How to Stop Smoking: Simply Don’t Plan On It

We preach about planning at lifehack.org. But Live Science said don’t plan to quit smoking. Research shows that snap decision to quit smoking is more effective than plan it:

… West’s research found that unplanned attempts to quit succeeded even after adjusting for study variables such as age, sex and socioeconomics. Quitting is not a cost-benefit game in the minds of smokers, he says. “It depends on how people feel and that is a whole different ballgame.”

West’s work suggests a tipping-point approach to anti-smoking campaigns. He says public health workers should capitalize on smokers’ latent desire to quit by putting the idea of quitting in their minds, raising smokers’ motivational tension momentarily to a level that can overcome their resistance to quitting and then lowering the barriers to action—such as helping them to think, “Why not quit?”…

The article focuses on cigarette and smoking habit, but not on the affects of planning on the action of quitting smoking (which I am more interested).

How to Stop Smoking: Simply Don’t Plan On It – [Live Science]