Recognize the differences between men who smoke and women who smoke. Understand that you, as a woman, may have a harder time smoking than a man because of biological and behavioral reasons. Cut down first. Whether men chose to quit cold turkey or cut down first may not matter. For women, however, cutting down first is important, because their withdrawal symptoms may be more intense.
Mental gremlins are predictive of relapse.
The first gremlin tells you to go ahead and have a cigarette because you will stop at just one. The second and third allow you to rationalize your habit by minimizing the health consequences of smoking. Women tend to be haunted more by gremlins than men. For example, men who relapse after going through a smoking cessation program typically blame the program. Learn the facts about quitting smoking and weight gain.