How do you make a plan to quit smoking?

Step 1: pick a date

Pick a specific date, usually within the next two weeks. Close enough that it does not drift, far enough away to prepare. Avoid a date in a stretch you already know will be stressful.

Write it down. A decision with a date attached is harder to postpone than a general intention.

Step 2: tell at least one person

Tell someone at home or at work. Not so they can police you, but because a decision someone else knows about is harder to quietly drop.

If you live with someone who also smokes, agree in advance where they will smoke for the first few weeks.

Step 3: list the hard moments

For a few days before the date, note every cigarette and what was happening. Most people find three to five situations that repeat: after a meal, with coffee, coming home from work, under stress, standing with a group who smoke.

That list is exactly what the first week will throw at you. For each one, decide in advance what you will do instead.

Step 4: line up support first

Support needs to exist from day one, not be looked for once it gets hard.

The quitline, 1800 6606. Free, Respiratory Centre at Bach Mai Hospital, 08:00 to 22:00 daily. Calling before your quit date is fine.

Nicotine replacement therapy. Patches, gum and lozenges licensed as cessation medicine. Ask a pharmacist about the right dose before the date.

Prescription medication. Some are started before the quit date, on a doctor’s instruction.

The day before

Get cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays out of the house, the car and your workspace. Wash clothes and change bedding if they smell of smoke. Smoke smell is one of the strongest triggers in the first week.