allen carr - the man, the method
Allen Carr was born into a working class family in London, England in 1934. An athlete and avid anti-smoker as a child, he started smoking while doing National Service in 1952.
By the time he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1958, he was a chain smoker.
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If you want to make money you listen to Warren Buffett. If you
want to quit smoking you go to Allen Carr
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 |
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Jay Seigel, Brooklyn, NY |
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As Allen said in his biography: “On a bad day, I smoked five packs, and never less than three.”
In addition to his chain smoking Allen was, by his own description, a 'serial quitter'. He found quitting tough, but staying quit even tougher. "I once lasted six months of sheer hell before I caved in and lit up" he said. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried like a baby. I was crying because I felt I was condemned to smoke for the rest of my life."
Shortly after this traumatic incident, a combination of events led to what he described as "my Eureka! moment".
"I realized that it wasn't a weakness in me, or that the cigarette was so wonderful that I couldn't live without it, but that my brain had become scammed into seeing the relief of withdrawal pangs as genuine pleasure or stress relief. I realized that the reason I smoked was to remove the symptoms of withdrawal and by so doing, I got to feel like a non-smoker for a few minutes. As soon as I understood this simple point, my desire to smoke disappeared and I have never smoked since. After years of struggle, quitting was truly effortless and, if I'm honest, extremely enjoyable."
He founded the first Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking centre in Wimbledon, England in 1983 and spent the next 25 years of his life teaching smokers how to quit easily using his simple, drug-free approach.
Word of how effective his approach was spread quickly and before long, smokers were flying in from all of the world to attend his sessions. As the waiting list to attend grew, Carr moved to larger premises but it became clear that he would never be able to meet the demand from smokers wanting to quit.
In an attempt to make the method available to more smokers, Allen Carr put his method into book form with the publication of Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking. It became an instant bestseller and remains one to this day. As of 2008, Easyway has been translated into over thirty languages and has been a #1 bestseller in ten countries. It has sold over 12m copies and outsells all other quit smoking books combined.
As success of the book expanded internationally, so did demand for his seminars. Carr began to train a small number of people who had quit with the method and contacted Allen to offer their support. Every year more than 50,000 smokers attend an Allen Carr's Easyway seminar at one of over 150 Allen Carr's Easyway seminar locations in 45 countries.
In July 2006 Allen was diagnosed with inoperable squamous cell carcinoma. Sadly, his family had a history of cancer. His sister died of lung cancer in her forties and his father of the same disease in his early fifties. Allen was philosophical: "If I hadn't quit smoking, I'd have died over twenty years ago" he said. "These last 23 years have been the most enjoyable of my life - I wouldn't change a thing."
Allen died peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by his family, on November 29th, 2006.Thousands of messages from grateful ex-smokers flooded allencarr.com bulletin boards. Major media, including the BBC, the New York Times, The Economist, Washington Post, Forbes, the British Medical Journal, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Harvard Medical Review, published his obituary.
The Economist said it best. Their headline read:
"Allen Carr: Saviour of smokers"
...more about Allen Carr's Easyway method ►
allen carr - the man, the method
Allen Carr was born into a working class family in London, England in 1934. An athlete and avid anti-smoker as a child, he started smoking while doing National Service in 1952.
By the time he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1958, he was a chain smoker.
|
If you want to make money you listen to Warren Buffett. If you
want to quit smoking you go to Allen Carr
|
|
| |
Jay Seigel, Brooklyn, NY |
|
As Allen said in his biography: “On a bad day, I smoked five packs, and never less than three.”
In addition to his chain smoking Allen was, by his own description, a 'serial quitter'. He found quitting tough, but staying quit even tougher. "I once lasted six months of sheer hell before I caved in and lit up" he said. "I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried like a baby. I was crying because I felt I was condemned to smoke for the rest of my life."
Shortly after this traumatic incident, a combination of events led to what he described as "my Eureka! moment".
"I realized that it wasn't a weakness in me, or that the cigarette was so wonderful that I couldn't live without it, but that my brain had become scammed into seeing the relief of withdrawal pangs as genuine pleasure or stress relief. I realized that the reason I smoked was to remove the symptoms of withdrawal and by so doing, I got to feel like a non-smoker for a few minutes. As soon as I understood this simple point, my desire to smoke disappeared and I have never smoked since. After years of struggle, quitting was truly effortless and, if I'm honest, extremely enjoyable."
He founded the first Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking centre in Wimbledon, England in 1983 and spent the next 25 years of his life teaching smokers how to quit easily using his simple, drug-free approach.
Word of how effective his approach was spread quickly and before long, smokers were flying in from all of the world to attend his sessions. As the waiting list to attend grew, Carr moved to larger premises but it became clear that he would never be able to meet the demand from smokers wanting to quit.
In an attempt to make the method available to more smokers, Allen Carr put his method into book form with the publication of Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking. It became an instant bestseller and remains one to this day. As of 2008, Easyway has been translated into over thirty languages and has been a #1 bestseller in ten countries. It has sold over 12m copies and outsells all other quit smoking books combined.
As success of the book expanded internationally, so did demand for his seminars. Carr began to train a small number of people who had quit with the method and contacted Allen to offer their support. Every year more than 50,000 smokers attend an Allen Carr's Easyway seminar at one of over 150 Allen Carr's Easyway seminar locations in 45 countries.
In July 2006 Allen was diagnosed with inoperable squamous cell carcinoma. Sadly, his family had a history of cancer. His sister died of lung cancer in her forties and his father of the same disease in his early fifties. Allen was philosophical: "If I hadn't quit smoking, I'd have died over twenty years ago" he said. "These last 23 years have been the most enjoyable of my life - I wouldn't change a thing."
Allen died peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by his family, on November 29th, 2006.Thousands of messages from grateful ex-smokers flooded allencarr.com bulletin boards. Major media, including the BBC, the New York Times, The Economist, Washington Post, Forbes, the British Medical Journal, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Harvard Medical Review, published his obituary.
The Economist said it best. Their headline read:
"Allen Carr: Saviour of smokers"
...more about Allen Carr's Easyway method ►