It’s hard to wait one hour before smoking the first cigarette. What should I do?

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The program is designed to help you become a happy non-smoker even if you don’t wait the full hour before having your first cigarette. Along the way, you may encounter some new experiences and challenges, such as breaking your morning pattern. If you find this challenging, it’s only because you’re still in the process of unlearning what is unhelpful (willpower) and learning what will make your freedom easy in the long run (mindpower).

If you can’t wait 1 hour during the program, this doesn’t mean you will struggle with the morning cigarette after your quit date!

On the contrary, when you reach your quit date, you will be ready. The transition to your smoke-free life will be smooth, and it will become easy to adjust as you’re going through the program.

Why we’re doing this experiment.

The purpose of the morning cigarette exercise is to practice and retrain yourself to start the day as a non-smoker, using your resourcefulness (without willpower but with mindpower instead). Most importantly, you’ll see firsthand that nothing bad happens when you don’t smoke, and you’ll build confidence in being without that first cigarette.

The one-hour goal is only a guideline and not something you need to follow perfectly.

💡 Your progress is not determined by the length of time you wait before you light up the first cigarette. Making progress is all about the quality of experience or how good you feel about being a non-smoker while doing the exercise, regardless of its duration.

The more you start your day as a non-smoker, and you enjoy or feel good or relaxed about being smoke-free in that moment, you rewire your brain and teach yourself a new way to be!

What it means if you struggle

If it’s hard to delay the first cigarette of the day, this means you are using willpower to do this exercise. You don’t need and shouldn’t use willpower when delaying the first cigarette because willpower means resisting the desire to light up, which makes you feel deprived and want to smoke more.

To start finding the morning cigarette exercise easy, it’s best to avoid using willpower entirely, even if that means you won’t be delaying your first cigarette for the full hour.

You can do this by:

✅ Starting small – set a 10-15 minute goal at first and build up from there. If you wait 15 minutes without using willpower, that’s a win that will push you forward. If you wait 4 hours using willpower or looking at the clock, you will only feel deprived, and you won’t benefit at all.

✅ Approaching the morning exercise with curiosity. Start your day with the intention of learning how you can feel good, relax, or enjoy that moment as a non-smoker. Focus not on the delaying aspect of the exercise but on giving yourself a good, smoke-free experience.

✅ Prepare in advance by asking yourself, “What can I do, think, or remember so I can have a good morning as a non-smoker?”

For example, if you’re used to pairing your morning coffee with a cigarette, try having just your coffee mindfully. While taking a sip, describe in your mind its warmth, smell, texture, what you like about it, and how it makes you feel. If a craving arises, let that thought pass by just like any other thought and get back to the present moment, where you’re smoke-free and just enjoying your coffee.

If you notice you’re starting to use willpower or struggling, cut the exercise at that point, smoke, and record that cigarette. This way, you can reflect on what made smoking seem compelling at that time and see how you can change this thinking to more effectively silence the craving next time.

If you wait an hour using willpower or looking at the clock, you will only feel deprived, and you won’t benefit at all. If you wait 15 minutes without using willpower, that’s a win that will push you forward! Then aim for 20 minutes the next day, then 25 minutes the day after.

Aim for progress, not perfection! 🌱

Advice from CBQ Program Members

Emily

“The timeline is a guide, that’s it. You do not have to adhere to it to the letter. That being said, great job being intentional on cutting back and trying to experiment with waiting. Are you keeping track of each cigarette you’re smoking? That is a HUGE part of the process. It seems tedious (which is a good thing as that is part of why we do it) but it is so important. When you say you are “afraid”, what are you afraid of? What thought goes through your head at the 20 minute mark that makes you have a cigarette? What if, when that thought comes up, you just tell it “No thanks. I’m going to wait.” and then find something else to do with your hands. Wash dishes or clean something else or knit/crochet or do a crossword puzzle or a puzzle-puzzle or journal/write a letter to someone (even to yourself), make a smoothie, eat an apple, watch one of Nasia’s videos on self-talk or cravings. The only progress you need to make is on your own time. Every hurdle cleared is progress and a hurdle can just be waiting an extra 5 minutes than the day before.”

Tracy

“You know, I wasn’t able to have coffee in the morning without having a cigarette, and I just decided to carry on anyway. Then, my quit date came – I quit – and I drank the coffee without the smoke because I “had quit”. It was fine.. and in a few days, the coffee tasted much, much better, too! So, try not to worry about it too much. You don’t have to be perfect. It’s not required and you can still do it!!! Really!!!”

Eman

“Day 2 completed, instead of waking up with a coffee and a cigarette, I watch CBQ program for the day as a new morning routine and do it first thing with my coffee but (no cigarette). It’s it now 10am, no morning cigarette 🙂 This is a milestone for me, as I have always looked forward to my morning cigarette with my first cup of coffee.”

Roy

Roy’s AHA moment was the morning cigarette exercise. He believed that he couldn’t do it, but when he did the exercise, he realized that coffee tasted better without cigarettes. Once he did, it clicked with him that he could easily go through the program and quit smoking. [from 9:07 to 11:30]

Meg

Meg’s morning cup of coffee was a big trigger for her. She shared that visualizing herself as being totally content and happy with her cup of coffee helped her start her day as a non-smoker and enjoy her mornings smoke-free!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/447783308053274