Ainslie's answer is that he should set a hard-and-fast rule: "I will never drink alcoholism". You probably meant to write "alcohol" here.

If it was a typo, it was a fortuitous one! I've quoted it several times in conversation while explaining that I read 'somewhere' that the key to quitting is in identifying the single, local instance (a beer) with the global bad (alcoholism) even if the connection isn't technically true. Because otherwise, without thinking about it this way, avoiding that single drink may seem silly or irrational, and that is what usually defeats me. (Not giving the small steps enough credit in whatever I'm trying to achieve.)