How Bad Do You Want To Quit?

How Bad Do You Want It?

A new quitter approached a vet and said, “I want to quit and one day be at your level.”  The vet said, “if you want to be at the same level I am, meet me at the beach tomorrow at 4:00am.” 

“The beach?  I want to quit, I don’t want to swim.”

The vet said, “if you want to quit, I’ll meet you at the beach.  4:00am.”

So the rookie got to the beach at 4:00am, ready to quit, wearing his suit.  The vet grabbed his hand, looked him in the eye, and asked, “how bad do you want to quit?”

“Really bad.”

“So walk out into the water.”

The rookie walks out into the cold ocean until he’s waist deep thinking, “This dude’s crazy.  I want to quit, and he has me swimming.  I don’t want to get in shape or be a lifeguard, I want to quit.”  The vet follows the rookie into the water, and as he catches up to the rookie, he tells him to go out further.

Now neck deep, the rookie turns and asks the vet what to do next.  “How bad do you want to quit?”

“I already told you, really fucking bad.”

“So go out a little further.”

As the water rises up over the rookies chin, and as the rookie is again questioning the sanity of the vet, the vet pounces, holding the rookies head under water.  The rookie doesn’t stay under easily, and fighting for his life, punches, kicks, and bites the vet; the vet stays in place and continues holds the rookie under despite the assault.

Just as the rookie was beginning to weaken and lose consciousness, the vet pulls him back up out of the water and into the sweet morning air.  “What the fuck was that?  I ask for help quitting, and THIS is what I get?  Fuck you and your quit.”

The vet, having been through this many times before, said, “I have a question for you:  when you were under water what did you want to do?”

“Breathe.”

“Until you want to quit as badly as you wanted to breathe, you’ll never be successful.  It has to be the single most important thing in your life to the exclusion of all other distractions.  When you can achieve that, you will not only be quit, you will remain quit.”

NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member Nolaq