If so, you are far from alone. According to usa.gov it’s one of the most popular resolutions for 2010, behind losing weight and getting out of debt. Now maybe using an electronic cigarette is part of your quitting method, but maybe it’s not. Studies haven’t been done on whether it’s an effective quitting aide. But whether you use the e-cigarette, a nicotine patch, or cold turkey, there are quite a few other tips and resources I want to share to help you along your way.

1. Pick one habit at a time
Sure we all want to quit smoking, lose weight, get out of debt, hike the Appalachian Trail (seriously, not a euphemism), find a new job, or train for a marathon. But for the first month or so, focus on just one of these goals or habits. See, will power, like a muscle, needs time to grow and develop. When you overwhelm it with challenges, it tends to give out rather than get stronger. Train it slowly, and you’ll get much better results.

2. Think: “21 days”
Contrary to popular internet belief, there’s no study that says it takes 21 days to form a new habit. But for many, 21-28 days is the magical time when a forced action transforms into a habit. Use your willpower to get to those 21 days, and know that you won’t need as much willpower afterward.

3. Get enough sleep
Remember number 1, about doing one habit at a time? Yeah. Well if you want to quit smoking, now’s not the time to also get less sleep, or to starve yourself silly. Let’s go back to the muscle analogy: if you overwork your willpower muscle, it’ll need lots of time to recover. So don’t waste it on other things if you’re going to need it to stop smoking.

4. Decide if you’re an incremental change or a no-exceptions person
There’s no right or wrong answer to this. It’s all up to you to experiment and see if you can handle eating just one M&M, or if one M&M always leads to the whole bag. But once you make your decision, stick with it.

5. Write it down
Go ahead, write down your resolution in big letters across the top of a piece of paper. Then ask yourself, “Do you really want to do this? Now?” Don’t be embarrassed if the answer is “no.” Sometimes we want to change habits because other people tell us. Not because we’re ready. But if the answer is “yes” then you’ll need to do some more writing. First, write down all the pluses and minuses of breaking your old habit and developing the new one. Then decide, again, if this is a habit worth breaking right now. If the answer’s still yes, then use the piece of paper to write down every worst-case scenario, and how you’ll handle it. Do you smoke only when you drink? Picture yourself in that situation, and what you’ll do and what you’ll have to tell yourself. Do you reach for a cigarette whenever you feel nervous or anxious? Get yourself in that mindset, and think about what you could do instead (phone a friend, have a cup of tea, take a quick walk around the block to clear your head, etc.).

6. Don’t just break a habit, replace it.
If you’re going to lose something you love, like smoking, you’ll do a lot better if you replace that habit with something else: a favorite drink or candy you can have when you get the urge. Or a replacement activity: dancing, bike-riding, jogging. Anything that can act as a replacement for your negative habit, so you don’t just think of quitting as the end of something fun. Just don’t make it too strenuous (see tip #1). Hey, if you decide to replace that cigarette with an e-cigarette, all the better

Need more advice? Check out the wonderful Zen Habits blog. Here’s a round-up of all their posts about changing habits.

And finally, here’s an inspiring video to get you started. Find out what happens when you test the willpower of a bunch of adorable children. This stuff doesn’t get any easier, kids.

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.