I'm planning to give up smoking cigarettes in the new year. Most of my team smoke and we all take “ciggie breaks” together. I'm concerned both that my colleagues will sap my will power and that I'll be out of the loop if I don't continue to take breaks with them.

The benefits of stopping smoking will far outweigh any minor impact on your network. Aside from the most important reasons for giving up - the long-term health benefits - there are also important work-related paybacks. Fit employees have more energy, can stay alert for longer during times of pressure and are less prone to stress - important assets in these difficult times.

Get support

Find out if anyone else is thinking of stopping smoking. If so, agree to support each other. Also, identify the most influential people in your smoking group and those you get on with best. Explain to them why you are giving up and ask for their help. The more you can do to get people onside - without apologising for your decision - the easier you will find things.

Beyond this, there are three important principles to keep in mind: Identify triggers

First, your smoking will be influenced by specific triggers that encourage you to smoke. Identify the most important triggers - perhaps you habitually light up when you have a glass of wine in your hand or the clock strikes midday. Draw up a list of all the triggers and work out how you can eradicate as many as possible. If you cannot eradicate a trigger, identify a different response you can make when it occurs, for example phoning a friend.

The 30-day rule

Second, it takes about 30 days to break a habit and form a new one, so you will need to manage your triggers for at least 30 days if the stimulus-response pattern is to be broken. Planning is vital, so you will need to make time to plan. Consider how you can resist pressure from your colleagues, avoid situations you associate with smoking and deal with times where you feel vulnerable.

Reward yourself

Third, new patterns of behaviour are maintained when they are rewarded and when there is a consequence for slipping back to old ways. Think about how you can reward your success at regular intervals. Find something that will feel like a significant reward. Also, keep a diary of the day-to-day benefits you experience from not smoking - it will be easy to forget these as you acclimatise to being an ex-smoker. Similarly, think of something that will feel like a genuine punishment for smoking and make sure that the application of that consequence is outside your control. For example, give a friend a significant amount of money, ask them to set up a direct debit back to your account and ask them to cancel it if you smoke within six months.

Plan for the long term

If you keep these principles in mind, invest sufficient time in planning and get people on your side early, your chances of success will be good. And remember, the team you are part of will not be a team forever, whereas the benefits of giving up will be with you for a lifetime.

- Matt Brown is a business psychologist and director of YSC, a consultancy.

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