How to motivate like a pro

Just a word of advice there might be some bad words in this weeks blog according to my Mum  - who was a teacher, luckily never mine though :)

It has been a month since I quit smoking. I quit once in 2012 but then I told someone the product they had come up with was, and I quote - well close to quote - "A complete waste of fucking time and one of the stupidest things I have ever seen" (which conveys the content of my statement at the time) whilst sitting next to the CEO of my soon to be ex-employer. I started smoking again soon after that statement when my new job was to find a new job :)

This time the motivation was different and two-fold and combined they created the perfect storm (so far).

Firstly there was the emotional blackmail motivation from 5ft 6 of terror known to most as Turtle, my daughter. She threatened to pack up her bags and run off to New Zealand if I didn't quit, I am guessing at this point some people back home would prefer I was still smoking  :) She also said that if I quit it was one less present to buy her for her birthday. I have always been a fiscally responsible person so one less present plus the reduced cost of living based on the fact that I would no longer be buying smokes seemed like a good investment. I was close to the edge but needed one last piece of motivation, one final straw, one gentle boot to the buttocks to decide to be what I never wanted to be, a quitter :)

And that is where the Chick walked up to the plate, and with the skill of some large toothed, fake tanned, annoyingly overly positive motivational speaker, knocked it right out of the park when she said that maybe I shouldn't show such a lack of determination with four very simple words that resonated with my Chi, cut to the quick and were quite possibly the only words that would actually work on me. Those four words, quite simple and elegant really. They were concise, effective and to the point (unlike this paragragh). They were:

Don't be a pussy

DAMN HER - it is like she looked into my soul and saw the true essence of who I was, am and occasionally will be. I am many things, annoying, loud, abrasive (crap, now I sound like a New Yorker) but I am not lacking in courage or determination, I am not timid, I am not pussilimious.

I AM NOT A PUSSY  :)

So I quit smoking a month ago and haven't killed anyone yet so I guess it is going pretty well. No patches, no gum, no pills, I just quit. Basically I forgot to buy any more smokes and I plan on continuing to forget. I know I have said this in the past but this time is different, I was motivated by professionals :)

Also I know that I will lapse every now and again, although the lapsing will becomes less frequent as the need for OP Smokes (Other People's Smokes) will reduce. I have already tested myself in scenarios when I would normally burn through at least half a pack but I have been good. I sat around others smoking and was not mooching all night and it didn't feel that bad - not sure why there were no sharp knives in the kitchen that night but whatever :) The two prong double whammy approach of motivating me to do something that was the smart thing to do, the execution of it, even though it may not have been planned exactly that way, was perfect. I was motivated by pros.


So, just like the Cosby's but without the drugs, there is a moral to this weeks episode, probably. I have no idea what it is as I am still suffering the lack if nicotine in my blood (not true) and the occasional thought that maybe I should forget to forget that I no longer buy smokes :) If there was a moral it would be something like "Know your audience" but I am not sure as need a beer and a butt. Guess I will only be getting one of those tonight :)


Work hard, play hard and earn your inspiration

Happy Poets Day