I have a new approach, since I found that cold turkey wasn't actually addressing the problem - even after months of abstinence, if I smoked one time I'd instantly become a fiend again - and this isn't the right way for me, because I love pot a lot and it is the only one that could ever have a place in my life, and using it in moderation really helps me to meditate - it is meditation for me, and while high is the only way I can ever seem to get anywhere.
My problem is I am hooked, and I am constantly craving a hit. Even once I smoke up, in an hour I'll get unjustifiable cravings to continue smoking. I wake up to insane cravings every morning. But the key is, to learn not to identify with them. Once you are an addict, you are always going to be an addict, those cravings are not going to go away any time soon. So I am learning to deal with them. I'm getting a lot better at it. The longer you get used to going about your daily life in absence of the bong, without letting these cravings affect your productivity , your chances of success in waiting til the end of the day will strengthen.
The experience in going from all day every day to one hit at night, has just been so positive. Well, apart from the suffering of withdrawal which I have had to humbly endure. I get so baked, I'm not capable of getting this baked as a habitual user. The euphoria, and psychedelia, just transform into laziness and stupidity with overuse. Using dope excessively most definitely dumbs the mind down. People who smoke weed way too much, as in never giving the stuff a rest, tend to be extremely boring and lame burnouts.
Smoking weed all day will lower your intellectual abilities temporarily. I'm not saying it has long term effects. I'm just saying someone who has been burning all day is going to have a significantly worse short term memory, than they normally would have. Excessive use is not good for anyone's creativity as well - there's just such a strong brain fog that sets in. Since you will still be able to remember stuff, and since you arn't spending any time sober at all, you might have just forgotten about how much smarter you used to be. Because using this stuff excessively causes retardation of certain brain functions, and it is important to acknowledge this in helping yourself to cut back. I justify this through personal experience, because it is extremely obvious to me how much more intelligent I have become since I stopped using it habitually - but I'm sure there are studies out there. It doesn't mean that weed isn't awesome and has benefits when used responsibly. It just means using it all day makes you dumber than usual because it's true. You still might be smarter than most of the world population, but still you'll never reach your full potential if you are using too much, and it makes little difference the strength of your sense faculties you were born with, but how you choose to go about using them. And you might find yourself getting dumber before you get smarter, if you choose to cut back, as the misery of withdrawal is not conductive to a productive state of being. But it doesn't last forever.
The most difficult part has been the physical symptoms. I can't eat any food, and I get shitty sleeps even with the one bong rip a day. It sucks how I can't carry on with basic human needs unless I get baked. These withdrawal symptoms are unfortunate, and it is definitely stressing out my body a bit in the short term, but I know that in the long term, I'm basically getting my life back by exercising this incredible amount of willpower that pretty much came out of nowhere. There was a defining moment when I knew this is where I was headed, and suddenly I changed. Because I'm not the same person when I smoke pot all day, and I'm not anywhere near as chill as when I am waiting til the end of the day, using it responsibly and getting incredible highs. But smoking one bong rip a day, doesn't really seem to cloud or obscure my personality at all, as occurs with overuse.
As for actually quitting - well the longer I keep up responsible use, the easier it will be to stop forever if I ever decide that it needs to be done. Presently, that just isn't feasible.