where I ate a ton of sunflower seeds and pounded mochas, but since that quickly subsided.

The powers of procrastination…it doesn’t always have to be negative.

You don’t have to change your whole lifestyle, you just have to make a choice not to smoke for a little while longer.

That’s the reality. I continued to go out drinking, slurping coffee, partaking in other illicit activities, going on road trips, just about anything that usually was accompanied by my cigarette pack. You see, it’s easy to put it off for five minutes. Then five minutes more. Five minutes after that, have another drink and put it off.

If you try to change your whole life, you are totally not ready. It’s hard to imagine, but think of it as a challenge: live your life how you normally live, and you don’t have as many holes to fill. Put it into manageagle terms by “procrastinating insteand of “quitting” and you’ll totally have your habit under control.

If I wasn’t so damn busy, I’d seriously consider promoting the Positive Powers of Procrastination as a viable stop smoking program on par with Zyban/Wellbutrin, Hypnosis, and the Patch. I’d wager to say it’s actually better than any such programs, because it doesn’t use psychological snake oil, replacement therapy, or unrealistic planning. In fact, all it does is take advantage of one of our greatest weaknessess: procrastination.

Where I assert that going to a smoky bar soon after quitting is good for you because it’ll toughen you up. That’s right bubby, it does. Also, I was pissed at the American Cancer Society for some reason, and even managed to invoke Godwin’s Law pretty quickly. Why is that? Oh yeah, because they advocate draconian legislation of personal choice.

Also, I did not quit ingesting nicotine. Although I hadn’t had a single dose since Mid october, I did smoke some cigars on New Years. Nevertheless, I am quite proud of the fact that I have not inhaled a cigarette in 3 months and I can feel my lung capacity improving and taste foods better.

At one point I wrote about 1 month after quitting smoking, and I’m feeling like a fucking champion now. Yeehaw!

I really missed smoking the other night for some reason, but it was one of those days when I wanted to tear peoples throats out anyway, so that’s okay.

Developers in California who invented Nic Light said the drink is the equivalent of smoking two cigarettes.

Testers said it tastes like water, with a hint of lemon and nicotine.Article

I’ve always questioned the developers of these products. Were any of them actually smokers? I can only imagine it tasting like hell, without giving any sort of satisfaction to the one who has to drink it. As a pack a day smoker, I dreaded flying, often it meant 7+ hours without a cigarette. But you can deal with that…it’s only a couple of hours…not the rest of your life.

Drinking a bottle of water would make me want to pee, and I’d still want a damn smoke. I’m fairly convinced that smokers who think nicotine is what has a grasp on them are deluding themselves. We like the taste, we like the rush, and we like all of the associative actions. It’s a behaviour that we need to change.

I say “we” all inclusively, because even though I have not smoked in two months, (after 14 years at a one pack a day minimum), I am still a smoker. I’m just choosing to put it off.

However, there seems to be a new pill making the rounds. It’s chemical name is “varenicline tartrate”, but it is marketed by Pfizer as Champix. It’s touting a 44% success rate in one review, but a 20% in another. So claims of success are rather dubious claim. The pill was tested on 400 smokers, most of whom smoked at least a pack a day for 20 years. The numbers
I could say that my own “Postive Procrastination” method has a 100% success rate, and it’s free. Then again, that’s me.

What I discovered helped me most was simply putting off smoking. In fact, that is what prompted my quitting: I just kept putting off going to the store. That’s it. I promised myself I would have one later, once I was done with whatever I was doing. It’s pretty easy to put off until later what could be done now.

I started refering to this as “positive procrastination”. The beauty of it is that it helps set a behavioral pattern. Once this pattern is place and the reality that you have “quit smoking” sets in, you are totally prepared for it. It’s far easier to wrap your mind around not doing something for the next hour than never being able to do it the rest of your life. And by putting it off, all you aren’t saying that you’ll never do it again, you’re just not doing it for awhile.

And while I know my health improves with everyday that I don’t smoke, I can’t help but think that statements like this are utterly unrealistic. Banning public smoking won’t reduce death and nature’s curious way of finding creative new ways to attack our bodies.

Can’t quit figure out what this Odd Blog guy is trying to say, but I’m flattered that he quoted me.