Forty-six years ago I made a command decision that freed me from the enslavement of a nasty habit and then changed my entire outlook on how I should treat future decisions. It changed my life.

Until Feb. 2, 1980, I smoked two packs of cigarettes each day. I liked smoking. I enjoyed lighting up a smoke and taking deep drags on it. Yes, I knew all about the surgeon general’s warning printed on the side of every pack I opened. I didn’t care. I was a young man and I must have thought I was invincible.

Then on that fateful day, I made a decision that has transformed me into a bona fide militant. I had slight cold and an annoying cough. I lit up a cigarette, took a drag … and damn near choked on it!

In that moment, I snuffed out the butt, crumpled up the pack from which I took it, tossed the pack of smokes into the trash. I never turned back.

My wife had been hassling me about the cough. She told me I should quit. I didn’t heed her wisdom. Until that fateful moment! I realized right then that Kathy Anne was a lot smarter than I am and I surrendered to the belief I should have listened to her long ago.

I was 30 years old at the time. I had been smoking since I was 15. So, for half my life I had been poisoning my lungs with cancer-causing agents.

The life lesson I learned from all this? It was to never postpone any decision that awaited! If I am going to quit a nasty habit, I vowed never to wait until next week, or the end of the day or until I was done doing what I intended to quit doing.

I have scolded many friends in the 46 years since that moment about the wisdom of my decision. I have told them if they’re going to quit smoking that they had to do it right then. Right there. No delay. Just quit. Period … full stop.

Of course, I never anticipated back in 1980 that smoking cigarettes could be such an expensive and nasty habit. I must be the master of impeccable timing.