Black periods…white periods?

There is an interesting phenomenon in sports games.

A football team can enter into a series of losses. One loss after another one, after another one.

Almost like there is a curse upon it.

But if, by any chance, the team wins once, it will enter into a series of wins.

This is exactly what happened with the Leicester City Football Club, in the English Premier League during the 2015-2016 season. Their remarkable journey is known as the “Leicester City Miracle” or “The Cinderella Story.”

Why does this happen?

Psychologist Albert Bandura came up with a very simple explanation.

I’m going to tell you about it in this article, and you’re going to realize the real reason why relapsing into your smoking habit is so bad for you.

Cravings Come in Waves

In the article How to break free of cigarette addiction, I explained why the smoking habit is one of the hardest to break.

This is not because of physical dependency.

Nicotine leaves your body after a couple of days, but you can experience psychological cravings months or even years after quitting. The good news is – the initial smoke cravings fade out. As time goes by, you will want to smoke less and less.

But to stay a non-smoker, you need to be able to say “NO” every time you think of smoking.

When a craving hits you, it’s like a wave that can be extremely difficult to resist.

At this point, one of two things will happen:

• You will either yield and light up a cigarette, and you will relapse into being a smoker again,

OR

• You will resist the temporary discomfort, and you will congratulate yourself later for dodging a bullet by not starting again.

When a craving hits, your monkey mind will try everything to convince you why “it’s gonna be just ONE cigarette.”

Such as:

• “I can be an ‘occasional smoker’ – the one that smokes only at parties.”
• “Everyone around me smokes – why can’t I be allowed to enjoy it?”
• “I know old people who smoke and they have zero health issues.”
• “I will feel so much better if I have a cigarette…”
• “Those two who smoke at this party are having a much better time…”
• “I will ONLY have one cigarette – I’m never going back to my old smoking habits!”

Do you know what will happen if you believe your monkey mind?

You will RUIN all your progress and hard work!

Remember the first days when you quit and the terrible withdrawal symptoms? You felt uncomfortable, irritated, and grumpy.

Some people even fall into a depression pit. But you made it through this hard period. Why would you want to go through it again?

Quitting Smoking and Power

Lighting one single cigarette is going to wipe out ALL your progress and send you back to square one. However, there is another, much deeper consequence of reverting back to your smoking habit.

You are going to become a weak person.

Now, back to the football team analogy we started with. The reason Leicester City Football Club was repeatedly losing games, but then started winning every time after a single win, is:

Success attracts success and failure attracts more failure.

Every football coach will tell you this.

While you learn from failure, it is detrimental to your confidence. Only with success is a winner’s mind cultivated. The thing about becoming powerful is: you need to cultivate success as a part of who you are.

If you want to be a powerful person – if you want to be rich, good-looking, famous, liked, to have a good life, or whatever dreams you have – you need to become a successful person.

Psychology calls this “confirmation bias”

This means that people tend to seek out and interpret information in a way that confirms their existing beliefs or expectations. When you succeed at one thing, you are likely to believe that you will succeed in something else as well – which will increase the actual chances of doing so.

The danger of failure is that:

Each time you fail, you become more and more convinced that you will NOT succeed with even basic things.
You may even start seeing yourself as a failure.

Quitting Smoking Is the FIRST Step to Living Your Dream Life

If you successfully quit smoking, you’re going to create an upward spiral towards achieving the next thing you want—because you’re going to believe that you are a strong person.

To resist the urge to smoke, it is important to remember WHY you don’t do it anymore.

When a craving hits, you become temporarily “hypnotized” by the sensation. Snap your fingers and wake up ASAP.

To remind yourself why you quit smoking, I have some sticky note ideas.

Write those down and re-read every time you get a craving:

• Smoking is an addiction. You don’t “like” it – you are addicted to it.
• Smoking will make your anxiety worse. It doesn’t relax you; it only gives you the illusion of doing so.
• You are a non-smoker and a winner. Cigarettes will make you the “loser” in your story.
• Breaking cigarette addiction is something only powerful people can do.
• Smoking won’t solve your problem. After the cigarette is gone, the problem will still be there. And you – feeling worse. (Ever seen that meme with a person having an energy drink? Before: “I feel terrible.” After: “Wow, I feel terrible and fast!”)
• Smoking = no energy, no money, and poor health.
• Cigarettes make you guilty, frustrated, and disappointed with yourself.
• This urge will pass.
• By relapsing, you’re not making progress. You are moving in circles.
• The “non-smoking money” this month will be spent for…
• Smoking gives you mood swings and depression.
• Smoking leaves you feeling worse.
• Cigarettes taste disgusting.
• The craving is temporary – it will be gone soon if you just resist a bit.
• You don’t “enjoy” smoking. You enjoy having your taste and smell back, having energy and money, and being calm and happy.

Once you quit smoking, you will step onto an upward spiral to do many other improvements in your life – get in shape, breathe better, sleep well, look good.

Quitting smoking will significantly raise your self-esteem, because it’s a huge accomplishment you will be proud for.

And like the Leicester City Football Club, you’re gonna win and win and win again.

Want to remind yourself the basics of power?

Get back to this article.

See also Things to do when you get cigarette cravings

The proven way how to stop smoking forever

See how to deal with anxiety

TheThinkAbout is a website based on psychology in practice and experience.

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