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Kicking the butt is difficult. When a loved one asks you to quit smoking, they are often worried about the ill-effects of the cancer stick that it is going to cause you in future. While most of the smokers already know what they might face in future because of their dangerous habit, they chose to avoid thinking about the future consequences and carry on with it, anyway. 

Thus smokers, when compared to non-smokers, are less likely to look at future plans in their lives. A new study by researchers has shown that smokers more oriented towards planning their future are more likely to stop smoking. 

For the study, Dr. Heather Brown and Dr. Jean Adams of Newcastle University (UK) compiled and studied eight years of a huge Australian database. 

The Household Income and Labor Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) survey collects data on economic and subjective well-being, work, and family dynamics every year from over 7,000 Australian households, Medical Xpress reported.

The researchers identified 1,817 participants who were smokers at the beginning of the survey in 2001 and looked into savings and spending and as to how future oriented they were.

People who saved for more than the coming three months were categorized as having a longer time horizon, while those who planned for not more than a week were categorized as having a shorter time horizon.

When, the researchers looked into how many of the future planners and non-planners had quit smoking or at least tried quitting by 2008, they found that 76 percent of quitters were long-time planners when compared to 66% of those who continued smoking. 

This finding is also true for other areas of research which have had similar results. 

Scientists conducting research on similar grounds on diabetic patients have found that future planners are more likely to make healthy changes to their diet and lifestyle and similarly, even cocaine users who think of the future are more likely to stop the usage of the drug. 

"It is possible that helping smokers to think about the future a bit more might be a useful way to help them quit," says co-author Jean Adams.