Happy New Year!

I hope the festive period was a truly great one for you and you’re looking forward to this year with excitement and anticipation.

It always fascinates me what the turn of a new year does to people psychologically.

Many use it as a signpost and opportunity to improve their life by making New Year Resolutions.

Statistically, the most popular resolution is to Stop Smoking.

As helping people to become healthy non smokers is a speciality of mine I thought I’d give you a powerful tip today.

The harsh truth of the matter is that of all the people who set out to stop smoking unaided it is approximated that only 7% succeed.

So if you know someone who has quit “cold turkey” go and give them a huge pat on the back.

If you’re one of the 93% that has tried and failed so far, it’s ok and not your fault.

Most people don’t prepare themselves properly so I’m going to start to help you with that today.

What’s on Your Stopping List?

One of the most important steps in preparation is getting absolute clarity in your mind as to the reasons you want to become a non smoker in the first place.

Most people say “for the kids” or “to get fit” but these aren’t specific enough and won’t have the required impact on your mind.

Get a piece of paper and find somewhere you can do this task undisturbed for around half and hour.

Now make a list of 20 reasons why you want to become a healthy non smoker forever.

The really impactful part of this exercise is to be really specific and write the reasons in what I call “the positive”.

This is writing what you do want rather than what you don’t want.

This sets your mind up so much more powerfully to succeed.

For example “for the kids” might turn into several different reasons; “I want to be there at Emily’s wedding to give her away” or “I want to be there to support Matthew through university”.

Another may be that “I don’t want to die young” turns into “I want to live a long and healthy life”.

If you get to 16 reasons and start to struggle that’s ok, just get as near to 20 as you can.

If you get more that’s ok too, there are lots of great reasons.

I’ll let you know the next steps in next week’s column.