Stupid condescending article. Anybody who thinks quitting smoking is just a question of "realizing you don't want it anymore" has never tried to quit smoking.
The thing for me that allowed me to give up was realising and convincing myself that it was possible for the cravings to go away, to feel normal in a pub without smoking etc.
It seemed impossible at some point so I always went back to it before.
Of course it really wasn't easy but that mindset let me not give in to the cravings. I do think when you internalize quitting as something that is super difficult it just gives ammunition for all those mind games to give in.
I was also watching this Navy SEAL buds training at the time and the one guy Travis Lively was using that strategy. Convincing himself that Navy SEAL hell week was really not that bad. I love that guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVxhm7jkN0k
Patches, gums, sprays (throat one, nasal one), cold turkey, herbal cigs, gamification, the little ball pellet things that were briefly on the market as a better gum alternative in the early 2000s, electric cig (not the modern e-cigs, the early 2000’s terrible ones), having a quit buddy, joining an nhs smoking cessation group…
I was not playing at giving up. I was latching on to anything that I’d heard worked for someone. I was distraught mentally. To top it all off, i couldn’t actually afford smoking as a student, i was accruing debt.
The only 2 things i refused to try were a “stupid” book (easyway by allen carr) - how dumb do you have to be to let a book reprogram your mind, I’m too smart for that. Also i avoided hypnotherapy for the same reason.
I finally read that book. I quit smoking (easily) before the half way mark in the book. No will power, nothing. I was just a non smoker now.
I don’t smoke, i don’t think about it ever, it doesn’t bother me to be near smokers, there’s no triggers i have to avoid etc etc im just a plain non smoker.
That book uses the same approach laid out at the start of this article.
Why they don’t just give out copies of easyway on the health service I don’t know, sure worked for everyone I know who has used it.
It simply points out that how we frame, and experience, our own motivations for quitting can be more or less helpful.
I think anything mentally difficult is going to work better if we take into account our subconscious as a first class partner. Our subconscious responds very strongly to how we perceive tasks and challenges. It can carry us through tough situations, but is very hard to work against.
Sometimes subtle, almost nonsensical things from a purely rational point of view, really help.
Don’t mistake a ‘here’s the trick’ with ‘it’s so easy’, the article wasn’t claiming it’s easy. And don’t take advice as a personal affront.
The true and valid point this article is making is that changing a behavior is a mental game you play with your mind, not a physical one, and that “willpower” and “discipline” doesn’t work before fully convincing yourself of your goals. You have to figure out how to truly convince yourself the old behavior isn’t what you want, and the new behavior is your goal. Not in a contradicting yourself kind of way, but in a deep and true believe it with your whole body way. I think you’re actually making the exact same point underneath your disagreement, that focusing on quitting is too hard, and there’s more to it.
I wouldn’t generalise on such things though, everyone is different.
I have a friend who left his toxic wife. Immediately after that he quit smoking cold turkey without even trying. He said that with his ex-wife out of his life he just didn't feel like he needed to smoke anymore.
Myself - I don't find caffeine addictive in any way.
Only the realisation and choice is definitive. Thats the quit. There is no try. I decided to quit once.
If your quit failed, you just didnt fully realise yet.