Your new good morning ritual

Any ex-smoker can tell you that a key part of quitting is to plan ahead. That thinking applies as well to your daily good morning ritual. By taking a moment to think through your day and identifying what challenges and smoking triggers lay ahead, you can arm yourself for success and increase your sense of confidence and control.

So, every day when you wake up — instead of having that first cigarette — spend a few minutes asking yourself some questions and preparing your game plan. These eight questions are a good place to start. For any question that you answer ‘yes’ to, identify ways to deal with that circumstance without smoking.

Will I be:

• Will I likely be in stressful situations?
• Will I be around people who upset me?
• Will I be separated from the people who most love and support me?
• Will I be in social situations with smoking?
• Will I be around any of my old smoking haunts?
• Will I be encountering an unusually large workload?
• Will I be spending a lot of time in the car?
• Will I be alone for prolonged periods?

Hear how ex-smoker Chris dealt with his morning cigarette cravings.