All of these caveats drive me nuts at this point in my relationship with my AH. "I need to stop," "I want to stop," etc. Then take proactive steps to do so. One of the stickies about how to tell whether an alcoholic is serious about recovery is action rather than words, and I think it basically said that saying "I want" or "I need" is not really being there yet.
I agree that willingness is stronger than wanting, because that implies that you will do what you need to do. But at the end of the day, until the action is taken it's all just blah blah blah for me. You can be willing to start recovery, but you still have to take that first step.