This reminds me a lot of Dale Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living".
In the first chapter he talks about how successful people often sit once or twice a week and write down the mistakes they made in order that they might make them less in the future.
The one that stuck with me the most of course was Benjamin Franklin's "Fool Things I've Done" which he wrote into every night.
Of course the book that helped me quit smoking, Alan Carr's phenomenal (albeit, (car salesman with rust proof undercoating to sell)-esque) reminded me of Carnegie's book as well.
The moral of the story for me? I need to reread Carnegie's book! Added Meditations to my cart though. I buy almost every book I read about that sounds cool. Working my way through them one by one!
A friend and I were just talking about Alan Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking. When I read the book, I started sticking reminders to my bathroom mirror so that every morning, the first thing I would see was, "Yippee, I'm a non smoker" or one of my other affirmations.
My favourite part of the book is that it convinces you to think about smoking. When I failed to quit, I'd always do the "don't think about smoking" dance. Needless to say, that always failed. Since the book, I've tried to focus more on my flaws. It hasn't worked in all ways, though I'm still trying.
If I may diverge from the main topic but to your point. I'd venture to say that the act of putting reminders and thinking about smoking is the reason you failed.
I stopped smoking with the same book but the it worked (as I understand it now) is that it breaks down every excuses you gave yourself to smoke while it actually encourages you to keep smoking while reading. At the end of the book you just have no reason left to smoke. What happened for me when I closed the book is that I just continued my life as if I was not a smoker, never actually thinking about it. No withdrawal of any kind but I didn't remind myself that I used to be a smoker, never. I know it but it's not something I think about
Sorry, I wasn't clear enough. The book and the reminders are why I actually quit smoking after over a decade of a pack a day. During all my failed attempts to quit I tried to use willpower combined with trying not to think about smoking.
Giving myself permission to think about smoking was a huge factor in actually quitting. "Don't think about the colour black" is a great way to fail...:)
In the first chapter he talks about how successful people often sit once or twice a week and write down the mistakes they made in order that they might make them less in the future.
The one that stuck with me the most of course was Benjamin Franklin's "Fool Things I've Done" which he wrote into every night.
Of course the book that helped me quit smoking, Alan Carr's phenomenal (albeit, (car salesman with rust proof undercoating to sell)-esque) reminded me of Carnegie's book as well.
The moral of the story for me? I need to reread Carnegie's book! Added Meditations to my cart though. I buy almost every book I read about that sounds cool. Working my way through them one by one!
Maybe I'll start a fool things I've done as well.