They are words that New Years’ Resolutions are made of, those promises that tend to get kicked by the wayside in the first month. Whether your attempt to quit came from your doctor’s warning or your own decision to stay healthy, it’s difficult to stay on track. The dedication was there at the beginning, but your determination quickly waned.

Your situation probably goes something like this.

You’ve heard all the bad publicity and health warnings about the dangers of smoking and you’d like nothing more than to quit. Every time you make the effort, something gets in the way.

Some typical excuses are:

- A stressful event occurs and breaks your progress.

- You’re facing a tough situation and are too nervous right now to quit.

- You really don’t believe you can quit.

- You can quit whenever you want you just aren’t ready right now.

- Every time you try to quit, you gain weight

- Quitting smoking makes you nervous and on edge.

- Trying to quit is impossible right now because(fill in our own excuse â€" kids are giving you headaches, you’re going through a job change, you’re facing a major school exam or medical procedure…)

As a former smoker, I’m here to tell you that you can quit smoking if you learn how.

There are certain things about your smoking that are encouraging you to continue. Your habits, for example.

Pay special attention to the actual time you smoke and what you are doing at the time. Researchers have discovered that smoking, being a habit, is triggered by other habits.

Do you have a cigarette with your coffee every morning before work and during breaks? Do you enjoy eating spicy foods? Do you head to the sofa after dinner and relax with a cigarette and coffee?

These are just some of the habits that encourage you to smoke. I recall it well. I couldn’t wait to finish dinner so I could relax with that coffee and cigarette, or get that break at work when I could light up. I was dedicated to my smoking.

Then one day I decided to try out for our local life saving course and discovered I couldn’t swim two lengths of the pool without losing strength. My breathing became heavy after about one and one-half laps. This was not a pleasant feeling. Besides, if I couldn’t meet the quota of 4 laps I couldn’t take the course.

And there was the issue of health concerns and the fear I experienced with every draw on the cigarette. Just the thought that I might be harming myself caused me physical pain in my chest.

That’s when I attended a stop smoking seminar to learn about a program that guaranteed results. I paid my $10 retainer against the $150 course (a lot of money at that time). Before I arrived home, I’d become upset with myself that I was going to pay someone that kind of money to show me something I should be able to do myself for nothing.

Attending that seminar was the best thing I could have done, even though I forfeited that $10.

Instead, I discovered my own way to quit smoking. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d tried, either. In fact, I had tried to quit about twice every year for about five years and repeatedly failed. But this time was different.

When I began smoking back in the ‘60s the price soon went from 30 cents to 55 cents a pack, and there was talk of it going to $1 a pack. I swore I would never pay that kind of money to smoke. As it turned out, I paid 95 cents for my last pack of cigarettes. Looking at the price of cigarettes today, I’m glad I quit when I did.

You probably want to know how I did it.

Well, first I got my hands on one of those mini-books that were common back then. They had them for different things, Healthy Hair, Puzzles, Running, and the other one I bought, How to Stop Smoking. Considering it’s deceptive size, it contained some valuable tips that enabled me to quit smoking for good.

First, it discussed changing the habit. Changing the patterns that set you up to smoke is the first step.

- Instead of having coffee after dinner and during work breaks I switched to hot chocolate or tea.

- Instead of heading to the sofa after dinner, cigarette and drink in hand, I took the dog for a walk.

- Instead of sitting around watching television, I got back into painting and creative writing.

- I found something else to do with my hands to break the habit of putting hand to mouth.

Second, watch your food intake. Certain foods make cigarettes that much more enjoyable. Spicy foods is the worst culprit, so keep those to a minimum.

Third, clean out your system. This goes hand-in-hand with finding something useful to do with your hands. Instead of reaching for a cigarette, reach for a sip of water instead. This does two things. It replaces the habit of putting that cigarette in your mouth, and it cleans out your system so the tars and nicotine buildup can be flushed away more quickly.

Fourth, it helps to have support. In my case, I went into a stop smoking’ campaign with several co-workers. It gave us a common goal and set us up in a competition that we wanted to win.

Fifth, get exercise. This will also help flush out your system, clean your lungs and give you an overall sense of well being.

To this list, I added my own success tips.

One of the biggest reasons I was unable to quit was the fear of being caught without a cigarette. Back then, stores closed at 11 p.m. If you didn’t get your milk and cigarettes before then, you had to wait until morning. That thought alone had me scampering to the store two minutes before closing, panicked that I might crave a cigarette before they reopen.

My solution to this panic was to keep my last three cigarettes with me as security. It took a bit of self-discipline not to light one, but I succeeded. The comfort of knowing they were there was all I needed.

The key was to think about quitting as a minute-by-minute exercise. I started first thing in the morning telling myself I’d just gone 8 hours without a cigarette, I could wait another ½ hour. I continued to do this throughout the day. Whenever I got the craving, I’d ask myself can you wait 20 minutes? and the answer was always yes.

At that point, I’d get so busy that another hour or two would pass. Before long, I was able to look back and state proudly that I hadn’t had a cigarette for 14 hours.

People often think of quitting in the concept of "forever". In my experience, this is the wrong way to look at it. Forever is a very long time and can be a daunting goal. Think about the present, the last hour and the upcoming hour, today and the next day. You’ll be surprised how quickly those hours turn into weeks.

Did you know that the worst part of quitting is the first 2 weeks? In fact, I noticed a considerable slackening off in my thinking about cigarettes after the first 7 days.

If these tips don’t work for you, perhaps you do need something stronger, like one of the Stop Smoking programs that are currently available and that don’t require drugs or patches.