All human behavior is driven by pleasure or pain. The need to derive pleasure and avoid pain are instinctive. Even visceral functions; like getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. It is all part of that pleasure / pain syndrome. This is part of our make up as human beings.
If quitting smoking is a painful process, it will be difficult to stick with. So the key to quitting smoking effectively is to eliminate the pain and enjoy the process along the way.
As smokers, we all look for that perfect time to quit. A time when everything in our life is perfect and completely void of stress. Lets face it, that time is never going to come. We have a thousand excuses for why not to quit. Besides, we enjoy smoking.
You will become quite amazed to realize that once you break the addiction cycle and you are no longer dependent upon nicotine, that smoking is not as pleasurable as you thought. Defending your addiction is simply your brains' way of avoiding the pain of withdrawal.