I originally had a variation of this post in the The Teaching of
Conventional Wisdom at Freedom thread at Freedom. It was prompted when a member on the board wrote to another member that he or she should do what
ever it takes to quit smoking. The example specifically given was drink water or eat ice cream. I have to say, if someone plans on going the ice cream route
they had better be ready to go buy a whole slew of complete wardrobes, of ever increasing sizes. If your crutch for smoking thoughts are going to be any high
caloric food weight gain of massive amounts should be expected.
As far as using "whatever it takes," I guess that can be translated to taking any food, any drug, legal or illegal, or participate in any activity, no matter how ludicrous or dangerous that activity might be. Does the comment smoke crack cocaine, or shoot up heroin, or drink as much alcohol as it takes, or administer lethal dosages of arsenic or cyanide make any sense to anyone as practical advice to quit smoking? If not, the comment of do whatever it takes loses any real concept of credibility.
As far as quitting smoking goes, the advice should not be "do whatever it takes to quit smoking," but rather, "do what it takes to quit smoking." What it takes to quit smoking is simply sticking to your commitment to never take another puff!
Joel
Related video:
I WAS GOING TO POST I BEAT MY BIG TRIGGER
PARADE.BUT THIS POINT IS SO GOOD AND I WANTED TO KEEP IT NEAR THE TOP FOR A VITAL READ.I TAKE IT JOEL IS SAYING LETS NOT PLACE AN ADDICTION WITH ANOTHER
ADDICTION.I AM 
CHUFFED TO BITS TODAY I
HEADED AT MIDNIGHT FROM MY LOCAL BAR TO THE CITY CENTRE TO A NIGHTCLUB WHERE I LOST A YEARS QUIT BUT ALSO WHERE MY ADDICTION STARTED IN 1998[PS THIS IS NOT
ADVICE EVERY QUIT IS DIFFERENT AND EVERYBODYS QUIT IS DIFFERENT] MY QUIT HAS BEEN EASY BUT SO WAS THE YEARS QUIT I LOST WHICH LEAD TO SEVERAL DIFFICULT
QUITS.I PASSED MY TEST WITH FLYING COLOURS.HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES WELL FOR ME IT TAKES LIVING MY NORMAL LIFE WITHOUT SMOKING IE I,M NOT
AVOIDING OCCASIONALLY PARTYING TO THE EARLY HOURS IN A PLACE WHERE MY ADDICTION I,M NOT AVOIDING ANY PLACE OR TIME THAT I USED TO SMOKE I,M CREATING NEW
HEALTHY ASSOCIATIONS.PS I CAN,T ATTACH THREADS BUT LOOK FOR EVERY QUIT IS DIFFERENT.RICKDABLER 1 WEEK 5 DAYS 7 HRS 40MINS NICOTINE FREE.
........but
I saw where a member wrote that they would do
whatever it takes to quit smoking and nicotine. This is a common amongst newcomers. I think what people mean to write is, "Come what may, I will never
use nicotine again." Knowing your addiction and how to minimize the side effects of withdrawl will certainly make it easier but all that it takes is a
commitment to never take another puff.
