The smoking notebook is an exercise unique to The CBQ Program. Even though this exercise needs commitment, it can benefit you immensely. For motivation, you can read and watch below what other members have shared about the smoking log and how it benefited them in combination with the lessons.
Trevor: “It really opened my eyes.”
Trevor quit smoking on April 25, 2018.
Watch the short clip: https://www.facebook.com/cbqmethod/videos/675578777253914/
“One of the things that had a big impact on me was the journal that we kept throughout the program and it really opened my eyes. It was amazing to me to look back at journal and say ‘Oh my goodness, I used to go to this place all the time.”
Watch the full Ask An Ex interview:
Diane: “Realizing how silly you are when you start writing down.”
Diane quit smoking on March 15, 2018.
Watch the short clip: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=384589990540867
“So it was the slowly cutting down and then also journaling and realizing how silly you are when you start writing down why you’re doing it and what you’re doing.”
Watch the full Ask An Ex interview:
Katia: “I reduced quite quickly.”
Katia quit vaping on March 1, 2021.
Watch the short clip: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1952394231767489
“With the smoking notebook, I found that helped me straight away because I realized how much I was doing it. And so in order to not have to keep writing it down and ask myself, “Why am I doing this and what’s making me do this?” I reduced quite quickly. And before I picked it up, I would think, “Do I need it? Do I need to do it right now? Can I wait a few minutes because I’m going to have to write another line, and I really can’t be bothered, and I really dunno why I’m doing it, so I can’t even fill that bit in.” So yeah, so I think already by the time I was filling in the notebook, I had become more aware, and I had tried to vape only when I really needed to.”
Watch the full Ask An Ex interview:
Kay: “It’s so annoying, and it was so effective.”
Kay quit smoking on December 1, 2019.
“See, now you have the log and you say, every time you smoke a cigarette, I want you to write down why. So the first thing I write in my log, ‘Oh my God, I got to find this for you and take a picture.’ So the first thing I wrote was taking a break from work, focusing, taking a cigarette break to focus. Then the next time I’m like, ‘okay, you know, yeah, yeah, focusing or distracting or relaxing.’ And then I actually write one, because I’m freaking bored and I’m an addict. And then the comments about why I was smoking the cigarette in the journal were just like, ’cause I’m an idiot,’ ‘’cause this is ridiculous, there is no reason, I don’t want this, I don’t need this.’ It annoyed me that you wanted me to write down why I was smoking every cigarette, because it was embarrassing. It was like, it was like- – It is very annoying, it is very annoying. – It’s so annoying and it was so effective. And I was like, okay, okay, okay, I got you”
Watch Kay sharing this at 13:38 – 14:43 on her Ask An Ex interview:
“But with some thoughtfulness and the notebook, and all of the tools that you’re giving people, it’s so doable.”
Watch the short clip: https://www.facebook.com/cbqmethod/videos/831203997795425
Mike: “All of a sudden, it [a cigarette] became less and less important.”
Mike quit smoking on January 2020.
Watch Mike sharing this at 18:29 – 18:59 on his Ask An Ex interview:
“Keeping track of the ledger. Keeping track of each cigarette was a nuisance and it would drive me insane while I was doing it but it really deep down got me thinking about, ‘Okay what were you doing just before this? What were you thinking? And how important was this cigarette?’ And, all of a sudden it became less and less important and it was easier to delay it.”
Val: “It was learning that it really was habit.”
Val quit smoking on April 30, 2019.
“I think it was quite sort of at the beginning really. It was writing down every single cigarette that you had that was like, “Oh my gosh I’m writing down another one.” “Oh my and why am I having one. And it was learning that it really was habit. It wasn’t me wanting one it was the habit of that I always had a cigarette nearly always have one in my hand. And it was you know, writing down again like why are you having this”
Watch Val sharing this at 28:50 – 30:06 on her Ask An Ex interview:
Evelyn: “It just really helped me to reduce one cigarette at a time.”
Evelyn quit smoking on April 8, 2019.
“I had made up my mind a long time ago, it’s just a matter of that day-to-day process that you have, writing it down, who, what, where, when, why. All of that stuff. It just really helped me to reduce one cigarette at a time, because I would always put parameters on myself anyway. I just didn’t put enough to make it all the way to the end.”…“I think the writing it down. The other stuff makes you think about it, what you’re doing why you’re doing it. But the actual writing it down and trying to drop one cigarette or two cigarettes a day, however it works for you, was good, and there was no beat yourself up if you missed it.”
Watch Evelyn sharing this at 3:07 – 4:00 on her Ask An Ex interview:
Robin: “Helped me to really organize it to know which cigarettes to cut back on.”
Robin quit smoking on June 15, 2017.
Watch the short clip: https://fb.watch/gTXh4p9_Mk/
“When you had to write down why you were smoking. That helped me to really organize it to know which cigarettes to cut back on, because I knew that the first ones that could go most easily where when I wrote down I’m smoking the cigarette because it’s out of habit, I usually, you know, smoke at this time anyway. So since I wasn’t smoking that because I had a nicotine craving, I knew that that was one of the earliest cigarettes that could be cut back on and left out.
Watch Robin sharing this at 4:50 – 5:24 on her Ask An Ex interview: