I quit – Peak indifference, big tobacco
I "gave up smoking" by not giving up.<p>I just deferred the decision to have one cigarette.<p>When the urge came up, I put it off five minutes.<p>And crucially, the rules allowed me to have one if I really wanted.<p>At first there was lots of deferring and then deciding to have one.<p>Eventually I just deferred the decision five minutes then five minutes more and on and on forever.<p>The reasoning is that your subconscious mind does not like "giving up" anything.  "Giving up" implies you are losing something you value for nothing in return.<p>When you defer the decision to indulge your addiction, you are not fighting against your subconscious - remember the rule is you are allowed to have the thing you crave.<p>So in effect I never gave up smoking, I'm just a smoker who deferred the decision and never decided to do it.<p>I "stopped smoking" about 20 years ago.  I'm still a smoker but just haven't had one for a long time.<p>"Giving up smoking" is very hard. Deferring one cigarette for five minutes is easy.<p>Off topic also, I highly recommend the podcast "The Vaping Fix".  It's closely related to Silicon Valley and is compelling binge listening.<p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-vaping-fix/id1562884524" rel="nofollow">https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-vaping-fix/id15628...</a>