Mo' Dernity, Mo' Problems
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
What does this say about my Soul?
From 18 to around 25, I smoked a half a pack or a pack a day, depending on how stressed I was. On the one hand, I liked that fact that it was self destructive and rebellious and smelly. I also really liked this story that a friend told me about how on some television show, this guy went down to have a smoke with some of his co-workers. Returning to the office, one of the ex-smokers realized where he'd just been. The ex-smoker said something like, "You were just smoking, weren't you? I know you were, because you look sick and happy, and that's how smokers always look - SICK and HAPPY." On the other hand I wasn't too keen on dying of lung cancer, nor did I like the expense. Also, I felt bad about the fact that this was one sinful habit that I wasn't succeeding in fighting.
You'd think my aversion to spending money, my desire to be healthy and not smell bad, and my desire to rid myself of sin and addiction in order to be free for Christ, would be enough to motivate me to quit. Nope. Not even when I used the nicotine gum/patch. I tried to have my brother be a "quitting coach," but that always turned into:
Me: You forgot to ask me if I'd been smoking.
Bro: Have you?
Me: Yes, but I'm going to try to quit again pretty soon.
The Solution: I found that a simple bet did the trick. I bet my coworker that whoever smoked first would have to buy the office pizza. That would have put me out 60 bucks and it would have been definitely embarrassing. My co-worker lost after like 5 months. Once the bet was over I went a few more months, then started smoking again. I tried to quit, and again failed, so I bet my brother $100 bucks. If I smoke at all before April 2nd, I've got to pay him, but if I can go until April 2nd then he doesn't have to pay me anything. So far this strategy has worked completely. The idea that one cigarette would cost that much money gives me enough incentive to stay away. I was severely tempted last weekend, but I just couldn't bear the thought of having to pay my brother 100 bucks just to smoke one cigarette. I also knew that if I broke down and smoked, then I'd just have to make an even bigger bet next time around to be sure that I had an even bigger disincentive.
I first heard about this quitting strategy from a bartender at Rudy's. The bartender told me that he made a bet with a buddy that whoever smoked first would have to pay the other 50 bucks. The bet lasted 6 months - the day that the friend smoked and had to pay was the most difficult day for the bartender, because that was when the outside incentive was lifted. But, of course, it's easy to set an arbitrarily high incentive with a family member or whoever - as long as you make the bet one-way (you pay if you lose, nothing happens if you win).
From 18 to around 25, I smoked a half a pack or a pack a day, depending on how stressed I was. On the one hand, I liked that fact that it was self destructive and rebellious and smelly. I also really liked this story that a friend told me about how on some television show, this guy went down to have a smoke with some of his co-workers. Returning to the office, one of the ex-smokers realized where he'd just been. The ex-smoker said something like, "You were just smoking, weren't you? I know you were, because you look sick and happy, and that's how smokers always look - SICK and HAPPY." On the other hand I wasn't too keen on dying of lung cancer, nor did I like the expense. Also, I felt bad about the fact that this was one sinful habit that I wasn't succeeding in fighting.
You'd think my aversion to spending money, my desire to be healthy and not smell bad, and my desire to rid myself of sin and addiction in order to be free for Christ, would be enough to motivate me to quit. Nope. Not even when I used the nicotine gum/patch. I tried to have my brother be a "quitting coach," but that always turned into:
Me: You forgot to ask me if I'd been smoking.
Bro: Have you?
Me: Yes, but I'm going to try to quit again pretty soon.
The Solution: I found that a simple bet did the trick. I bet my coworker that whoever smoked first would have to buy the office pizza. That would have put me out 60 bucks and it would have been definitely embarrassing. My co-worker lost after like 5 months. Once the bet was over I went a few more months, then started smoking again. I tried to quit, and again failed, so I bet my brother $100 bucks. If I smoke at all before April 2nd, I've got to pay him, but if I can go until April 2nd then he doesn't have to pay me anything. So far this strategy has worked completely. The idea that one cigarette would cost that much money gives me enough incentive to stay away. I was severely tempted last weekend, but I just couldn't bear the thought of having to pay my brother 100 bucks just to smoke one cigarette. I also knew that if I broke down and smoked, then I'd just have to make an even bigger bet next time around to be sure that I had an even bigger disincentive.
I first heard about this quitting strategy from a bartender at Rudy's. The bartender told me that he made a bet with a buddy that whoever smoked first would have to pay the other 50 bucks. The bet lasted 6 months - the day that the friend smoked and had to pay was the most difficult day for the bartender, because that was when the outside incentive was lifted. But, of course, it's easy to set an arbitrarily high incentive with a family member or whoever - as long as you make the bet one-way (you pay if you lose, nothing happens if you win).
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