The time has come to begin to develop your plan:

1. As stated before, the first step is to determine what kind of smoker you are, when you tend to smoke and why. Be especially aware of any special circumstances that would cause an extremely strong urge to chain smoke. Planning is the key to staying quit.

2. After adequate preparation pick a quit date and stick to it. Look at your calendar right now and set a date to quit. Give yourself time to complete your plan. Then quit.

3. Notify others of your decision and ask for their support. You should ask one person who loves you and wants you to quit to be your 'Quit Counselor' and ask them to be available to talk you through the hard times. Employee Assistance Programs, hospitals and other community agencies also offer group and individual quit smoking support.

4. Decide whether to use nicotine replacement therapy. While it only takes a few days for the physical affects of nicotine to wear off, it can make it more difficult to stop smoking. This is because you are dealing with the loss of nicotine at the same time that you are adjusting to not smoking in situations that make you want to smoke. It is safe and will help you to be able to resist smoking in tempting situations because you will not have a physiological need for nicotine.

Wait until you quit to begin nicotine replacement. When it is time to withdraw from replacement therapy withdrawal is usually smooth and uneventful. Meanwhile you have already developed strategies to use in high risk situations.

Continue to learn about the ways you can and should reward yourself!