There are so many health reasons to quit smoking, not to mention the social pressure now that many cities have passed no-smoking rules in public locations. Smoking not only effects you, but your loved ones around you. Second hand smoke is toxic and the role modeling of smoking can increase the odds that your child too becomes a smoker.

Here are some tips to help in your success in quitting your habit.

1. Mindfully Quit. Everyday around 15 million people decide to stop smoking but only 3% of these are successful after 3 months time. Why? Stopping a habit that is so ingrained in your day to day living is a huge decision and should be done mindfully. Set the date in your calendar that you will officially become a non-smoker and start working on your quit smoking action plan towards that date.

I have a friend who planned for a year on the date that he would stop smoking. He had been smoking 13 years, and a year was the right amount of time that he needed to accomplish this. He told all his friends about his intentions and invited them to a party to celebrate the event. Eight years later, he remains a non-smoker.

2. Stop Smoking Aids. There are various aids on the market to assist you in stopping smoking. These include electronic cigarettes and nicotine patches. Get your arsenal of stop smoking aids ready before the big day that you become a non-smoker.

3. Create New Habits To Fill The Void. Part of the reason that it is so hard emotionally to stop smoking is that the smoke break provides a really nice time for taking a pause in the day and focusing on the breath and being in the moment. You don’t need to smoke to achieve this though. Keep your breaks, but plan on filling this void with a cup of herbal tea, a moment of meditation, a walk outdoors or a quick yoga vinyasa. Before you officially quit smoking, make a plan of how you are going to fill these moments.

4. Enlist Your Support. Before you stop smoking, decide on what emotional support you are going to need. Finding a therapist for individual or group therapy can be a huge help in the process.

5. Reward Yourself. Smoking is expensive. How are you going to use this saved money? You can get a monthly massage, a daily cup of coffee at a cafe, or something else that makes you feel like you’ve indulged yourself.

6. Don’t Worry About A Slide. It’s natural that after your decision to become a non-smoker that you might be in a situation where you are compelled to take a cigarettes. This does not mean that you are back to being a smoker. You are still a non-smoker, but just one who had a cigarette. Don’t stress about the slide, just move forward with continuing a smoke free lifestyle.

Quitting an addiction is hard, but not impossible. Be kind to yourself during the process and make sure that you have all the tools that you will need at your disposal before making the leap. Think of quitting smoking as a marathon rather than a sprint and as you pass the days as a non-smoker you will notice it getting easier and easier to put the cigarettes behind you.