From Chain Smoker to Smoke-Free: One Coaching Session’s Success Story
What if I told you that quitting smoking could be as easy as one successful coaching session? That’s exactly what happened to one of my best friends, and I was as surprised as you are now.
Let me start from the beginning.
Pedro had been a smoker for as long as I remember. We met when we were both young university students, and we bonded over indie music and Marlboro light.
I quit back in 2009 for many reasons, but he kept on.
He tried to cut back a few times in the last decade, but nothing seemed to work.
PAINS & GAINS… and much more
The day of my last coaching lesson with iPEC, we studied a tool called PAINS & GAINS.
It’s a sort of PRO/CONS list, but it goes way deeper than a simple +/- list.
As a way of me trying to explain to one of my best friends this tool I just learned, he agreed to be my guinea pig and we took his smoking habit as an example. We laughed, we both knew it would lead nowhere, only coaches like Tony Robbins are able to do this in one session.
Oh, I was in for a ride.
In 30 minutes we dug deeper in all the beautiful emotions, connections and stories one attaches to such a strong habit as that of smoking cigarettes. Then we analysed the parts he perfectly knew were not in his favour. The money spent, the health-related possible issues, the example set for his children.
It didn’t stop there. What are the benefits of continuing smoking? The stress release offered by a cig in a stressful day! Unbeatable. We dug deeper. The time alone when you need a small mental reset. The joy of cigarette after a beer in a hot summer night.
What would quitting entail? What would the cost be? And the benefits?
And here we struck a few chords.
He may not make it to his children’s wedding.
He may not be there to see his grandkids.
And on we went for a while.
Then, I’m not kidding, we laughed and he ended the session by smoking a cigarette. (All this talks made him really lust for one).
We joked about it that the tool could work for some, the questions are great for things like moving to a new place or looking at a new job. But smoking? Not really.
Few weeks passed.
Then a month.
And he reached out to me.
“That coaching session changed my life. I never stopped to really think about my smoking habit and the more I thought about what we talked, the more I felt empowered and motivated to quit.
So I quit smoking”.
The three most beautiful words I heard since started coaching.
“I quit smoking”.
Pedro feels healthier, happier, and more in control of his life.
For me, it was just another realisation that coaching is the most incredible superpower I know.
And with great powers come great responsibilities.
I want to leave this world a better place.
It starts with helping one person get better.
And yes, it may take only one session.
Don’t just take my word for it, try it for yourself and see the results firsthand.
