NudgeHack #2; smoking

Smoking is one of those weird things.

Those who smoke fall roughly into two camps; those who are addicted / semi-addicted and who want to cut down or quit and those who love the occasional smoke and don't see what the fuss is.

Smoking is unhealthy, there is no doubt. It's not good for you and that's the end of the debate. Some argue that Pipes or Cigars are healthier, but the key is healthier - not healthy. Some argue that Pipe smokers live longer but -as with all statistics - this has to be taken with a grain of salt, other related factors such as pace of life, risk taking, education level and so on all have their effects and despite the rise in hipster-led pipe smoking among young people those who smoke pipes are probably going to more relaxed in general and have a healthier lifestyle. So, as an added bonus to the nudge i'll give you some more advice; statistics are often abused by interested parties; cigarette companies used to make claims about health (now banned), technology and cosmetics companies make claims about popularity, and governments manipulate economic statistics all to make a point. If ever you see a statistical claim, be suspicious.

Now on to the Nudge. People want to stop smoking and the NHS has had numerable campaigns to get people off the fags. The problem is people still smoke. Now a country-wide campaign is obviously beyond our scope, but how can YOU stop, or cut down if you so desire?

The standard claim is "use willpower". Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight, exercise more, or indeed stop smoking know that this deceptively simple claim is quite useless in reality. When you really want to smoke no amount of rationalisation is going to stop you, the fact is you'll justify it to yourself as that epochal "last one", the real final end to it all. Sadly we know this won't work.

So whats the alternative? It might sound stupid but...hide the tobacco. "say what?" you might exclaim. "Just hide it? What kind of lame advice is that!". Well the simplicity is actually the key. Any nudge is, in and of itself, simple. If it's not simple - it's not a good nudge (that's a good criteria by which to judge the "nudges" popping up everywhere). Get a significant other to hide your tobacco somewhere you will never find it. Now why not just throw it away, you might ask? Well the key here is that you are allowed to smoke it at some point in the future. Set a reasonable goal, so say go one week without smoking and you can have some, then set the goal at a week and a half, then two weeks, and so on. This is based on research that a lot of goals, shortly spaced, are far more reinforcing than one big goal far in the future (see temporal discounting).

Now as a disclaimed I obviously don't condone smoking at all, but the best way to quit is slow and steady, cold turkey just doesn't work. Hope you enjoy the nudge!