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We are EX - a group of people who've learned how to quit smoking. Our free plan is based on personal experiences as well as the latest scientific research. Whether this is your first try or your 10th, this plan can help you quit smoking. What you'll discover about the plan is that it's not just about quitting. It's about re-learning your life without cigarettes. And we can help you do just that.

To quit successfully, you'll need a plan that gets at all the reasons you smoke. You've always paired a cigarette with certain things - coffee, driving or just waking up in the morning. We'll teach you how to do these things without smoking. It all begins with the plan.

Here's the good news: The plan isn't rocket science.

It works like this. First, you'll look at your personal smoking habit and all the things in your life that are paired with smoking, things known as "triggers." These triggers will be your main barriers to quitting, and we'll tackle them one by one. You'll track these triggers to learn why and when you smoke. You'll also learn exactly why your body craves cigarettes and how medication can help you quit. (Addiction is very powerful; it changes the chemicals in your brain, making it difficult to quit.) And finally, you'll learn about surrounding yourself with support - family, friends and others that can help you fight this addiction and quit successfully.

You begin by practicing to quit while you're still smoking. You'll get this practice by working through the three parts of the plan here on the website - exercises to help you start re learning how to live without cigarettes.

If you're thinking, "Exercises?" well, look at it this way. You wouldn't climb a mountain without some training, right? In order to re-learn your life without cigarettes, you'll need to take time before you quit to look at when and why you smoke. You'll need to practice how to not smoke in all those situations where you usually reach for a cigarette. That way, when you finally do quit, you'll be prepared to handle it.

As you go through this program, you may find that a quit date will just sort of present itself. It'll be some time in the near future - say, a couple of weeks away. You'll know when it's right. And then, when you're finally ready, do it. You'll become an EX.

The final part of the plan - "Stay an EX" - will give you the information and support you need to avoid a slip and to remain an ex-smoker for life. It's likely you've tried to quit before, right? And you slipped a week or a month later? Well, there are things that you can do to prepare for that as well. It's all in here. You can do this.

Re-learn habit.

In the first part of the plan, we'll help you break down your habit into smaller pieces. Whatever your smoking pattern is, in this section, you'll start to practice doing these things without a cigarette - all before you throw the last pack away.

We'll show you how to track the things you do that go with smoking - your triggers. It's important to identify triggers because they're precisely what cause a lot of quit attempts to fail, even after a great start. We'll show you how to start separating cigarettes from these triggers before you quit. This is the heart of what re-learning is all about.

Re-learn addiction.

Nicotine is a chemical in tobacco, and it's what makes smokers become addicted to cigarettes.

When you inhale smoke from a cigarette, nicotine can reach the brain in less than 10 seconds. Once there nicotine changes the chemistry in the brain over time.

Inhaling a drug is the fastest way to get it to your brain. So when you inhale a cigarette, you get a lot of nicotine really fast. Then right after you put out the cigarette, the nicotine level in your blood starts to drop. After a while, your brain and your body send out signals of withdrawal, so you light another one. With addiction you actually begin to believe smoking makes you feel better, when what it's really doing is keeping you from feeling bad.

Re-learning the whole idea of addiction will help you begin to understand why using medication is important. Using medication can double your chances of success.

Re-learn support.

The first time a lot of us tried to quit, we "quit secretly." We didn't want anyone to know we were trying. Looking back, we know now that by secretly quitting, we might have been giving ourselves permission to give up when things got hard. But there's no shame in not being able to quit. Quitting is tough. It may take a couple of tries. And telling your spouse, your family or even a few key friends is all part of a smart plan.

The right kind of support from those around you is something that's going to help down the road. So as you re-learn the whole idea of support, you'll learn how to lean on the people around you. http://www.becomeanex.org/#relearn_support/exercise1 You'll learn different ways to tell folks how they can help, even if it's to just give you a little space. All of these things improve your chances of quitting. We'll also introduce you to other people who are going through the same things.

Why is all this support stuff important? People who get support increase their chances of quitting successfully by up to 50%. That's a big number.