Goal-setting helps smooth way to smoke-free future

By Jennifer A. Kern, M.S., C.T.T.S.

When planning to stop smoking, applying goal-setting strategies can help you create doable steps while preparing for your smoke-free date.

Effective goal-setting involves not just saying what you want to accomplish, but actually planning what to do, how much of it and by when. Your goals should be achievable for you and realistic within your normal routine. By setting measurable goals, you can tell whether or not you achieved them.

Vague goals, which neglect the planning stage, can leave your ambitions hanging somewhere out in the future, without your moving closer to them. The image that comes to my mind is of a donkey following a carrot on a stick that is dangled in front of it. No matter how much or how far the donkey walks, it never gets any closer to the carrot. By setting goals and effectively planning, you create strategies to "reach the carrot."

In the process of preparing to stop smoking, I find some people have more success if they break it down and start by creating small goals along the way. Below is an example of how this might look:

Goal: Stop smoking in my car
Date (by when): Oct. 15
Planning (what to do):

* Buy substitutes: 1 bag of suckers, 10 packs of chewing gum, a stress ball and an audio book.
* Stock the car with substitutes on Oct. 14.
* Plan alternate routes to drive to regular destinations by Oct. 14.
* Buy air freshener and begin using on Oct. 15.
* Empty ashtrays and remove lighters on Oct. 15.

Once the first goal is accomplished (which you will know by Oct. 15), you can focus on the next aspect of moving toward your smoke-free date. Goal-setting and well-planned "baby steps" will support your transformation from smoker to non-smoker and make it more sustainable over the long haul.

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