Well there are about 100 musts in the Big Book. If you follow what it says, you have a great chance for success. There are multiple roads to take, I have tried many roads and got drunk. The broad road of AAs 12 steps is the road I take. This broad road has carried countless humans to sobriety. The AA road has proven successful for me only because I follow what it says to do. You however can do whatever you like. I did whatever I liked, and got drunk countless times. I got fed up, was sick and tired of doing the same thing over again, time and time again. I tried just going to meetings, got drunk. I tried working a few steps and going to meetings, got drunk. I tried getting friends in AA and a slacker sponsor, got drunk. I tried everything there is to try, except the steps as they are laid out in the Big Book. I had to go through many Big Book stuides, and hear multiple recordings of Joe and Charlies study for the information to click in my head. No I dont have to follow anything, I can pick and choose what I want to do, and in the end I always got drunk. I like to reinforce the correct information in my head, because if I do not, I get drunk. My next drunk might be my last, or I might head back to jail for a very very long stint, loose a limb, become parapeligic, whatever. I can take this problem seriously, or not, my choice. I can fool around and play games, or take this problem seriously. It is up to me, to do what it takes to achieve sobriety. AA is not the only way, but I find if I follow what AA has to offer, at its core, I achieve what I am looking for and far beyond that. I am not going to go and do steps 1,2,3,4, skip 5 and 6 then do 7,8 skip 9, and do 10,11,12. I played those games, they do not work. I told myself if I am going to follow anything out of the BB I am going to follow it as its laid out. Simple stuff. Otherwise I will go and try something else, that I have learned always got me drunk.