Easy Way to Stop Smoking (2 page)

No doubt you find my claims difficult to believe. Don't worry; I would regard you as somewhat naive if you just accepted them without proof. On the other hand do not make the mistake of dismissing them out of hand because they sound far-fetched. In all probability you are only reading this book because of the recommendation of an ex-smoker who attended an Allen Carr's EASYWAY seminar, read this book or stopped using another Allen Carr product. It doesn't matter whether you received the recommendation directly or via someone who loves you and is desperately worried that unless you quit, you won't be there to go on loving.

How does EASYWAY work? That is not easy to describe briefly. Smokers arrive at our seminars in differing states of panic, convinced that they won't succeed and believing that even if by some miracle they do manage to quit, they will first have to endure a long period of abject misery, that social occasions will never quite be so enjoyable, that they will be less able to concentrate and cope with stress and that, although they may never smoke again, they will never be completely free and that for the rest of their lives they will have occasional yearnings to smoke a cigarette and will have to resist temptation.

The majority of those smokers leave the seminar a few hours later already happy non-smokers. How do we achieve that incredible transformation? Most smokers would expect us to achieve that objective by telling them of the terrible health risks they run, that smoking is a filthy, disgusting habit that costs them a fortune, and how stupid they are not to quit. No. We do not patronize them by telling them what they already know. These are the problems of being a smoker. They are not the problems of quitting. Smokers do not smoke for the reasons that they
shouldn't
smoke. In order to quit it is necessary to remove the reasons they
do
smoke. EASYWAY addresses this problem. It removes the desire to smoke. Once the desire to smoke has been removed, it doesn't take any willpower to quit.

The EASYWAY method exists in the form of seminars, books, DVDs, audiotapes, CD-ROMs, video games and webcasts. In each case the method is the same, they are merely different ways to communicate it. Which vehicle should you choose? It's a question of personal choice. Some people prefer reading books, others prefer watching DVDs or online via webcasts. The seminars enjoy such a high success rate that we are able to give a money-back guarantee. The fee varies according to location and if you are one of the 20 per cent who requires more than one visit, you can attend any number of follow-ups
without further charge. We never give up on any smoker. And if you fail to stop smoking once the program is completed, your fee will be refunded in full. Fewer than 5% of attendees at our US seminars ask for a refund.

Do not let any of the above detract from the value of this book. It is a complete course in itself and millions of readers have quit easily simply by reading it. If you are in doubt, why not telephone your nearest Allen Carr's Easyway center for further guidance. A list of centers appears at the back of the book.

P
erhaps you are somewhat apprehensive about reading this book. Perhaps, like the majority of smokers, the mere thought of quitting fills you with panic and although you have every intention of stopping one day, it is not today.

If you are expecting me to inform you of the terrible health risks that smokers run, that smokers waste a fortune, that it's a filthy, disgusting habit and that you are a weak-willed jellyfish, then I must disappoint you. Those tactics never helped me to quit and if they were going to help you, you would already have quit.

My method, which I will refer to as EASYWAY, doesn't work that way. Some of the things I am about to say, you might find difficult to believe. However, by the time you've finished this book, you'll not only believe them, but wonder how you could ever have been brainwashed to believe otherwise.

There is a common misapprehension that we choose to smoke. Smokers no more choose to smoke than drinkers choose to become alcoholics, or heroin users choose to become junkies. It is true that we choose to light those first experimental cigarettes. I occasionally choose to go to the cinema, but I certainly wouldn't choose to spend the rest of my life there.

Think about that for a moment. Did you ever make the positive decision that you wouldn't be able to enjoy a meal or a social occasion without smoking, or that you wouldn't be able to concentrate or handle stress without a cigarette? At what stage did you decide that you needed cigarettes, not just for social occasions, but that you needed to have them permanently with you, and felt insecure, even panic-stricken, without them? What was the date you decided that you would be a smoker for the rest of your life, puffing away all day, every day, never being able to stop? The average American smoker smoked their first cigarette as a thirteen-year-old. Are we really saying that at thirteen we were deciding that we would be smokers until our dying day?

Of course not. Like every other smoker, we fell into a trap. The nicotine trap is the most subtle, sinister trap that man and nature have combined to devise. There is not a sane parent on this planet—smoker or non-smoker—that likes the thought of their children smoking. Surely this is because deep down, all smokers wish they had never started. Not surprising really, no one needed cigarettes to enjoy meals or cope with stress before they got hooked.

At the same time all smokers want to quit, all smokers also want to keep smoking. After all, no one forces us to smoke—it is only smokers themselves who decide to light up.

If there were a magic button that smokers could press to wake up the following morning as if they had never lit that first cigarette, the only smokers left would be the youngsters who are still at the experimental stage, playing with fire, convinced they could never get hooked. Didn't we all start that way?

The truth is that the only thing that keeps us smoking, the only thing that prevents us from breaking free is: FEAR!

Fear that as non-smokers, we will have to struggle through the rest of our lives feeling deprived and miserable; fear that we will need endless supplies of willpower to conquer the terrible
cravings; fear that a meal or a social occasion will never be quite as enjoyable without a cigarette; fear that we'll never be able to concentrate, handle stress or be as confident without our little crutch; fear that our personality and character will change; but most of all, the fear that we will never be completely free, and that we will spend the rest of our lives wanting to smoke but not being allowed to.

If, as I did, you have already tried all the ‘conventional' ways to quit you will not only be dominated by those fears I describe, but also convinced you can never get free.

If you are apprehensive, panic-stricken or feel that the time is not right for you to stop, then you are being affected by the fear. As I will show throughout this book, that fear is not relieved by cigarettes but created by them. Non-smokers don't have any of these fears.

You didn't decide to fall into the nicotine trap. Like all traps, it is designed to ensure that you remain in it. Ask yourself, when you lit those first experimental cigarettes, did you think you would remain a smoker as long as you have? So when are you going to quit? Tomorrow? The next Great American Smokeout? New Year's Eve? Next year? Stop kidding yourself! The trap is designed to hold you for life. Why else do you think all those other smokers didn't quit before it killed them?

This book was first published in 1985. It has sold over 11,000,000 copies and been a bestseller every year since then. In putting together this brand new US edition, we are using over twenty-five years of feedback from both our seminars and previous editions. As you will soon be reading, that feedback has revealed information that has exceeded my wildest dreams regarding the effectiveness of EASYWAY. It has also revealed two aspects of the method that have caused me concern. The second I will cover in just a moment. The first arose out of the many letters I have received from readers. I give three typical examples:

‘I didn't believe the claims you made and I apologize for doubting you. It was just as easy and enjoyable as you said it would be. I've given copies of your book to all my smoking friends and relatives, but I can't understand why they don't read it.'

‘I was given your book eight years ago by an ex-smoking friend. I've just got around to reading it and can't tell you how great it is to be free. My only regret is that I wasted eight years.'

‘I've just finished reading EASYWAY. I know it has only been four days, but I feel so great, I know I'll never need to smoke again. I first started to read your book five years ago, got half-way through and panicked. I knew that if I went on reading I would have to stop. Wasn't I silly?'

No, that particular young lady wasn't silly. I referred earlier to a magic button. Allen Carr's EASYWAY works just like that magic button. Let me make it quite clear, EASYWAY isn't magic, but for me and the millions of former smokers who have found it easy and enjoyable to quit, it seems like magic!

This is the warning. We have a chicken and egg situation. Every smoker wants to quit and every smoker can find it easy and enjoyable to do so. It's only fear that prevents smokers from trying to quit. The greatest benefit of quitting is to be rid of that fear. But you won't be free from it until you have completed the book. On the contrary, like the lady in the third example, that fear might even increase as you are reading and this might prevent you from finishing it.

You didn't decide to fall into this trap. When you were a youngster, just starting out as a smoker, you didn't even know the trap existed. You need to be very clear in your mind that you won't escape from it unless you make a positive decision to do
so. You might already be straining at the leash to quit. On the other hand you may be apprehensive. Either way YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO LOSE!

If at the end of the book you decide that you want to continue smoking, there is nothing to prevent you from doing so. You don't even have to cut down or stop smoking while you're reading the book and remember: there is no shock treatment. Do you really think that the health warnings on cigarette packs scare smokers into quitting? If they do, why are one-in-five American adults still smoking?

On the contrary, I have nothing but good news for you. Can you imagine how Nelson Mandela must have felt when he was finally released from prison? That's how I felt when I escaped from the nicotine trap. That's how the millions of ex-smokers who have used my method feel. By the end of the book: THAT'S HOW YOU WILL FEEL! GO FOR IT!

‘I
'm going to cure the world of smoking.'

I was talking to my wife. She thought I'd finally flipped. Understandable if you consider that she had watched me fail to quit on countless previous occasions. The most recent had been two years previously. I'd actually survived six months of sheer hell before I finally caved in and lit a cigarette. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried like a baby. I was crying because I knew that I was condemned to be a smoker for the rest of my life. I had put so much effort into that attempt and suffered so much misery that I knew I would never have the strength to go through that ordeal again. I'm not a violent man, but if some patronizing non-smoker had been stupid enough to suggest to me that all smokers can find it easy to quit, immediately and permanently, I would not have been responsible for my actions. However, I'm convinced that any jury in the world, comprised only of smokers, would have pardoned me on the grounds of justifiable homicide.

Perhaps you too find it impossible to believe that it can be easy to quit. If so, I beg you not to toss this book into the nearest trash can. Please trust me. I assure you it's true that any smoker—even you—can find it easy to quit.

Anyway, there I was two years later, having just put out what I knew would be my final cigarette, not only telling my wife that I was already a non-smoker, but that I was going to cure the rest of the world too. I must admit that at the time I found her skepticism somewhat irritating. However, in no way did it diminish my feeling of exaltation. I suppose that my exhilaration in knowing that I was already a happy non-smoker distorted my perspective somewhat. With the benefit of hindsight, I can sympathize with her attitude. I now understand why Joyce and my close friends and relatives thought I was a candidate for the funny farm.

As I look back on my life, it almost seems that my whole existence has been a preparation for solving the smoking problem. Even those hateful years of training and practicing as a Chartered Accountant were invaluable in helping me to unravel the mysteries of the smoking trap.

Abraham Lincoln once said that you can't fool all the people all the time, but that's exactly what I believe the tobacco companies have been successfully doing for decades. I also believe that I was the first person to really understand the smoking trap. Please don't mistake this statement for arrogance. I wish I could claim that my superior intellect led me to this understanding, but actually it was merely the circumstances of my own life.

The momentous day was July 15th, 1983. I didn't escape from Alcatraz, but it felt like it. Even today, over twenty years later, I can still remember the feelings of relief, happiness and excitement when I stubbed out that final butt. I realized immediately that I had discovered something that every smoker secretly dreamed of: an easy way to stop smoking.

After testing out the method on smoking friends and relatives, I gave up accountancy and became a full-time counselor, running seminars to help other smokers to get free.

I wrote the first edition of this book in 1985. One of my failures, the man described in
Chapter 25
, was the inspiration.
He visited me twice, and we were both reduced to tears on each occasion. He was so agitated that I couldn't get him to relax enough to listen to what I was saying. I hoped that if I wrote it all down, he could read it in his own good time, as many times as he wanted, and this would help him absorb the message.